I volunteer a lot for a large charity thrift shop. I strongly caution against this idea.
Old electronics are absolutely the most difficult thing for us to sell, and they take up considerable space. A 10 year old computer is essentially worthless, because at the very least it's pretty easy to get a 5 year old computer for free or nearly free. The idea that "it is still usable" is not the right way to think about it. The right way to think about it is "are there any people who would want this computer, even for free", and I can tell you with a lot of evidence that the answer is basically "no".
The simple fact is we are just swimming in too much obsolete e-waste. IMO sales of electronic devices should be appropriately taxed with a "cleanup" tax to pay for their eventual responsible disposal/recycling.
I didn’t say “donate it for sell”. Every example I listed was someone had a need for a computer and give it to them. There are charities that need computers to use. Talk to them first and see if they actually have a use for them, clean them up, install the software they need and give them training and support.
Don’t just give an old desktop with no cords, without a mouse, monitor etc.
My point still stands. The charity that owns the thrift store where I volunteer has about twenty paid staff that work in an office. Trust me, they don't want to be using your 10 year old computer either, that's much more likely to break, and be incompatible with other software, and this would only be compounded exponentially if the sole IT person needed to support 20 different obsolete machines. You say "install the software they need and give them training and support." So you're going to be available if they call you at 3pm on a Tuesday because your 10 year-old hard drive failed?
Look, I'm not saying there is absolutely no one that wants your machine, but one of my biggest pet peeves after volunteering in a thrift store for so long is people who donate items that no one really wants, primarily to assuage their guilt. Sometimes garbage is just garbage.
What will in my example a 10 year old Mac Mini with USB 2, Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet running Windows 7 and the latest version of Chrome be incompatible with? A lot of software these days are run from a web browser.
My 8 year old Core 2 Duo running Windows 10 can run my entire development stack - VSCode with Python, Node, and C#. I tried it and until it starts swapping, you can’t tell the difference in normal use.
As far as support. How is it easier or harder to support an older computer running Windows + Office + Chrome than a newer computer?
In fact my new computer I bought in 2016 has the same amount of RAM - 8GB, a slightly worse display (1920x1080 vs 1920x1200), and no gigabit Ethernet as my old Dell from 2009.
I have a laptop manufactured somewhere around 2008 or 2009. For a long time it worked with Windows XP, but recently I had to upgrade it to Debian because website and software developers have been intentionally breaking Windows XP support.
It is fully working, it has Core 2 Duo CPU and 4 Gb of RAM (I would like to install more, but Intel made a limitation in their chipset, probably for planned obsolence. Lack of RAM is the main problem when using Firefox and Electron apps like Skype), and I am sure that there are people who would be happy to get such laptop. Maybe not in US, but in Russia and in other developing countries there are people who cannot afford buying a new one.
So I think that you are wrong about nobody wanting to get a 10 years old computer.
Today, there is so much you can do with a computer with nothing but an updated version of Chrome, that’s all many people need. Add on Office, and you have everything you need. So a computer that can use Chrome + Office + Dropbox and you’re good. That’s all I use any of my non work computers for besides as a Plex Server.
My Core 2 Duo was my Plex server until earlier this year and I would use it for browsing or personal stuff with Office often.
I used my 2006 era Mac Mini running Windows 7 as a secondary family computer until 2015 running Chrome + MS Office.
Dépends who you are. The wealthy in a lot of poorer countries are often wealthy through 1 of 2 means: resource extraction or being the gatekeeper to products and services.
Those wealthy groups may not be too happy with the competitions/disruption of a small-time entrepreneur bringing in a container full of still-useful 2nd-hand stuff and providing them inexpensively.
Old electronics are absolutely the most difficult thing for us to sell, and they take up considerable space. A 10 year old computer is essentially worthless, because at the very least it's pretty easy to get a 5 year old computer for free or nearly free. The idea that "it is still usable" is not the right way to think about it. The right way to think about it is "are there any people who would want this computer, even for free", and I can tell you with a lot of evidence that the answer is basically "no".
The simple fact is we are just swimming in too much obsolete e-waste. IMO sales of electronic devices should be appropriately taxed with a "cleanup" tax to pay for their eventual responsible disposal/recycling.