jibla

Does it make more sense if we formulate it as "access to information" and not "Internet access"?

They are cheaper mainly because the Chrome OS is Free (and maybe because they have almost no hard inside;) As far as we know OS and antivirus licenses make Windows more expensive.

Yes, we do plan to expand in the middle east and African countries by partnering with the partners on the ground.

Regarding the political issue, I'd rather don't step into these discussions as this thread has another purpose. The fact is Georgia has 250K IDP's (Internally displaced people) in the country not able to go back to their homes.

At the moment we are bootstrapping and co-founders work for free, but we hope to become more effective after we reach some scale. We need to keep our team running not only to pay for the internet but for students identification (Working with schools and NGO's), Donor growth, community building, partner relations (ISP's and local Edtech partners who provide their services to our students for free) impact measurement, etc. At the moment a couple of corporate donors are covering those costs. I am not sure if I've answered your question

Thanks for your feedback. Agree, we are considering open-source OS's as well. We are at an early stage and Chromebooks were fast and cheap solutions to start with. But will take your comment into consideration.

We work with the incumbent operators and smaller Wifi providers. They offer free installations for our families and in some areas discounts on a monthly fee. Btw we thought we were solving the affordability problem, but it turned out some local Wifi operators are willing to deploy infrastructure in areas where they considered not profitable before. As part of our partnership in September, they launch a new base station in a rural area of Georgia and we are excited about it.

First, we started with the used ones, but the maintenance of used devices was a disaster. Chromebooks were cheap, fast, virus-free and with bigger screens (More convenient for education) We buy them from 150-180 USD per unit. But this doesn't mean we' always go with Chromebooks. We always consider any other solutions based on the need of the project

We've started with the used ones, but used devices need maintenance all the time. And the operations became very inefficient. So we switched to the new Chromebooks because they were cheap, fast, virus-free, battery lifetime. Sometimes we still collect used business laptops from trusted supporters like EY for example, who replace their devices once in 2 years

Thanks for your feedback. We are also thinking about it a lot. What would make us grow faster a nonprofit or a forprofit? We just thought that people would donate only to a nonprofit and were also a bit afraid to switch to for-profit. Don't even know yet, how to test it. Now, this comment shook my mind again;)

Thanks for your feedback. Shrinking content is really what can solve the affordability issue at some point. But still, internet fees are pretty high (according to average income) in many developing countries and also people aren't able to buy devices. But we'll definitely discuss your point!

GiveInternet.org allows anyone to sponsor monthly Internet fees and laptops for underprivileged high school students from refugee settlements and rural areas.

Through monthly recurring donations from up to 700 individuals, we have equipped 350+ students with Chromebooks, Internet access, educational resources and our constant online mentorship. Our donors receive monthly transparency reports with details on every cost, student success stories, and our progress. Now we are working to incorporate a 501(c)3 nonprofit in the US and expand operations to the Middle East and Africa by collaborating with partners on the ground.

As we expand and refine our product, we need your honest feedback on our platform! Let us know what you think about the website, our business model, etc.

How?

Comment here; Fill out this 3-5 minute survey - http://bit.ly/2P3wDj6 Schedule a call with us for an interview-https://calendly.com/gjibladze/giveInternet

An interesting and inspiring case in Switzerland -http://politicindia.com/news-details.php?newsid=1059

They've introduced a novel banking scheme in which retired care volunteers “deposit” hours worked looking after elderly people. In return they can use any time saved up for their own care provision later in life.

I volunteer to a nonprofit which I've founded myself https://giveinternet.org/. Since I come from a developing country Georgia (Europe), I have experienced first-hand the transformational power of connectivity in improving people's lives. I believe that Internet access is a human right, but also a privilege which the developed world takes for granted.

Btw recently stumbled upon this article: "Streaming services are seeing a jazz renaissance amongst younger fans" https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-44813683 Surprising but encouraging ;)