From: newsforge.com
"Help introduce charities to free software"
When I recently searched for organisations that were trying to help introduce charities to free software, and I found practically no information. I find this particularly surprising, as charities are, in many ways, the most worthy organisations to use free software. If you can go to a charity and propose a solution that is more stable and secure, free from vendor lock-in, and free to use and maintain, you can help the organization plough the savings into the work it is there to do.
How can we help free software and charities speak the same language? With a combination of advocacy and handholding. If every person reading this article told one local charity about free software, just imagine the impact this could have. Yes, I'm talking to you, hunched over your PC reading this text. Take an active role.
To begin, you need to find a list of charities in your area. Use a search engine such as Google, check the phone directory and yellow pages, or look for a charities register or list at your local library or on your local government/council Web site. You may find an enormous selection of charities to choose from. Choose for adoption a small one that may only be run by a few people in their spare time or at weekends. These small charities are particularly cash-strapped, and often have fairly modest IT requirements.
Get in touch with the charity and explain that you are not selling anything, but making a suggestion for some free software that could help them. At this point you should expect some cynicism. Most people are not aware of free software, and are used to hearing from door-to-door salesmen with a profit to make. Simply explain the issues involved, such as freely available software, communities that develop this software, and the idea of creating tools that are shared among people and cannot be abused by any single person or commercial entity. You should also mention that commercial support and products are available to complement this software.
When I realised there was no single document that really explained what the issues were for charities making use of free software, I wrote a document (linuxforcharities.pdf) that discusses many of the issues and applies them to Linux-based software. I recommend that you print it out and post it to the charity that you selected.
When you have presented them with the information, you may get some further questions from the charity regarding exploring the subject further and discussing a possible solution. In many ways this is the make or break of whether the charity goes ahead with it. Be brutally honest with them. The worst thing you can do is to present free software as something it is not. Free software has its problems, as does other software. You need to be as up-front about the problems as you are with the benefits; you don't want the charity to get a system installed and then realise they have particular problems that they could have known about in advance. If you are clear with them, they will be grateful for your honesty, which will reflect well on the free software community.
If the charity is interested in deploying the system you have been discussing, the next step is getting it installed. You may or may not want to be involved in the installation. Although it is beneficial for you to get the system installed for them, this is going beyond the call of duty. If you do not want to help, you may be able to point them in the direction of other people or business who can. You could also point them in the direction of books and documentation that can help them get the software installed, and give them CD-Rs with the software on it.
All of us can pull together and get in touch with our local charities. LUGs can get involved too. Good luck, and keep me posted (charities@jonobacon.org) with how you get on.
"Jono Bacon is a professional writer, developer, and consultant based in the U.K. Jono writes for Linux Format, Linux Pro, Linux Magazine, Linux User & Developer, PC Plus, MacFormat, MacTech and others."