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[meloukhia]

As donor excitement has mounted over laptop deliveries in the last week or so, an unfortunate fact seems to have surfaced, and that is that OLPC is really incapable of running a nonprofit effectively. The shipping debacle has illustrated that the organization was obviously not prepared for this time of shipping deployment, and in the process it made a lot of donors extremely angry. Nonprofits do not want angry donors, because angry donors will be happy to tell everyone and anyone about their frustrations, thereby making your business look bad.

Having worked for a few nonprofits myself, I am well aware that running a nonprofit is exactly like running a business. Donors are customers. Customers with good hearts, perhaps, who want to support a good cause, but they are also expecting to get something out of their donations. When they don't get what they want, bad things tend to happen, and then your nonprofit collapses, even if it was established to support a really great, novel, groundbreaking cause.

The public relations damage caused by the chaos over shipping would have been easy to stop in the early stages, but at this point it's an out of control juggernaut that OLPC is going to spend months or years repairing. Hopefully public support for the organization won't be undermined by bitter donors, but it could be, and if that happens, OLPC might never get off the ground. It's tragic to see a nonprofit foundering, and so far the anger seems to be confined to sites like this one, but all it takes is one semi-well known paper picking up the story, and it will be everywhere.

The organization broke several cardinal rules in dealing with donors:

• 1. Communicate. It is crucial to communicate with donors, even if you're not saying anything terribly interesting. Assure them that the $400 they spent has been received, that your organization is doing something with it, and that you care about you donors. Even if there's no news, send a newsletter saying that; if shipping isn't going as planned, say that too. Just keep people informed! For an organization which is all about transparency and open source, the total lack of communication about shipping issues is a big, big problem.
• 2. Make good on your claims. If you claim you're going to ship laptops to Canada, by gum, you've got to ship laptops to Canada. If you claim to be running a first come, first served plan, stick with it, or plan on being able to explain why day one donors still don't have their laptops while later donors are happily playing with theirs. If you set up a shipping schedule, adhere to it, don't change it repeatedly; especially when you email that shipping schedule out, so donors can clearly see that you've changed the data.
• 3. Keep donors happy. When they call to ask inane questions, answer them. When they send desperate emails asking for information, take the time to read and respond to them, rather than knocking off a pro forma reply without really looking. When you can see that donors are restless and upset, take steps to make them not restless and upset.
• 4. Show donors the cause. OLPC should be plastering their front page with pictures of deployments to the third world, not relying on third party sites to do it. Showcase work by the children using the laptops, track deployments as they leave the United States and reach other countries; just show donors what is happening.
• 5. Respect the money. Because a charity is a business, and if people aren't happy with how you use their money and treat them, they will take their money elsewhere.

If OLPC was not prepared to distribute laptops commercially, it should have never offered the G1G1 program in the first place, or it should have waited until it was prepared. Instead, I suspect that they rushed the program in an attempt to cash in on Christmas spending, and that brilliant plan may have backfired. If OLPC starts now, it might be able to salvage relations with angry donors; preferably before they embark on disputes with their credit card companies over their donations.

Some critics of those who are angry about the shipping situation are fond of parroting the "it's about the children" line, and it is, to some extent, but it's also about a contract that this organization entered into with donors who gave their money to the program in good faith. It's about questioning how a charity will survive when it cannot maintain healthy donor relations. I hold nonprofits to the same customer service standards that I hold businesses to, and if this was a regular business, I would have reported OLPC to the Better Business Bureau by now, because this treatment is simply unacceptable.

[Torokun]

It is a huge disappointment that the donors who signed up in first minutes of the G1G1 program have to still wait for their XO while people who signed up weeks later are getting theirs first.

(cough....  me....)

I am not jelous or anything.  In fact, I am really happy for people who are getting their laptops.

I am just saying it really makes OLPC org look bad...

[iduridur07]

You have to look at it with your non-profit business "glasses". This is not Dell/HP with JIT manufacturing and 1 week manufacturing times.

It seems the "customer" is the highest priority for the olpc.org people.

Think of who the real "customer" is here.

