Donum Centre

Donum Centre is our plan for a place near Makerere University where students and working people can use 1,000 computers, fast internet, a library, labs and studios for free, with its running costs paid every year by an endowment. This page sets out what it is, what it costs, and how it will last.

At a glance

This is a planned project. Donum Centre is not built yet, no land has been bought, and no approval has been granted.

All figures are estimates in US dollars at October 2026 prices. Nothing is counted as donated: every computer, licence and hour of work is priced at what it costs to buy. Every $100,000 a year of running cost needs $2.5 million in the endowment, so the running costs decide most of the total.

The case for the money

• What it is. A free place next to Makerere University with 1,000 computers, fast internet, power that stays on, a library, labs, studios and rooms for founders, open late every day and all night for 150 seats.
• Why it is needed. In 2021, 2.7% of households in Uganda had a computer; in a survey of Makerere students, 93% named the cost of internet as a barrier to learning online; 42.6% of young people aged 15 to 24 are not in work, education or training (all sourced below).
• Why it costs what it costs. Two buildings that last, on one acre near a university where land is dear; 1,000 computers replaced on a cycle; staff on every floor until 23:00 and all night; and an endowment, because hubs that depended on donors closed in their dozens.
• What one year buys. $5.40 million a year keeps about 4.5 million seat-hours open; if half are used, that is about $2.40 an hour of a computer, a connection, power and help, for about 7,200 regular members.

Read more: how we worked out what one year buys

Seats. The two open floors have 720 computers: 570 open during the day and evening, and 150 in the section that stays open all night. The 240 computers in the six teaching rooms and the 40 in the exam room are on top of these and are not counted here.

Hours. The floors are open 108 hours a week (7:00 to 23:00 Monday to Saturday, 9:00 to 21:00 on Sunday); the all-night section 168. That is about 4.5 million seat-hours a year.

Use. We plan on half of them being used (2.3 million hours), which gives $2.40 an hour of running cost, everything included. At 6 hours a week each (three two-hour sessions), that is about 7,200 regular members, beside school days, courses, talks and events. These are our planning assumptions; the centre publishes its real use every year.

Who is near. Makerere alone has about 35,000 undergraduates and 3,874 postgraduates, and the centre is open to anyone 16 or older, students or not.

How to give or help

Donum Centre is a planned project. No approval has been granted and no land has been bought. Every gift is arranged with us by email, at info@donumfoundation.org: money, computers, books, equipment, advice, skills, introductions, anything that helps is welcome.

On the centre's page under Open chances, choose what you would like to help with: the centre as a whole, or one unit from the list below. Units that come in numbers, such as iMacs, desks or books, can be given one or more at a time. Choose how you would like to help, write anything you want to tell us (there is no limit), and press Prepare the email. Your email app opens with everything written out, addressed to info@donumfoundation.org. You send it, and we reply to arrange it.

Donum Foundation gives to the centre too, from its own funds, the same way and unit by unit.

To keep Donum Centre running, give to its share of the Donum Endowment, the last part of the list. To keep every place Donum builds running, choose the Donum Endowment itself on the Donate page.

Every amount is in US dollars. Choose your own currency on the page to see each one in it, at today's rate.

Paying. You can give in any currency, from any bank account or card anywhere in the world. We receive every gift in US dollars or Ugandan shillings: if you pay in another currency, your bank or card company converts it. The form lists every way to pay: card, Apple Pay or Google Pay; PayPal; an international bank transfer; a bank transfer in Uganda; MTN Mobile Money; Airtel Money; or our card machine, in person. Each says which of the two currencies we receive.

Philanthropy Partners. On the same form, an optional box lets you tell us you would like to become a Donum Foundation Philanthropy Partner: a written commitment to give at least $1,000 a year as a person, or $10,000 a year as an institution. What this means. Ticking it changes nothing about your gift; we get in touch with you about the commitment.

Why a centre, and why near Makerere

What it adds. A Donum chance gives one person or one community the one piece missing from their next step: an exam fee, a course, a toolkit. Donum Centre gives the pieces that many people are missing every day: a good computer, a fast connection, power that stays on, a quiet place to work, and people who can help. It gives them to thousands of people at once, for as long as the endowment pays for it, and the endowment is planned so that it does not run out. What people do there is their choice. Nobody owes anything for using it.

What people are missing.

