Narrative description of activities

Polder, Inc. (“Polder”), a newly formed California nonprofit public benefit corporation, is organized and operated for the purpose of advancing education in the developing world by addressing urgent educational challenges facing developing communities today. 

I.    Present Activity: One Media Player Per Teacher (OMPT)

Polder’s flagship initiative is the One Media Player Per Teacher program (OMPT).  Through OMPT, Polder helps provide portable media players (PMPs) equipped with audio speakers and/or video screens to teachers in remote areas of the developing world and trains them to use these devices as valuable educational tools for their students.  Inspired by the One Laptop Per Child project, OMPT empowers people trapped in poverty, who have no access to the Internet, by connecting them to crucial information that can better their lives.  At this time, 100% of Polder’s time is allocated to OMPT.

Polder was founded on the belief that PMPs have the power to enhance learning and empower teachers and students of all ages in developing countries.  PMPs can be loaded with rich digital media audio and video files to enable students to listen to and view educational audio and video programs.  A PMP has the capacity to hold an entire year’s school curriculum, and can also be used to disseminate information to educate adults about health, agriculture, sanitation, and other important topics.

PMPs have significant advantages over other, more traditional means of transmitting educational audio programs in developing countries, such as radio broadcasting.  The most advanced and successful implementation of radio broadcasting as a means of transmitting educational audio programs is Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI).  One of the limitations of IRI is that the teacher and students have to listen to the broadcast at a specific time, and there is no way to stop and start the program once the broadcast lesson had begun.  With PMPs, teachers and students can listen to lessons at their own pace.  They can start and stop the program at will.  They can assemble to listen and learn together, or they can watch the program on their own.  PMPs also overcome other limitations of traditional broadcasting, as there is no need to adjust an antenna or a tuning knob, and static or interference never interrupts the lesson.

Polder implements OMPT by working with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have field workers on the ground in developing countries to coordinate and present on-site training forums, panels, lectures, and workshops on the use of PMPs as educational tools.  Polder conducts research to (a) identify the most suitable hardware, software, and Internet-based sharing solutions to easily and efficiently create and distribute rich digital media audio and video files, and (b) assess options for recharging batteries that are required for PMPs to operate in the field (such as hand cranks and solar panels).  Polder shares the results of this research with the NGOs it works with, and also helps the NGOs procure the necessary equipment, including identifying possible sources of donated equipment.  Polder then provides the necessary training directly to educators in the developing community so that they can apply these resources in the field with their students or adult learners, by teaching the educators recording and editing skills for production, video sharing skills for distribution, and PMP operation skills for playback.

Polder’s founder, Matt York, began working with one such NGO, Education Development Center, Inc. (“EDC”), in 2007 as an audio visual equipment consultant and fund raiser.  EDC is a nonprofit organization with more than 325 projects in countries around the world that has been dedicated to enhancing learning, promoting health, and fostering a deeper understanding about the world for 50 years.  This has led to an important partnership between EDC and Polder for work in the Southern Sudan.  In the future, Polder plans to explore partnerships with other NGOs, including the American Institutes for Research and the UN Millennium Project, to advance the goals of OMPT.

II.    Planned Activities

In the future, Polder plans to expand its activities beyond OMPT, as follows:

          A.    Content Production Training

Polder plans to design the curriculum for and conduct trainings on-site in developing countries to teach rich digital media content production skills.  These trainings will instruct those who train teachers, facilitators, administrators, information communications technology workers, and staff members of NGOs on how to create educational audio and video files to load onto PMPs for ultimate use by students and adult learners in the community.

Polder anticipates that when this activity is up and running, approximately 10% of Polder’s total time will be allocated to it.

          B.    OurLessons

Polder plans to create an audio- and video-sharing website, OurLessons, which will allow teachers, writers, narrators, and editors in developed nations to share educational media files with educators in developing nations, with the goal of creating a global repository for shared educational content.  The website will allow teachers and content creators to categorize lessons into a knowledge base. 

Another feature of the website will be “MyNeeds pages.”  These will be places on the site where teachers in developing countries can itemize the equipment they would like to have, such as media players, along with specific audio or video lesson requests.  In addition, a teacher can post the supplemental teaching aids needed to help with those lessons.  Teachers in developing countries need content, but they also need the building blocks of content, including scripts, storyboards and lesson plans.  A teacher can outline all those needs on a MyNeeds page, in hopes of connecting with teachers who have resources to match those needs.

There will be no fee for participating in OurLessons.  Rather, Polder’s vision is to create a self-organizing community where teachers and media creators can collaborate and share knowledge freely.

Polder anticipates that when this activity is up and running, approximately 5% of Polder’s total time will be allocated to it.

III.    Additional Information

Currently, Polder’s work is carried out by unpaid directors, officers, and volunteers, though Polder has engaged the services of an independent contractor to test PMPs and solar panels as part of the research component of the OMPT program.  The work is carried out at Polder’s headquarters in Chico, California, and on-site in the developing countries where Polder conducts trainings.

Polder’s activities, both present and planned, further Polder’s exempt purposes because they are charitable and educational in nature and contribute to efforts to fight poverty by connecting citizens in developing countries with information that can better their lives. 

OMPT is funded by fee-for-service income from the NGOs Polder works with.  Polder also plans to solicit contributions from individuals and businesses and apply for foundation and government grants to support OMPT and its other planned activities.  Finally, Polder anticipates receiving dividend income to support its programs from a wholly-owned, for-profit subsidiary it plans to form, Delurmo. Delurmo will design, manufacture, and distribute PMPs and related equipment.