It is the children who get the XOs that are the customers not the donors. Patience is needed. You will get your XO and so will some "customer" in a far away land. This is not to make a profit or to let you surf the web on a revolutionary hardware/software device . It is to bring "light" to parts of the world that need it. I would have waited another month for my laptop with no problems.

[meloukhia]

I think you're missing the point of the issue, which is not necessarily impatience on my part (or on the part of others who have experienced shipping problems), but upset with the way that OLPC has communicated with us. Communication skills are extremely important to nonprofit organizations, and neglecting your donors, or making them feel neglected, is a great way to give your organization a really bad name.

When I am told that something is arriving at a particular time, I expect it. I would have been just as happy with a delivery window of 1 January-31 January, if that's what OLPC decided on. The issue is that the organization misrepresented itself and bungled the shipping; switching carriers, dropping stuff off with no signature, not sending out tracking emails...none of these things are good.

People who have criticized people who dare to speak out about this complete mismanagement like to make it sound like we are taking tools from the hands of children, and that simply isn't the case. If OLPC had said "oh my god we just got a big order from somewhere and we are going to reroute the G1G1 laptops to them," I don't think anyone would have complained. But the fact of the matter is that OLPC is just taking our money and treating us like s**t, and I'm not going to tolerate that from anyone, even a nonprofit.

[eden]

meloukhia, I am glad you spoke out.  I understand your frustration because I feel it too.  I want OLPC to succeed.  I wanted a laptop before the Dec 31 cutoff so I could show it around, encourage more support for the project, get more orders started. 

A little more information from OLPC would have gone a looong way when it became clear that shipping wasn't going as hoped.

I saw the update about Canadian shipping that was posted on the laptopgiving.org site: http://laptopgiving.org/en/shipping-information.php

OLPC is becoming aware of the lack of communication, and this is a start. 
 

[John_G1G1D1]

You have to look at it with your non-profit business "glasses". This is not Dell/HP with JIT manufacturing and 1 week manufacturing times.

I look at OLPC with non-profit glasses.  But Brightstar is the main culprit here.  Now I understand a multi-national 4.5+ billion a year company which supplies 1 in every 20 cell phones in the world, and lists clients such as Verizon and Wal-mart shouldn't be expected to deliver the world, but at least something better.  They are a supply chain company, which means they take the product from birth to ultimate delivery to the customer.  Now Brightstar promised in press releases ( http://www.brightstarcorp.com/news/printerfriendly.htm?storyid=101207-134 ) that they would be sending out first come first served.

As to the "real" customers, it's even a higher standard than we are expecting.  When you deal with Government contracts, you have to deliver the contracted goods/services by a certain time, or penalties occur, in addition to bad press.  If a US based company can not handle deliveries and communication in the US, where nearly everyone has email, then what could happen in a foreign country?  Here's a small example.  I ordered a $56 dollar titanium ring from Canada.  Not only did I receive an e-mail from FedEx themselves when it shipped (you can apparently opt for a notification when you generate the packing slip), but using shipping class as my XO, it made it to my door in about a day from Canada/Washington State, and shipped the same day as my XO.  Now while I can't fault Brightstar for the shipping time, a small workshop jeweler in CA gave me more information/communication than a multi-billion dollar corporation.

[Eph Zero]

Yes, I think Brightstar is the problem, not OLPC. But as others in this forum have said, the logistics of shipping a single computer to thousands of users vs. shipping a thousand computers to a single school are very different.

I think that OLPC probably put G1G1 together very quickly, and the people they contracted to let them down. I assume that they have spent far more time working out the distribution plans for the children for whom these computers were made.

Everything that I saw on OLPC gave shipping "estimates," and stated that dates were not guaranteed.

And yes, communication has been poor. That's the only real complaint that I have. But I suspect that they were overwhelmed by the response to the G1G1 program and are doing the best they can. It's just taking longer than everyone would like.

I just hope this whole thing doesn't hurt the program in general -- or put OLPC off from doing a G1G1 for the XO-2.

[Ben James Ben]

I want to write more later, but I agree with you, meloukhia. It's sad that OLPC is hurting itself with its mismanagement of the G1G1 program.

[meloukhia]

Argotnaut, you also make an excellent point when you mention that the flaws probably lie with Brightstar, not OLPC, and I think that's a very good thing to remember. OLPC chooses to contract out delivery to focus on the end product; it's a bummer they chose the wrong contractor!

