Making people and ideas findable
How about this for the Smaller Indiana Philanthropic Initiative--Get a laptop in the hand of every K-12 student. They're doing it in Ethiopia, Borneo and Haiti
I donated $400 to the One Laptop per Child Initiative on New Year’s Eve last year. It was the last day to participate in the “Buy One Give One Program.” I donated to this 501(c)(3) rather than purchasing a new Dell Laptop because it did my soul good to know a child in Afghanistan would receive a laptop with meshed networking capabilities.
I slowly became disillusioned with the project because I never received an email with a projected ship date. Toward the end of February, I sent an email to the foundation outlining my disappointment in their silence. Open lines of communication between any not-for-profit and its donor base is vital. Donors will forgive mistakes and errors, but not silence or cover-ups.
When I received my laptop on March 28, 2008, I fell in love again with the, “get a laptop in the hands of EVERY child” mission, and all was forgiven. I was thrilled to discover John Blue from Truffle Media also participated in Buy One Give One and he showed me how they mesh. I proudly carry mine and show it off whenever I can!
I share this story today because I received an email “thank you note” on Nov. 16th that I wanted to share. Viral marketers should be taking notes on this one:
...“Thanks to your donation, tens of thousands of children in the emerging world are now learning with their XO laptops. They are recording their own stories, and discovering new ways to create and explore. Soon this new generation will emerge with the power to change the world.
On November 17th, this year's Give One, Get One campaign will launch. You can help make it another success.”....
http://www.laptop.org/
http://support.laptop.org
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/G1G1_2008
There is an incredible Flickr site documenting the mission’s progress and I encourage everyone to check it out.
I voted for you, Mitch my man, and I want to know why students in Indiana don’t have one of these? If you want to keep our state competitive globally, you need to get laptops in the hands of every K-12 Hoosier. It is easier than you think; just ask me!
If you join the discussion here, I will print the entire dialog and promise to get the message to Mitch.
Tags: create, explore, one laptop per child, stories, viral marketing
Add a Comment
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Comment by Amy Stark on November 18, 2008 at 7:15am - The laptops deployed in countries with no electricity come with a hand crank to recharge the battery. The repeaters nailed to trees to boost signals for the village "intranet" have solar panels to keep them running. The extremely low power requirements of the device is one of Negroponte's favorite features of the laptop.
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Comment by Pat Coyle on November 17, 2008 at 8:55pm - Amy - how does this program expect to expand into countries that don't have reliable sources of electricity? Just curious since we've been reading "Hot Flat and Crowded," which points to the fact that much of Africa is in this situation.
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Comment by Amy Stark on November 17, 2008 at 7:34pm
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I originally pitched this idea to the Mind Trust to secure the Educational Entrepreneur Fellowship and distribute the laptops to IPS students.
The Mind Trust Foundation selected a different initiative, however, so I thought I would take the idea to Mitch and distribute the laptops Statewide. This would allow us to tap into economies of scale and get a lower price.
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Comment by Bronwyn Ware on November 17, 2008 at 6:50pm -
Amy,
Great Idea! Would you consider sending the proposal in order to garner further support to the School Superintendents of IPS, Washington Township, Lawrence Twp, Pike Twp. etc.along with PTA Associations .
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Comment by Amy Stark on November 17, 2008 at 4:06pm
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Hey Just David, Jump into the conversation in the forum section, I am going to print the entire dialog and send it to Mitch.
Join the discussion here,
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Comment by David Mark on November 17, 2008 at 1:38pm - Now this is very cool! I started a discussion last week 'Pay It Forward Smaller Indiana....' and I rec'd very little feedback so far. I like this idea alot. How can we get this going? I would definitely contribute my time, talent and treasure to this cause.
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