donate laptops
Donate laptops that get a second life
Your company's retired laptops can become a computer room for students in the Global South. We take refurbished enterprise devices, place them where demand is proven, and track every one from your door to a student's desk.
In short
Access to technology should be a human right, not a privilege of geography or income. Every year companies retire laptops that still have years of use in them, and each one is a chance to make that right real for a student who has never had a machine of their own. Instead of an e-waste bin or a drawer, those devices can open the digital world for someone whose only computer so far has been a shared phone.
Tembi Labs turns a donation into lasting access. We accept refurbished enterprise laptops, prepare them, and build them into computer rooms at universities where a hackathon has already proven demand. Devices are earned by the institutions that receive them, so your hardware ends up used, not resold.
How we work
How a donation works
- 01
Get in touch. Tell us what devices you have and how many.
- 02
We assess and collect. We confirm the devices are suitable, then arrange handover with partners such as Computer Aid International.
- 03
Refurbishment and data wiping. Devices are securely wiped and prepared for reuse.
- 04
Placement. Laptops are built into a computer room at a partner university, for institutional use.
- 05
Transparency portal. You can follow your donated devices from door to desk, so you see exactly where they landed.
- 06
Reporting. We report back on the students and the room your devices now serve.
On the ground
Donate Devices
Donate refurbished enterprise laptops to Tembi Labs. Your devices become computer rooms for students in the Global South, tracked in a transparency portal from door to desk.
In short
The German tax angle: Sachspende and Spendenbescheinigung
For companies in Germany, a device donation is a Sachspende, an in-kind donation. In-kind donations can be tax-deductible, and a donation receipt, the Spendenbescheinigung, is what makes that possible. As Tembi Labs is an initiative, we are transparent about our current status and will confirm in advance exactly what documentation we can issue for your donation, so your finance team knows what to expect before anything ships.
Compare
Where your laptops could go
| The old path | The Tembi path |
|---|---|
| Retired laptops sit in storage or head to e-waste | Devices get a second life in a working computer room |
| A device is handed out with no follow-up | Placement only where a hackathon proved real demand |
| No visibility on where hardware ended up | A transparency portal tracks each device from door to desk |
| One-off giveaway | A named local owner and a 6-month check-in keep it alive |
In short
Why donate laptops to charity this way
Deciding to donate laptops to charity is the easy part. Making sure they actually reach someone who needs them is harder. Plenty of well-meant device donations end up resold, stripped for parts, or gathering dust because no one on the ground was responsible for them. Tembi Labs is built to close that gap. Every machine is placed only where a hackathon proved demand, wiped and refurbished to enterprise standard, and tracked to a named computer room.
For a company, this is an IT donation with a clean audit trail. Your retired fleet becomes refurbished laptops for schools and universities in the Global South, your data is destroyed before anything ships, and your CSR or sustainability team gets a real story to report rather than a receipt for a skip. It is the difference between disposing of hardware and extending its life where it counts.
Next step
Ready to donate?
Tell us what you have and we will handle the rest, from collection to placement to a receipt for your records.
Book a call
Host an AI hackathon or become a partner
Pick a slot that works for you. We will walk you through the next steps, from first call to your first event.
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FAQ
Questions, answered.
Refurbished enterprise laptops are the best fit. Get in touch with the models and quantity you have, and we will confirm what is suitable for a computer room before arranging collection.
An in-kind donation, a Sachspende, can be tax-deductible with a donation receipt, the Spendenbescheinigung. Tembi Labs is an initiative, so we confirm in advance exactly what documentation we can issue, before anything ships.
Yes. Every device is securely wiped as part of refurbishment before it is prepared for reuse, so no company data travels with the hardware.
We run a transparency portal that tracks donated devices from your door to a student's desk, so you can see exactly which computer room and university received them.
We arrange handover and refurbishment with trusted partners such as Computer Aid International, so your team does not have to manage logistics beyond preparing the devices.
To institutions. Laptops are built into shared computer rooms at partner universities, so many students benefit rather than a few individuals.
Our focus is company donations of enterprise laptops at a useful scale for a computer room. If you are an individual who wants to help, get in touch and we will point you to the best way to support.
Devices are placed only where a hackathon proved demand, with a named local owner and a 6-month check-in. That is the difference between hardware that gets used for years and hardware that sits idle.
Yes. Bulk donations of retired enterprise laptops are exactly what a computer room needs. Tell us the models and quantity, and we will confirm what fits and arrange collection through our refurbishment partners.
They should be working or economically repairable enterprise machines. Used laptops with some wear are fine. We assess every batch before collection so nothing is shipped that cannot serve a student. ---
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