• In a 2020 survey of 214 health-sciences students at Makerere, 61% owned a laptop. 93% named the cost of internet as a barrier to learning online, 84% named poor connections and 56% named electricity (Olum and others, 2020). It is one college and a small sample, but it is the most direct measure we found.
• In 2021, 2.7% of households in Uganda had a computer (World Bank, 2021).
• In the 2024 census, 42.6% of people aged 15 to 24 were not in work, education or training, and 53.4% of households had electricity (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, final report January 2025, as reported by PML Daily).
• Sensors at 150 sites in Kampala recorded about three power cuts a week, each about three hours long, in formal areas, from October 2022 to March 2023 (nLine).

Why next to a university. New companies tend to gather around research universities. A Brookings study of these districts calls the universities their "anchors" (Katz and Wagner, 2014). Kendall Square grew around MIT. Yaba, in Lagos, became a home for start-ups partly because it is close to the University of Lagos and Yaba College of Technology (Rest of World, 2021). Google named the country's academic institutions as a reason for opening its AI lab in Accra (WRAL, 2018), and IBM opened its first research lab in Africa on a university campus in Nairobi (IBM, 2013). Makerere has about 35,000 undergraduates and 3,874 postgraduate students (Daily Monitor, March 2026). A centre next to it is where students, lecturers and researchers already are.

Why it opens late. People with jobs can come after work. The main floors stay open until 23:00, and 150 seats stay open all night for people whose work runs on other time zones.

Why an endowment. Many tech hubs in Africa have closed. In 2019, AfriLabs and Briter Bridges found that 60% of hubs depended on donors or sponsors, and that more than 110 hubs had shut down, with business models partly dependent on outside donors given as a reason (AfriLabs, 2019). Donum Centre is planned the other way round: its running costs are paid each year from the returns on an endowment, and not from asking for money each year.

The site

Where. One acre (100 decimals, about 4,047 m²) within walking distance of Makerere University: in Kikoni, Makerere, Wandegeya or another area close by. The plot is chosen for three things: a clean title, streets that are safe to walk at night, and room for two buildings, parking and a garden.

What land costs there. Asking prices for plots near the university:

Sources: Uganda Property Agents (first, second and fourth rows) and Kayungirizi.

We budget UGX 40 million a decimal: UGX 4.0 billion, about $1.1 million, for the acre. That is above every listing, for two reasons: a whole acre in one piece is harder to find than a small plot, and the price a decimal in Kikoni rose about 24% between the January 2024 and August 2026 listings.

How the acre is used.

The architect confirms what Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) allows on the plot that is chosen, and the layout follows that.

Checks before buying. A search of the title at the land registry. A survey that opens the boundaries. Confirmation that nobody else has a right to live on or use the land. A lawyer's written report. Confirmation from KCCA that a centre and offices are allowed there. Nothing is paid until all five are clear.

Who owns it. The land and both buildings will be held by Donum, never by any one person.

The buildings, floor by floor

The centre: 6,400 m² on five floors

Each floor is about 1,280 m². Three lifts and two staircases reach every floor, and every floor has toilets, including accessible ones.

The 1,000 computers are 300 iMacs and 700 Windows computers. The 700 are 660 desktops and 40 graphics workstations for engineering, 3D design and AI work. The exam room uses Windows desktops because exam providers require them.

Donum's offices: 1,200 m² on three floors

The offices are Donum's headquarters. The endowment pays to run both buildings: power, water, cleaning, security, insurance and upkeep. Donum's own team is paid from the endowment's share for Donum Foundation's own running costs, and its chances by the gifts given to them and the general fund. Neither comes from Donum Centre's share.

What happens there

Every programme below runs on four things the endowment pays for: the building, the machines, the connection and the staff. None of them depends on a sponsor renewing a grant. Where a programme also relies on an outside organisation, we say so, and say what takes its place if that organisation stops.

Read more: all 29 things people can do there

Use

1. Open computer floors. 720 computers on the second and third floors, for whatever a member needs to do: study, write, code, design, apply for jobs. Members book two hours at a time online, or walk in. Some seats are always kept for people who walk in.
2. The all-night section. 150 seats on the third floor stay open every night, with staff on duty, for people whose work or study runs on other time zones.
3. Seats for online work. Members who work online for employers or clients can book the same seat in the all-night section for up to a month at a time, with a headset, a webcam and rooms for calls.