[Albemarle]

I think we're just seeing teething problems with OLPC. They spent all their time and energy on developing a product and system to help the world's poor. Then they have a creative idea to offer the G1G1 program. Probably no one central to the team had any idea of the logistics problems they just created themselves with that idea.

I have no information that Brightstar is at fault here at all. Frankly, given Brightstar's excellent track record, it's far more likely that OLPC just hasn't got the information and/or products to Brightstar in a timely fashion.

I am as disappointed as anyone that as a Canadian I won't be getting my XO before Christmas.
But there has never been any sense that OLPC aren't doing all they can, given their limited resources and inexperience.
They goofed, with the best of intentions. If they were the type to wait at home until all the lights were green, there would never be an XO. Vive avec le.

I suggest we relax, cut them some slack, and expect they will develop logistics and communication skills equal to their product development skills.

[John_G1G1D1]

Probably no one central to the team had any idea of the logistics problems they just created themselves with that idea.

I have no information that Brightstar is at fault here at all. Frankly, given Brightstar's excellent track record, it's far more likely that OLPC just hasn't got the information and/or products to Brightstar in a timely fashion.

OLPC never had the laptops.  BrightStar is a supply chain company, where they take the product from birth (manufacturing and assembly) to it's final destination.  This is a draw for some comapines, because like OLPC, they don't have the man power/capacity/experience to handle such a huge project.  I would say that the amount of G1G1 donors in the US/Canada is comparable to the amount of Verizon stores/outlets and Wal-Marts.  If this company can get phones from China over to the individual stores that need them, why is it so hard to get them to a home?  Even if OLPC hit print/fax on their database of donors, I wouldn't think Brightstar would have a problem entering those into their shipping computer.  If the average employee did let's say one per minute(experience makes it go faster, I used to do UPS entry into our shipping computer and I got very fast).  OK, it's a problem, so they dedicate 7 employees to enter.  That's 7 a minute x 60 minutes in an hour=420 an hour x 8 hour work day=3,360 entries per day x one week is over 23,000.  There was a month lead time from the first donation to the expected shipping date.  I really don't think that is much of a stretch to expect at least some communication, or a better job.

[olpc_franco]

I donated on Nov 26th.  I got my OLPC on Dec 22d without any email warning.  I have not gotten my T-mobile pin for the promised one year t-mobile internet.

There are no complaints on my part.  I knew I was dealing with a non-profit.  I have been enlightened here that the shipper was another organization.  I simply was willing to wait until jan 31st before I asked about my OLPC. 

I don't know the complexity of this project so, as I said, no complaints.

Hmmm, only one.... been using a touchscreen tablet for two years and before that used a mouse.... So the touchpad was difficult for me and I was more impatient with that than waiting for my OLPC.  I bet a kid would learn it fast, though.  Too lazy to be as good as a kid on the mouse pad, I just added a wireless USB mouse and,... bingo!

[NYLady]

My laptop arrived and, when fully charged, gave the message "Boot Failure".  The Help email has had a couple of suggestions but their ideas are not working.  I hope the organization has the structural set-up to handle a replacement or I won't be a happy camper. 

My biggest question now is "How are the children going to cope with this technology as this is not as simple as it sounded?"  I live in NYC and I have several computers and use them every day for work and play.  I have electricity and access to email and google and forums and yet,  I'm having trouble.  I just hope the computers to the children arrive with a team of people who can make sure they are working and who can teach the children and their teachers how to use them effectively.

Addendum:
Only a few hours later and I'm delighted to report that the Help email team has been able to give me directions I can understand and my computer is up and running!  Awesome.

[jshebib]

even if the problem is the shipping company and not OLPC, it is up to OLPC to ensure that all of its customers are kept happy.  its getting harder to recommend to others to donate when we don't see any promises being kept for Canadians.

[imike24]

Yeah agreed.

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**imike, I have modified your post because it was linking to sites that are not appropriate for this forum.  If you would like to appeal this, please message me or Wayan.  In the meantime, I have copied the links and personal-messaged them to you so they will not be lost and you can replace them if appropriate.

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