[Computerbank] Fee paying

[The Moose(tm)]

Hi All 

I.ve been following the fee paying argument keenly and it's obviously a
very emotive issue. Here's my penni's :P worth.

The idea of payment being equated with ownership is a reality but how do
you ask someone who believes they have nothing for payment? We will always
come across people who want to take advantage of us but does that mean
their need for a computer is any less than another low income earner and
should we even be worried about that. 

To me our core business is to " empower people through IT education"
and as a trainer this is my goal. In this business we need to be as non
judgmental as possible and as affirming as possible. One of the most
important things we give recipients is a sense of self worth, they become
members of the real community because they have a computer just like
working people. All of a sudden they can feel like they are mainstream,
not poor. Many of the recipients we see are wanting to go to school,
become more employable, access the outside world and (often) want their
children or grandchildren not to be educationally and socially 
disadvantaged by poverty.

So what is my idea? Whilst preserving the dignity of recipients and not
pressuring them at all, I would suggest that we make it known that we will
happily accept financial donations for the computers. This could be added
to the application form so by the time recipients reach training there
will have been time for them to consider if they want to do this or not.

As for fundraising we need more corporate sponsership and ad banners could
be the way to go. Could we sell advertising space on the web site? CBV
does have a small submissions group but this needs some more experienced
people.

That's all from me
Penni :P