What to do with old computer stuff (especially monitors)?

[Aristotle]

Is there anything worthwhile you can do with old computers or computer peripherals and monitors?

What if the stuff is not in tip top condition?

We have a number of computers we'd like to get rid of but don't really know how/where. Don't worry: I do at least a DOD wipe of all HDs before getting rid of a computer.

I also have a Sony 21" Trinitron that I'd like to get rid of somehow. It is not in perfect working condition. The black is more of a very dark green imho and about 80% of the time it has these faint diagonal lines spaced an inch apart over the whole screen. But surely someone could fix it or do something with it.

Any ideas?

[drasoini]

Ebay?

[Katidyd]

Donate it to shcools or charity and get a deduction.

[Malacasta]

I heard (and this might be an urban myth) that one of the problems with donating computers to schools/charities, is that Microsoft still requires you to purchase/register the operating systems (even if you'd already done that when the computer was yours). Apparently there was some school in Geelong that had to throw out all its donated computers because it couldn't afford to register the OSs.

[Aristotle]

Also, people always say "donate it!" but then the question is: where?

How do you find out who actually wants stuff?

[Deokoria]

If you want to donate, my suggestion would be donate to a specific child or family. I'm generally not a fan of large, structured charities because it seems like too many of your donations goes into administration rather than actually helping people. (cough, cough, United Way) However, if you have an Upward Bound program in your area, you might be able to contact them and see if they have names of people who would be interested. I don't know what the Upward Bound program is like out there, but when I lived in Cincinnati, I did a lot of volunteer work for them and they were wonderful about trying to help disadvantaged high school students get used computers and the like through private donations to help prepare them for college or even just to get them on the college track. If your area doesn't have an Upward Bound Program or if the program they do have isn't as involved as the one I worked with, you may want to try calling local high schools and speaking to guidance counselors. A lot of times, they will know of a few students from low income families that are working hard to excel in school and would not only love a computer but would actually get a great deal of use out of it as well. (As a side note, if you ever want to give a couple hundred dollars to a good cause, you can always get in touch with a local high school and ask them about donating to a book scholarship for low-income college-bound seniors.)

Another route to take would be to look up any independently run animal rescue groups in your area. A lot of times, these are literally groups of people keeping animals in their own homes while they are trying to find new homes for the animals. Many of these groups work with little to no funding and are extremely happy with donations of ANY kind from office equipment to a simple bag of pet food.

If it were me, I would probably want to try to donate to a financially needy college-bound student first. But, in most communites, there are lots of very small independent organizations that do a ton of hard work and would be ecstatic at the offer of used computer equipment to help them out. They're not as easy to locate as the big name charities, but they would most definitely appreciate your contribution more and probably get a lot more use out of it, too.

Oh yeah, there's always the Salvation Army. In most parts of the country, they're pretty good people, too.

[Pyrosama]

I donate all techie stuff, old furniture and clothes to the local Goodwill or The Salvation Army. You can fill out a slip that itemizes what you are donating. At tax time, you can use the IRS fair market value breakdowns to determine how much to deduct.

I always go at the high end for the techie stuff, even though the stuff is not really the top of the line anymore - I look at it as...the people who are going to get it probably think it's some pretty cool shit, just like I did 3 years ago when I shucked out the dollars for it.

[Enosekel]

I'm with the others - donate if it's useable

I wouldn't donate if the condition is too poor though, otherwise you're just dumping your garbage on someone else. You never know...It might not be useful to you but someone can still use it! I donated a bunch of old computer equipment to a Latino community center and now it is used to help teach evening English classes and for times when people need to type up a resume, surf the web, etc. but don't have their own computers to do it. You could look in the phone book (or maybe you just know places from driving around your neighborhood) for organizations like this, there are lots in my city. There are also youth centers for kids to hang out after school, I don't know that old computers would impress them that much but you never know it doesn't hurt to ask and maybe they could use it for clerical work. Also do homeless shelters have a use/space for used computers? Probably.

Make sure to include all the software and serial numbers, warranty information, manuals, etc. with the machines, since if something goes wrong or something new needs to be installed they probably will need these.

[Thalia]

Call a local school and ask if they are interested. You may have to try a couple, but most schools love to get hand me down computer equipment. In a lot of cases it's better than what they have. When we donated a system the school had us estimate the value and the principal gave us a letter for tax purposes.

I also donate educational software my kids have outgrown to schools.

The school I work at gladly accepts old systems. We do buy proper site licenses for software, but it helps if you don't have to buy all the hardware as well.

If things need repaired, sometimes local tech high schools will take them for students to learn on.

[Pae]

I generally build full systems out of my old computer parts and call the local university. I donate it to the refugees that are in school.

Mind you I do not get a tax credit, but at least it's out of my house and still being used.