Johnny « Hackers For Charity

It all started with a simple, honest post two weeks ago. The center was ready to close. My dream all along was for a center that offered only free computer training, but I couldn’t afford it, not without help. By noon the day after the post, donors led by @Brav0hax had stepped up, sending in over $1,000, enough to float the center for a month and a half.  Then @gdbassett tweeted, challenging Rapid7 and IOActive to donate. Rapid7 stepped up, donated $5,000 along with their own tweeted and blogged challenge. @Threatpost tweeted, along with many others, and the HFC Training Center Fund began to grow.

I am stunned at the result. The message is clear. You believe in what we’re trying to do with the center. You spoke loud and clear with your tweets, blogs, messages and support. I am humbled, and grateful. I admit, I still feel stressed a bit, in fear of the always-present thought of “what if the support ends?”, but for now, we don’t have to scrape to keep the training center open. I am thankful to each one of you for your part in making this happen. On the scale of things, the amount we raised may seem like very little, but I want to be very clear: You all are funding a free computer training center in East Africa. You are making a difference.

In two weeks, you sent in an overwhelming $6,192.44 in individual donations. Combined with the $5,000.00 coming from Rapid7 on October 1st, together we raised enough money to operate the center for over 14 months!

14 months. Amazing!

I’ll do my best to make sure your money isn’t going to waste. I’m excited about the ideas you’ve sent in and I’m looking for creative ways to get the student’s stories out to you.Thanks again, everyone. I am truly humbled.

Here are the somewhat obfuscated donation totals. I’ve tried to keep it as anonymous as possible, but if you or your organization would like public “partnership” recognition, please let me know.

dalerap: $  20.00
neil.at: $ 100.00
socepek: $1000.00
bubba@k: $ 125.00
jt@seve: $ 100.00
reid.ha: $ 250.00
lonefer: $  20.00
dpeters: $ 250.00
nchilbi: $  75.00
ronin7@: $ 200.00
Rapid7 : $5000.00
danasme: $  20.00
emilam@: $ 685.00
scriptj: $  50.00
csr-gro: $ 500.00
jmoran1: $  20.00
peterwo: $ 100.00
jimwass: $ 100.00
borys@b: $  20.00
daniel.: $  20.00
lithron: $ 157.44
steve@o: $ 100.00
yori@co: $  10.00
dc949..: $  10.00
Foss.Gr: $  10.00
ferruh@: $ 785.00
beau.mo: $ 100.00
gbasset: $ 100.00
jeremy.: $  20.00
jsand51: $  20.00
evanpin: $  25.00
Daniel.: $ 500.00
kuzushi: $ 200.00
rockyde: $ 500.00

Woke up yesterday with high hopes for the day. It lasted about an hour. Then I found out that because of underestimating the repair of a clients server, our tech announced it was still down when the staff showed up to work in the morning. Nothing like offlining a charity. Kinda the opposite of what we are supposed to do.

Then I found out that a routine virus scan had nailed the encrypted drive on the server in the training center. That drive held all our course material.

I was supposed to go to Kampala today to meet with the Commissioner or URA who had agreed to help us get the 25 Drobos we won I to Uganda. I had to cancel.

Today, the client server is still down, the training server is only partially rebuilt, the Drobos are still stuck in the US and all the other crap that had been going on is still plaguing me. I’m a wad of stress as I prepare for my speaking gigs in the US and Canada.

The good news is that the training center is in good hands, thanks to some very generous donations. More on that later today.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Yep. That’s right. I’ve tried too hard to sustain our training center in Uganda by making money in Uganda, and it’s just not working. We’ve trained over 1,000 students. We’ve seen student go from no computer experience to landing very well-paying jobs because of their new found IT skills. We know our training is making a difference, but we are simply not making ends meet.

The harder we try to float our expenses, the more our center becomes like a business. Most businesses are cut-throat, and I hate to see us playing that game, investing our time and energy in stuff that really shouldn’t matter. Our goal is to help people, not to make money.