Learn

1. Paid courses, free to members. Donum pays for 500 seats a year on paid course platforms such as Coursera, LinkedIn Learning and Udemy Business. Members apply for a seat, and a seat lasts a year. If a platform raises its prices or stops selling in Uganda, the money moves to another platform.
2. Free courses, with a guide. Learning paths made from free courses, such as Harvard's CS50, freeCodeCamp, MIT OpenCourseWare, Microsoft Learn, AWS Skill Builder and Khan Academy, with weekly study groups and staff who help people choose a path and finish it. Cisco Networking Academy courses are added if Cisco accepts the centre as an academy.
3. Short courses in the teaching rooms. Six rooms of 40 computers, for short courses taught by the centre's staff, and by lecturers, companies and volunteers who offer to teach. Free to everyone who takes them.
4. First steps with a computer. Weekend classes for people of any age who have never used a computer.
5. School days. Secondary-school classes come with their teachers for a day of coding, electronics or research skills. Transport for school groups is in the budget.

Prove what you know

1. Exam room. 40 seats for computer-based certification exams, such as those for AWS, Microsoft, Cisco and CompTIA, which are delivered through test-centre networks such as Pearson VUE. Pearson VUE charges no fee to become a test centre (Pearson VUE). An exam fee is one of the gifts a Donum chance can pay. If one network stops, others exist.
2. A record of learning. On request, the centre gives a member a signed record of the courses they finished at the centre, to show employers and universities.

Read

1. Digital library. E-books, journals and research databases on every computer: open collections such as arXiv, the Directory of Open Access Journals, OpenStax and Project Gutenberg, paid databases, and Research4Life if Donum is accepted. Uganda is in Research4Life's free group, and local non-governmental organisations may apply (Research4Life). If Research4Life does not accept Donum, the budget for paid databases still applies.
2. Reading room. 100 quiet seats without computers, and 4,000 textbooks and technical books to read on site, with new books every year.

Research

1. Research computing. Two servers with 16 graphics processors between them, and 500 TB of storage, for students and researchers who train AI models, run simulations or work with large data. Free, booked with a short request that says what the work is. Replaced every five years.
2. Research room and project board. A room with 40 desks for research groups and visiting researchers, and a board on Donum's website where researchers list projects that need help and students offer to join. The centre's staff make the introductions. No contact details are published.
3. Data and writing clinics. Weekly sessions where staff help with statistics, data analysis and research writing.

Make

1. Makerspace. 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines and hand tools, after a safety course. Materials are free up to a limit each month.
2. Electronics lab. Twelve benches with soldering stations, power supplies and oscilloscopes, for robotics, sensors and other hardware.
3. Video and podcast studios. For recording lessons, research talks and founders' pitches, with a producer on the staff.

Start

1. Rooms for founders. Twelve rooms for early teams, free for six months at a time, given by application.
2. Recorded pitches for investors. Founders present their idea in the pitch room. With each team's written agreement, the recording is published on a Donum page that investors can browse. An investor who wants to meet a team asks Donum, and we introduce them once the team agrees. No contact details are published.
3. Demo days. Twice a year, teams present to investors, employers and the public in the auditorium, and the talks are published.
4. Hackathons. Four a year, one or two days each, on problems brought by organisations in Uganda, with prizes.

Work

1. Employer days. Companies meet members and interview them at the centre. A member who wants it can be introduced to an employer, which is one of the gifts Donum gives.
2. Help with online work. Staff help members set up profiles on online work platforms, spot scams and get paid safely.
3. CV and portfolio reviews. Every week, with the centre's staff.

Meet

1. Public talks. Free talks in the auditorium, recorded and published.
2. Rooms for clubs and communities. Student clubs and tech communities book meeting rooms and the auditorium free of charge for learning events.

Donum's own work

1. Donum's headquarters. Donum's team works in the office building.
2. Training for Donum's partners. The partners who refer people for Donum chances are trained in the office building's training room.

Who can use it, and when

Anyone 16 or older, free, with a national, student or refugee ID or a passport. Open 7:00 to 23:00 Monday to Saturday and 9:00 to 21:00 on Sunday, with 150 seats open all night. Step-free, with lifts, screen readers and a hearing loop.

