What $250 actually funds in a digital skills program

Most donation pages ask you to trust a percentage. We would rather show you the arithmetic for one person, because that is the unit that matters: one adult, one seat, one computer they keep.

The line items

• Refurbished Chromebook or laptop, tested and warrantied by us: roughly $120.
• Refurbishing labor and parts — battery, keyboard, imaging, data wipe with certificate: roughly $45.
• Instruction and coaching across eight weeks, 36 lessons, plus live office hours: roughly $60.
• Follow-up at 30 and 90 days — job search check-in, troubleshooting, references: roughly $25.

That is about $250 per completed learner. When a company donates hardware instead of cash, the device line drops out and the same gift covers two or three seats, which is why in-kind donations are worth as much to us as checks.

Why we publish a per-person cost

Overhead ratios are easy to game and tell you almost nothing about whether a program works. A per-completion cost is harder to fake, because it forces us to define completion and count it. Ours is: finished the coursework, demonstrated the core skills, and left with a working computer.

What the money does not go to

• No paid advertising for donations. Every dollar spent asking for money is a dollar not seating someone.
• No tuition subsidies to third-party bootcamps. We teach the course ourselves.
• No device leases. Learners own what they receive outright.

The current goal

We are raising $10,000 before the November 11, 2026 cohort. At $250 per person that is forty adults with a computer and eight weeks of practical training, including AI tools they can use in a job search the week they finish. Monthly gifts help most, because a predictable $25 a month lets us buy devices in batches instead of one at a time.