So, I’m taking a big gamble, and I’m changing the rules. We will no longer operate as a business. I want to provide our training for free, and I’m hoping that outside donors will step in to take care of our expenses so we can just focus training people.

My plan is straight-forward. If you come in the door with a letter proving that you’re working for a non-profit, a community-based organization, the police or the like, you train for free. If you really want to learn but you aren’t working with a group that’s committed to positive change, we’ll host a list of vetted organizations that accept volunteers. For every hour you volunteer with them, you receive an hour of free training with us. This connection between students and respected organizations ensures our program has the deepest possible impact on the community.

My initial goal is to fill every seat in the center every single hour we’re open. There may be opportunities for profit later (selling guaranteed seating passes, closing the center one day a week to “rent” slots to entire school classes, etc) but I want our focus to be on training initially and we’ll see what challenges surface and address them.

I know this can work and it will have a massive impact on the community, but it will take action on the part of you, our donors and supporters. Whether you’re donating directly, approaching your company to garner their support or just spreading the word, I can’t do this without you.

Financial details: Each month we need UGX 700,000 ($250) for rent, UGX 249,000 ($89) for physical and electronic security and  UGX 1,250,000 ($446) a month for salaries, utilities and other operating expenses such as paper, staff food, etc. This comes to $9420 a year, $785 a month, or $196.25 a week. Right now, the dollar is VERY strong, and these prices are much lower that they were 6 months ago. In six months, the exchange rate could flip-flop again, leaving us with higher expense numbers, but that’s where it is right now.

I have drained our account to pay the rent for the next 6 months. At the end of those six months, if nothing comes in, we’re finished. I’m open to suggestions, but based on the past two years worth of experience on the ground, this is by far the best way forward.

One last thing. Because of our switch to a free operating model, I’m open to enforcing some “strings” attached to our students. For example, I think it’s reasonable for students to fill out a bio and questionnaire before taking classes. I think it’s reasonable for them to fill out progress reports and things of this nature. Basically, I’m open to ideas about how students can keep donors in the loop about where they’re from, how they’re progressing and where they’re headed, that sort of thing. Please send me your suggestions. As a donor, what would make you feel most connected? What would convince you that your manoey has been well spent? What would you like to see? I’m also open to other wacky ideas, like selling advertising space for local businesses on our machines, if we can figure out the technology to make that work. Send me whatever ideas you have.

Thanks in advance for your continued support. I still believe in what we’re doing here, despite the many setbacks, and I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes us. I hope it won’t be our last.

We’ve been working with RACHEL for a long time. We love their stuff and are huge supporters. We want to get the RACHEL collection in as many hands as possible. The only downside is that the content is MASSIVE (up to 120GB) and the material has a tendency to get out of date quickly, especially given that the contributors (Wikipedia, Khan Academy, Project Gutenberg) all update so frequently.

Our updates have been coming tucked in suitcases packed onto DVD’s and USB drives. Obviously this is not an optimal solution.

In order to try to solve that problem, the RACHEL group is working with satellite technology to push updates to places that are bandwidth-challenged.

We’re proud to be the first to pilot their new distribution program. Norberto of the RACHEL group has donated a satellite radio and receiver to help push the RACHEL updates to us free of charge. I’m excited to say that today we got the first piece of this in place.

We got the equipment connected, worked with Aaron at OmniSat and got our first satellite signal. Once we got the signal, Aaron set up an email address for us. I sent an image of a purple flower to the email address using my 3G connection and within minutes, the file appeared in my satellite download queue. The transfer happened quickly, and I’m excited to say we’ve received our first satellite transmission!

Tomorrow, I hope to work more with the RACHEL team and see what’s next, but for now, we’ve got our Hello, World! (that nice purple flower), satellite style!

The satellite radio and antenna

The purple flower transfer in progress

Purple flower delivered from space!

Downloaded videos and software for the Ugandan Water Missions Team today. Check out this great project team in action here.