Read more: hours, membership, fair shares, access and safety

Opening hours

What	Open
Computer floors, library, makerspace, studios	Monday to Saturday 7:00 to 23:00. Sunday 9:00 to 21:00
All-night section (150 seats)	Every day and every night
Exam room	By appointment
Offices	Monday to Friday, during working hours

Becoming a member

• Membership is free. A person signs up once, with a national ID, a student ID, a refugee ID or a passport, and gets a member card.
• Members are 16 or older. Younger people come with their school on a school day.
• A member's details are kept private, as Uganda's Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019 requires. Nothing about a member is published without their written agreement.

A fair share of seats

• Seats are booked online in sessions of two hours. When the floors are full, a member can book up to four hours a day, so that more people get a seat.
• Members without a phone or a computer book at the help desk, and some seats are kept for people who walk in.
• No computer seat or course is ever sold to a member, and no computer seat is kept for someone who pays.

Access for disabled people

Step-free entrances. Lifts to every floor. Accessible toilets on every floor. Desks that rise and lower on every computer floor. Screen readers and screen magnifiers on every computer. A hearing loop in the auditorium. Tactile and Braille signs. Sign-language interpreters at public events. Both buildings are designed to the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2020 and the Building Control (Accessibility Standards for Persons with Disabilities) Code, 2019%20Code,%202019.pdf>).

Safety

Guards at every entrance, day and night. Cameras in shared spaces, never in toilets, the prayer room or the nursing room. Lit paths from the gate to the doors. Staff on every open floor, including at night. Every member agrees to a short code of conduct, and a member who breaks it can lose their membership.

The four years

The preparation year. Before any land is bought: find the plot and run its five checks, confirm with KCCA that a centre and offices are allowed there, talk to Makerere and the neighbours, raise the money for land, design and approvals, set up the endowment and write its investment policy, and register with the Personal Data Protection Office. The three years that follow start on the day the money for the land is in hand.

Building takes about 20 months. Makerere's new complex for its College of Business and Management Sciences, 15,000 m², is planned to take 24 months (Daily Monitor, September 2026). Donum Centre's two buildings together are about half that size. If any step takes longer, opening moves later, and this page will say so.

Three points where we stop and check.

1. Before buying land: the money for the land, the design and the approvals is in hand, about $4.8 million.
2. Before signing with a builder: all the set-up money is in hand, about $42.3 million.
3. Before opening: its share of the endowment and the reserve are in hand, about $137.8 million. If only part is in hand, the centre opens only the floors that part can pay to run, and opens the others as the endowment grows.

No building is started that cannot be finished, and no floor is opened that cannot be kept open.

What it costs to build

Everything from the first day to opening day. Lines marked "allowance" are our own estimate where we found no published price. Each will be replaced by a written quote before anything is bought.

Read more: every group, line by line, with its source

Land: $1,196,000

Item	Cost	How we priced it
One acre at UGX 40 million a decimal	$1,096,000	Listings near Makerere, 2024 to 2026 (see The site)
Stamp duty on the transfer	$33,000	1.5% today (Ministry of Lands, 2025). Budgeted at 3%, a rate proposed in 2026, until a lawyer confirms which applies
Lawyer, title search, survey, boundary opening, valuation	$22,000	Allowance: 2% of the price
Fence and guards for the empty site, 12 months	$45,000	Allowance

Design and approvals: $3,626,000

Item	Cost	How we priced it
Architect, quantity surveyor, structural and services engineers	$2,508,000	14% of the building contract. Architects' scale 3% to 7%; engineers' scale about 2% each
A project manager who works for Donum	$358,000	2%, engineers' scale
VAT on these fees	$516,000	18%
Surveys and studies: land, soil, water, traffic, environment	$179,000	Allowance: 1% of the building contract
NEMA environmental review fee	$13,000	0.07% of the project's value (S.I. 143 of 2020)
KCCA plan, structure and occupation fees	$2,000	KCCA fees
An independent audit of cost and quality, for givers	$50,000	Allowance

Building: $24,310,000

The rate a square metre is meant to cover the structure, finishes, plumbing, electrics, air conditioning, the four lifts, fire alarms and sprinklers. The lines after the two buildings are extra, because a centre with 1,000 computers needs far more power and data than an office does.

