OLPC raises $35 million through first world campaign

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 08 January 2008 01:39

IT Industry - Strategy

The Nicholas Negroponte inspired One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program has claimed a major success from its Give One Get One campaign that ran from November 12 through December 31, 2007 in the United States and Canada, raising $35 million.

The campaign, which involved consumers buying two XO laptops, one to keep and the other to donate to a child in an impoverished country, has resulted in more than 100,000 XO computers being distributed to children in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda, according to OLPC.

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who participated in our giving campaign,” said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. “The generous response was overwhelming and significantly helps us move forward our mission of getting laptops into the hands of as many underprivileged children as possible. Give One Get One also quickly broadened the global community of XO laptop users and we’re already getting lots of feedback and creative input about ways to improve the laptop even further.”

The apparent success of the Give One Get One campaign in garnering the support of first world consumers in the US and Canada in just six weeks raises the possibility that OLPC may expand the program to other first world nations and make it ongoing. OLPC has been criticised for trying to convince governments of impoverished nations to buy tens of thousands of its $200 laptops, diverting scarce funds from vital infrastructure projects.

OLPC appears to have garnered significant support from sections of the community in North America, based on its Give One Get One campaign. However, to date there is little news about how well the program is working in the third world.