OLPC Deployment Schedule

I made an interesting discovery while going through the OLPC Deployment Guide's Sample Deployment Schedule. According to their schedule, we shouldn't expect our XO laptops to arrive in country until Day 125 (always assuming that we get a grant, of course). Assuming Day 0 is when OLPC makes their decisions on who gets grants, which in the past seems to have been mid-April or later, that would put Day 125 at mid- to late August! How can that be? That's when we'll be leaving! I need to go back and read blogs from previous grant recipients to see when they received their laptops. This has me very concerned.

Donate your OLPC XO laptop on Facebook

I've started a Facebook group to try to reach people who've received XO laptops through the OLPC Give One Get One (G1G1) program with the hope of getting those who aren't using their XOs anymore to donate them to our project. Short of that, maybe we can find someone in Idaho and/or Ohio to loan us theirs to use for hands-on fundraising.

Go to:
Donate Your OLPC XO Laptop on Facebook.

Getting the word out - Facebook, Twitter

I've now got a Facebook page for Laptops to Lesotho. It's also been added to the Facebook Causes, though I still need to register it as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the IRS before we can start accepting donations on Facebook. And, I've got a Twitter account for Laptops to Lesotho, aka Laptops2Lesotho. So, the advertising infrastructure is set up, but we'll hold off generating some buzz 'til we're officially a nonprofit.

Join our cause at:   Facebook Cause -- Laptops to Lesotho
Follow our Tweets, go to:  Twitter -- Laptops2Lesotho and click Follow.

Forming our nonprofit organization: Laptops to Lesotho

We asked our friends for suggestions, and now we have a name for our nonprofit, Laptops to Lesotho (Inc.), the organization we'll use to raise additional funds for our OLPCorps Africa project. I've got our EIN number from the IRS, and I've written the mission statement, by-laws, and articles of incorporation.

I still need to recruit and confirm board members, then I'll be ready to submit it to the Secretary of the State of Idaho for incorporation. Once that's done, we'll register as a nonprofit with the IRS.

If we're lucky, all these legal steps will be done before Christmas, and we can start collecting donations during the giving season.

Our OLPCorps Africa website

Please visit our new page on the OLPCorps Africa website:

      OLPCorps Africa - Lesotho 2010

for the latest on our grant proposal, background information, list of team members, and our plans for the project.

Please keep in mind that this is a work in progress, so we will be adding and editing it regularly. We welcome any constructive comments or suggestions you may have which are aimed toward improving the outcome of this project.