Item	Cost	How we priced it
The centre: 6,400 m² at $2,000 a m²	$12,800,000	AECOM puts standard offices in Kampala at $1,420 a m² (July 2024, without VAT). Raised 41% for the auditorium, labs, studios, and the cooling and power for 1,000 computers
The offices: 1,200 m² at $1,600 a m²	$1,920,000	The same AECOM rate, raised 13% for price rises since 2024
Outside: wall and gates, gatehouse, paving and parking, drainage, rainwater tanks, planting, lighting	$750,000	Allowance
Power connection and transformer	$120,000	Allowance until UEDCL quotes
Two 500 kVA standby generators, fuel tank and changeover	$190,000	A 500 kVA generator is listed at UGX 195 million (Jiji), plus installation
Solar panels on the roofs: 200 kWp at $1,000 a kWp	$200,000	Allowance
Solar roofs over the car park: 150 kWp at $1,600 a kWp	$240,000	Allowance
Batteries: 600 kWh at $450 a kWh	$270,000	Allowance
Backup power (UPS) for the computer floors and server room	$250,000	Allowance
Data cabling: 1,500 points at $300	$450,000	$175 to $500 a point installed in the US (The Network Installers, 2026)
Server room: cooling, fire suppression, raised floor, racks	$180,000	Allowance
Auditorium: 300 raked seats, acoustics, stage, lighting	$305,000	Allowance
Sound-proofing for the video and podcast rooms	$60,000	Allowance
Security: cameras, entry gates, member cards, alarms	$180,000	Allowance
Contingency: 15%	$2,687,000	For what the ground and the design reveal
VAT on the building contract	$3,708,000	18%

Computers and network: $4,665,000

Imported prices include 5% for freight, 18% VAT, a 1.5% infrastructure levy and a 1% import declaration fee. Computers pay no import duty (URA). Other equipment is budgeted with 25% duty until a clearing agent confirms its rate.

Item	Cost	How we priced it
300 iMacs (24-inch, 24 GB memory, 512 GB storage) at $2,800	$840,000	$2,099 in the US, October 2026 (AppleInsider)
660 Windows desktops (Core Ultra 7, 32 GB, 1 TB) at $2,400	$1,584,000	About $1,800 in US shops, 2026
40 graphics workstations (RTX PRO 4000) at $12,000	$480,000	Dell's list price $9,424, 2026
700 monitors (27-inch) at $450	$315,000	$289 in US shops, 2026
1,000 headsets and 700 webcams	$145,000	Allowance
Printers and scanning stations	$40,000	Allowance
Network: 32 switches, 2 core switches, 100 Wi-Fi 7 points, 2 firewalls, racks	$276,000	Ubiquiti and Fortinet prices, 2026
Servers for the centre's own systems, 500 TB storage, backup	$250,000	Allowance
Two research servers with 8 RTX PRO 6000 cards each	$500,000	About $15,000 a card in 2026, plus the server around them
Spare computers (3%)	$75,000	Allowance
Booking, sign-in, library and device-management systems, set up	$60,000	Allowance
Laptops for 55 staff	$100,000	Allowance

Furniture and equipment: $2,382,000

Item	Cost	How we priced it
1,000 desks and chairs for the computer seats at $550	$550,000	Allowance
Reading room: 100 seats, quiet booths, shelves	$90,000	Allowance
4,000 textbooks and technical books at $60	$240,000	Allowance
Library gates and book labels	$30,000	Allowance
Team, meeting and research rooms: tables, chairs, boards, screens	$125,000	Allowance
Projectors and screens for six teaching rooms	$24,000	Allowance
Auditorium: sound, screen, cameras, recording, hearing loop	$250,000	Allowance
Video and podcast studio equipment	$90,000	Allowance
Makerspace and electronics lab	$190,000	Allowance. One 3D printer with a laser costs $3,499 (StackSheriff, 2026)
Exam room: partitions, lockers, security kit	$25,000	Allowance
500 lockers for members	$60,000	Allowance
Café and break area: furniture and kitchen	$100,000	Allowance
Office furniture: 80 desks, board room, meeting rooms, training room	$167,000	Allowance
Signs, including tactile and Braille signs	$50,000	Allowance
One van	$55,000	Allowance
Contingency: 5%	$336,000

Price rises over the four years: $5,249,000

Item	Cost	How we priced it
Building and fees: 5% a year, to the middle of construction	$4,365,000	Three years at 5% (one more, for the preparation year)
Equipment: 3% a year, bought in year four	$884,000	Four years at 3%

