Hardware Grants Program Temporarily Closed to New Applications
If you have questions about our programs please use our contact form to reach the Digital Inclusion team
Are your community members in need of a computer?
Often nonprofits provide a full range of services for community members, from housing to job opportunities. Unfortunately, access to available technology to be granted to their community members is not easy to find. Free Geek offers grants to connect the community members that qualifying nonprofits serve with free and low-cost technology, in order to bridge the digital divide.
Are you eligible?
Please read this criteria thoroughly to determine if our Hardware Grants program can appropriately serve your organization’s needs.
- Must be a 501c(3) nonprofit organization, under fiscal sponsorship of a nonprofit, or a public entity.
- Must be located in Oregon or Washington.
- Please note that laptops are only available to eligible organizations in Oregon and Clark County, WA.
- Pickup at Free Geek's location in Portland, OR is required.
- Must comply with Free Geek anti-discrimination policy.
- Must dispose of the hardware in an environmentally responsible manner when it has reached the end of its lifecycle.
- Must be able to pick up the hardware in person from Free Geek’s office in Portland, Oregon. Grants are provided unboxed. We do not ship technology to grantees. Please note that shipping your granted technology voids the tech support warranty.
- We ask that grant recipients cultivate a positive relationship with Free Geek, including posting about grants received on your newsletters and social media, to help raise awareness about our program.
- Eligible organizations may not submit multiple applications within a grants cycle.
- Eligible organizations must wait 6 months after the fulfillment of a grant to reapply.
Who is not eligible?
- Individuals
- Are you an individual asking for technology for your personal use? Please see our programs for K-12 students and adults.
- Nonprofits applying for technology for organizational use
- Are you applying for technology for your organization's own use? See our Organizational Hardware Grants program instead.
- International organizations
- We rarely make grants to international organizations due to difficulty in verifying the organization’s status and responsible recycling when the equipment becomes obsolete.
- Check out the World Computer Exchange or TechSoup for international alternatives.
- We do not make grants to 501(c)4, 501(c)5, 501(c)6 or 501(c)7 organizations.
What do we grant?
Desktop Tower PCs
- i3 processor between 2.4 and 3.2GHz speed or faster
- 4 GB of DDR3 RAM
- 250GB or larger hard drive
- 64-bit system
- DVD R/W optical drive
- On-board video
- Onboard Ethernet (WiFi capability unavailable) - wireless adapters may be purchased separately
- No webcam, microphone, or speakers
- Monitor, mouse, keyboard, power cables provided
Operating system:
- Linux Mint for free (not Windows)
Applications temporarily closed
"All of the families have just been gushing with gratefulness… especially the students. They were super excited as the desktops are not glitchy like the school tablets and they can see more of their classmates on the bigger screen." - Yanci Brownson, Resource Navigator
“Thank you soooo much for helping our family with this computer equipment. We’re so grateful!” - Kapua Family
“The computer is such a help with the kids home schooling- God bless you guys” - Escobar family
“My young niece loves school so much- she was so worried she would not be able to see her teacher and classmates. Now she can be an actively participating in class. Thank you!” - Sheppard family
“The desktop is going to help me become computer literate with the help of my children” - Mackender Mom