Thanks to Dan from Michigan and his cousin for coordinating this great care package. He sent multi tools, wifi bullets and several usb sticks. This was a great boost. Sparks is already enjoying his multi tool!

I’m back in Uganda after DEFCON. I had an amazing trip and I’m so thankful to so many people, especially to the volunteers that gave of their time, those that attended my talk, those that made donations and those that showed their support in other ways. I really can’t thank you enough.

Things in Uganda are .. interesting to say the least. I came back to bad news, my most trusted employees vanished without a trace, taking with him equipment he was loaned and rumor has it that he facilitated the “borrowing” of some amount of our training software.

I’m stunned, as this person was very loyal and trusted. Since I’ve had no discussion with him, all I have is speculation and third-party reports about what went down.

This comes right on the heels of some major layoffs and “attrition” within the organization here in the Uganda. The result is that we have lost all but one of our technicians, both senior managers, an accountant and a training center attendant. This leaves us with only one worker in the center (Teo), who despite being very personable and an excellent trainer, is simply not able to run the training center by herself. So the center is closed temporarily and we’re looking at some changes in how we run the center. It’s also time to pay the rent, and unless something happens, we won’t be able to make our rent payment.

If it weren’t for the encouragment I received from the community at DEFCON, I would be thinking of closing up shop here in Uganda. It’s that bad. But I’ll keep plugging on.

Thanks again everyone for the warm reception and for the many MANY long hours of encouragement, support and great converation.

Johnny..

Pwnie Express (www.pwnieexpress.com) has offered to donate one of their PwnPlug Wireless units to our DEFCON auction! Thanks guys! These things are really amazing. I plan to play with it all weekend before letting it go from my cold dead hands. =)

I’ve really gone back and forth about my trip to DEFCON this year.

When I sit down and look at things financially and logically, it makes no sense to pay around $3500 to go to a conference, even if that conference consistently generates over half of our annual operating expenses. If we’re that tight financially, wouldn’t the $3500 be better served staying in the HFC account?

However, when I take logic and finance out of the picture, as Rob Dixon says, “it’s better all-around for HFC when you’re there in person.” (or something like that).. Because, I suppose, as the founder and spokesperson and official talking head for an organization built around a community, there’s just no replacement for being there In Real Life.

So I’m going to try everything to make it to DEFCON to be with the folks that make all our work possible. But we just don’t have the funds. So since Kickstarter refuses to even allow our shirt sales (contrary to the fact that other shirt sales are running just fine), We’ll just do it this way.

We’ll be selling a limited number of the DEFCON shirts for $20 at the show, but the white shirts will not be sold anywhere except through this fundraiser. They are a very limited printing (100 shirts) only for our volunteers, staff and supporters of the “Get Johnny to DEFCON fundraiser”. The white ringers can, of course, be signed.

Note that right now, these are for pickup only at DEFCON. We will hold your shirt through the conference, and if you don’t pick it up, we’ll try to ship it out to you.

Click on the shirts below to get to the store, and thanks for your support!

Click the shirt to buy now!

Click the shirt to buy now!

I wanted to use Kickstarter to raise some money to fly to DEFCON., but that failed. I still don’t understand their response. The winning line was, “Ideally, our platform is a tool to fund creative output from an experience — not the experience itself.” I guess I’m missing the point of kickstarter.

And I’m admittedly bitter when I see approved kickstarters for $5,000 parties to watch the movie Hackers, (regardless of the add-on EFF fundraiser) poor student Thesis films, buying some random guy a camera, and albums from groups whose acronym will even make your granny blush (FYKMA).

I mean I just wanted to sell some T-Shirts, which seems reasonable considering the Grace Jones doesn’t Give a F$% shirt, the “I’m with Genius” shirt and the “This is not a kickstarter” shirt, all approved by Kickstarter, but no dice. They rejected the idea. I mean, ‘cmon. This kickstarter is just a T-Shirt sale, so what the heck?

Whatever. I’ll submit again, just to advertise T-shirts, and see what happens.

In the meantime, look to a future post for my own ghetto attempt to do the same thing.