A Practical Approach to Computer Donation Supply Chain for Non-Profit Organizations

The United States today has a plethora of unused electronic equipment. This equipment comes from universities, small businesses, corporations, and many other sources. This project looks at the best way to put this equipment back to use for the remainder of its usable life by donating it to non-profit organizations in need. In order to complete this project it was necessary to research the areas of Supply Chain Management, Operations Research, and Engineering Economics. The approach for this specific project first involves analyzing the current donation process at California Polytechnic State University ? San Luis Obispo, and its ability to benefit the local and surrounding towns. The analysis looks at the supply chain procedure necessary to get electronic equipment to the non-profits. From here, a proposed solution is developed based on how a student run program could add benefit and make donations a more common occurrence. By acting as a liaison, a student run program can currently handle most of the technical and administrative tasks necessary to release Cal Poly?s computers to a non-profit, and the developed supply chain shows the most effective way to do this. In addition, further steps to better the process involve starting a Cal Poly ASI club, and eventually turning this club into a functioning 501c3 non-profit organization. This report details many of the necessary processes and tools needed to carry out these actions, and also includes documentation of a trial run that was carried out using the liaison role with the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Maria.