You're pledging to donate if the project hits its minimum goal and gets approved. If not, your funds will be returned.
Last week 4 first-year students from my undergrad university reached out to me for advice on which projects they can do without a own laptop as I was the previous coding club president there. They have their first group project in OOPs coming up.
Until now they'd been using the college lab computers, those are very old and honestly quite useless even chrome doesnt open properly in them. The only devices they have are government provided Lenovo tablets (these are given to meritorious students from economically weaker sections based on 12th grade marks). So even if I did suggest them some low compute project for this course it is going to be very difficult for them for the rest of the degree because we also have web dev, AI and ML projects that carry significant grade.
I'd like to help them out by providing laptops. I'm seeking funding to purchase a laptop that can be used throughout their undergraduate degree.
This projects goal is to remove a biggest barrier for these students so they can learn fully instead of doing only projects which barely need any compute and be on an equal footing with their peers.
If this proposal is funded, I'll purchase a laptop and give it to these students. I hope to buy a machine that's reliable enough to last all four years of their degree and suitable for AI projects aswell since in computer science undergrad degree we have to do a year of thesis research and for this in my college usually all professors always ask for some sort of AI project. I'll also continue mentoring them whenever they need help with projects.
The funding will only be used to purchase a laptop. I'm requesting a minimum of $2000 so I can give one MacBook Pro M3 to atleast one of them so they can still work together as a group in group projects. I choose this laptop because I have and use M3 pro and its been great and worked perfectly well thoughout my undergrad altho not ideal for running local LLMs still a very good machine. If the full target is reached, I would buy a MacBook Pro M5 base model for each of them because it'll comfortably handle everything from programming and web development to AI projects for their complete undergraduate degree and probably the best support they can receive.
Base Model Price of Macbook Pro M3 - 2000
Base Model Price of Macbook Pro M5 - 2515
4 * 2515 = 10060
With their consent I can upload proof of their enrollment and academic transcripts along with photographs documenting the laptop handover.
This is an individual effort.
I have always been passionate about helping others. Through iTeach India, I volunteered for a semester at a government school, thought maths for 3 hours each week to school kids from underserved backgrounds. During COVID-19 I co-founded BloodSea, a student-led initiative that helped connect patients with blood donors when hospitals were facing shortages. This also became a food bank for two years we helped distribute meals and essential supplies to families in need.
At my college I held several other student leadership and volunteer roles. I mentored junior students, organized technical workshops, and helped many students get started with programming and engineering projects.
This is the first time I'm seeking external funding or any sort of funding. Earlier projects mostly needed manpower and time, this time I can not provide laptops to them myself hence seeking support.
The most likely reason for failure is not raising enough funding.
If that happens, these students will continue depending on lab computers and tabs. They'll still be able to finish their coursework, but they'll be at a disadvantage whenever they want to work learn independently, participate in hackathons, or build projects beyond what's bare minimum.
None.
I haven't raised any funding for this project before. This is my first attempt at seeking external support to help students.