​Challenges

CCAA collects used computer equipment and supplies from corporate sponsors and gives them to smaller organizations that support abuse victims. Its roster of sponsors includes leading Canadian businesses such Hudson's Bay, Fedex, P&G, Haggar Canada, Hard Rock Café, Chevron, Toronto Police Association, Hasbro, AOL Canada, Toronto's Q107 radio and others. Larger sponsors often give CCAA their used computer equipment, but CCAA's end users prefer more recent equipment to support advanced computing capabilities.

What is the best way for CCAA to support the changing needs of both the sponsors and the benefiting charities?

"In these challenging times, our partners want to keep up their giving, so we needed to find innovative new ways to enable organizations to continue making corporate donations in support of charities," said Ellen Campbell, Founder and Executive Director, CCAA.

Solution

To address its sponsorship challenge, the CCAA joined Compugen Finance's Green4Good program, which allows organizations to securely dispose of decommissioned equipment, protect the environment and generate charitable donations.

"We are excited about the Green4Good program because it facilitates donations, while at the same time offering a much-needed service to partner organizations that need to properly dispose of old equipment," said Campbell.

Under the program, CCAA sponsors have Compugen Finance assess the value of their end-of-life technology. Assets having residual value are refurbished and resold by Compugen Finance, with the proceeds donated to the CCAA on the sponsor's behalf, the form of cash and technology credits that the CCAA can use to purchase new computer equipment and technology services from Compugen. Equipment that has no residual value is recycled in accordance with legislation and environmental best practices.

Data-bearing assets such as disk drives are wiped clean or destroyed, and a report on each asset is provided to the donor.

"We're enhancing our programs based on the Green4Good model because sponsor organizations will know that their donations are not being used to pay for administration costs, but rather are going to a specific program to help abuse victims reclaim their lives," said Campbell.

Results

Campbell says the Green4Good program is a creative solution for the CCAA. From the sponsor's perspective, the Green4Good program solves the three main concerns that come with recycling used IT assets: data security, environmental responsibility and disposal costs.