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Contributing

There are five ways to help Boot Up do its work.

1 · Donate hardware

The single most useful contribution. Boot Up accepts:

  • Laptops (primary need): working, repairable, or parts-donors all welcome
  • Tablets: case-by-case, especially useful for the Seniors track
  • Desktops: case-by-case, mostly for the makerspace test bench
  • Chargers, cables, mice, keyboards: always needed
  • RAM and SSDs: especially needed for refurbishment upgrades

What we don't need: monitors-only, printers, unrepairable mechanical damage, anything older than ~10 years.

Corporate IT departments: Boot Up can process bulk laptop retirement and issue per-device wipe certificates for your records. The sanitization procedure is documented end-to-end at Data Sanitization & Wipe Certificate, designed to align with NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 and IEEE 2883-2022. Contact: (TBD — Phase 0 deliverable).

Tax deductibility: Donations are deductible when BNI Foundation completes 501(c)(3). Until then, donation receipts document the contribution but tax treatment depends on the donor's situation.

2 · Volunteer

At the makerspace (refurbishment): hardware repair and refurbishment, triage and intake, mentorship for Hardware Technician Trainees (especially valuable from working IT professionals), general operations.

In the classroom (instruction): module facilitation (subject experts especially — developers for Module 07, AI practitioners for Module 04, designers for Module 06); Seniors track buddy (Module 08) — a required role pairing 1:1 with a participant for the full track; instructor training for Peer Instructor candidates.

Behind the scenes (operations): intake and inventory data entry, donor outreach and communications, grant-writing assistance (AI drafts, humans submit), documentation and curriculum updates.

Commitment levels vary from a one-time donation drive to weekly engagement. There is no minimum.

3 · Partner

If you run an organization serving any of Boot Up's target audiences — schools, recovery centers, reentry programs, senior centers, libraries, shelters, after-school programs — see Partners for what a partnership looks like. Initial conversations are 30 minutes. No commitment expected.

4 · Fund

See Grants & Funding for the funder strategy. If you are:

  • A local funder or community foundation in WV: a 5-figure local grant is the single highest-leverage thing for Boot Up right now. The program has the design; what it needs is operational runway.
  • A corporate sponsor: cash, hardware, and employee volunteer time all count. Sponsorship of a Hardware Trainee cohort is especially impactful.
  • An individual donor: direct contributions to BNI Foundation are accepted (with the same 501(c)(3) caveat above).

Contact: (TBD — Phase 0 deliverable).

5 · Improve the docs

This site is open source. To suggest changes: file an issue at github.com/Big-Nerd-Idea/big-nerd-idea, open a pull request against main, or (for non-developers) email a suggestion and we'll handle the edit.

Doc conventions: pages live under docs/; the Epistemic Honesty directive applies — significant claims about program outcomes should carry a validation marker ([HYPOTHESIS], [EXPERT REVIEWED], [PILOT VALIDATED], [EMPIRICALLY VALIDATED]); mkdocs build --strict is run by CI, so test internal links locally with mkdocs serve first; Year-1 KPIs and outcome claims are particularly sensitive — preserve the honest framing.

What Boot Up doesn't accept

  • Donations of broken devices the program couldn't responsibly recycle
  • Volunteer time conditional on access to participant data (privacy first)
  • Sponsorship conditional on placing partner branding on awarded devices
  • Funding tied to outcome guarantees the program cannot honestly make (see Impact & KPIs)

The boundaries above are part of the program's integrity. They are not negotiable.