If you'd like to donate a computer or other device to a student in need, please fill out this form or send us an email at admin@the-it-club.org. Please direct all donation-related inquiries at Brian Deng or Ben Guo. Thank you so much for your support!
During the COVID-19 lockdown, online learning has become the only way students to receive their education. And yet, 35% of households in the US with school-age children and an annual income of under $30,000 don't have access to adequate technology for learning at home. Even with schools reopening, technology has become an integral part of today's education.
For instance, over 11,600 students in San Jose alone do not have a computer to learn with and are missing out on countless opportunities to learn, grow, and become successful. This is the goal of The IT Club: we keep devices out of the e-waste and put them into the hands of students and families where they belong. With the appropriate upgrades, even surprisingly old computers are easily capable of office work (a 15-year-old Core 2 Quad can juggle 20 Chrome tabs and a Zoom session without a hitch).
We have refurbished, upgraded, and donated over 200 computers to students to enable online learning and/or technology-centric in-person education. Repaired computers are donated to various nonprofit organizations (KAFPA, Help One Child, Bay Echo, Bay Initiative, etc.) and directly to families in need in the Bay Area.
By donating a computer, you directly help a family in need by giving them access to the awesome benefits of technology. Even if it's broken, that's okay - we can still repair and donate it. We disinfect all devices and securely erase all data on them among other services, so your personal data is safe.
We accept computer donations of all ages and in any condition - it doesn't matter if there are missing keycaps, a cracked screen, or loud fan, among other issues. The computers don't even have to be in one piece--we can rapidly repair, reset, and donate devices that have arrived to us in even the worst condition. Even if a computer is too old to refurbish, it's still quite useful as parts to upgrade other devices with.
A valid concern that many of our donors have is about the data contained in the device. As part of our standard refurbishment process, we securely erase and destroy all data on every device donated to The IT Club, and we follow a strict series of requirements to absolutely ensure maximum data security compliant with the military- and enterprise-grade DoD 5520.22-M standard. Before donation, we can also provide you with instructions to securely erase data yourself as an extra measure (though we still erase the drives again as part of our standard procedure). If you live close to one of our branches, we can return the drives immediately upon donation, ensuring that the data remains in your possession. We can also destroy drives upon request, and provide evidence of their destruction.