Before opening: $831,000

Item	Cost	How we priced it
Donum's lead for the project, for the four years	$160,000	Allowance: $40,000 a year
Staff hired before opening, about four months of pay	$217,000	From the running budget
Fibre connection charges, two providers	$30,000	Allowance
Three months of testing: power, internet, security, cleaning, insurance	$304,000	A quarter of a year's running cost for these
Lawyers and auditors during the four years	$80,000	Allowance: $20,000 a year
Opening: visits to schools, colleges and neighbours, printed guides	$40,000	Allowance

What it costs to run each year

About $5.4 million a year at October 2026 prices, for both buildings and everything that happens in them. A quarter of it is set aside each year to replace equipment as it wears out, so that buying new computers does not depend on new gifts.

Running costs in all: $5,403,000 a year.

Read more: every running cost, line by line, with its source

People: $676,000

49 people work at the centre. Pay is budgeted at the top of the range Paylab publishes for each job in Uganda, plus the employer's 10% to NSSF and $500 a year each for medical cover, so the budget does not fall short when we hire. Eight IT technicians and ten floor hosts cover every hour the floors are open, including the all-night section.

Role	People	Monthly pay	Each, a year	All, a year
Centre director	1	UGX 10.9 million	$39,800	$39,800
Deputy director	1	UGX 8.3 million	$30,500	$30,500
IT manager	1	UGX 8.3 million	$30,500	$30,500
Systems and network engineers	3	UGX 5.3 million	$19,800	$59,300
IT support technicians	8	UGX 3.5 million	$13,300	$106,600
Programme coordinators	6	UGX 4.2 million	$15,500	$93,100
Exam room administrators	2	UGX 3.5 million	$13,300	$26,700
Librarians	2	UGX 2.2 million	$8,400	$16,800
Library assistants	2	UGX 2.2 million	$8,500	$17,100
Makerspace and lab technicians	3	UGX 2.3 million	$9,000	$27,000
Floor hosts	10	UGX 2.2 million	$8,500	$85,500
Video producer	1	UGX 3.5 million	$13,300	$13,300
Communications officer	1	UGX 3.5 million	$13,300	$13,300
Finance officer	1	UGX 4.3 million	$15,900	$15,900
Accountant	1	UGX 2.9 million	$10,900	$10,900
HR officer	1	UGX 3.3 million	$12,300	$12,300
Facilities manager	1	UGX 4.3 million	$16,200	$16,200
Maintenance technicians	3	UGX 2.3 million	$9,000	$27,000
Driver	1	UGX 2.4 million	$9,300	$9,300
Staff in all	49			$651,100

Training for staff adds $25,000 a year (allowance).

Security and cleaning: $359,000

Item	A year	How we priced it
20 guards from a licensed security company	$156,000	Guard pay at the top of Paylab's range, UGX 1.66 million a month, plus NSSF and 30% for the company
20 cleaners from a cleaning company	$163,000	Cleaner pay at the top of Paylab's range, UGX 1.74 million a month, plus NSSF and 30% for the company
Cleaning supplies	$25,000	Allowance
Waste collection, pest control, grounds	$15,000	Allowance

Power, water and internet: $771,000

Item	A year	How we priced it
Electricity	$295,000	About 1,340 MWh bought at $0.22 a kWh
Water and sewer	$16,000	NWSC's rate for institutions, UGX 4,274 a m³, doubled for sewer
Internet	$460,000	1.5 Gbps from two providers, with VAT

Electricity. Our estimate is that the two buildings use about 1,850 MWh a year, about 240 kWh for each square metre. The solar panels make about 510 MWh of it (350 kWp at about 1,450 kWh a kWp a year). The rest is bought at $0.22 a kWh. The peak rate for commercial customers is UGX 666.5 a kWh, about $0.18 (UEDCL, July to September 2026). The difference covers fixed charges and the diesel the generators burn during power cuts, at UGX 6,699 a litre in September 2026.

Internet. 1 Gbps from one provider and 500 Mbps from a second, on different routes, so that one cut cable does not close the centre. Priced at $20 and $25 a Mbps a month, the rates the Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU) charged in 2022 for these sizes, plus 18% VAT. Prices in Uganda have fallen since then (US trade guide, 2025), so quotes are likely to be lower.

Software and courses: $778,000

Seats for Adobe, Autodesk and MATLAB are lent to members in the design, engineering and research programmes. Most prices come from price-tracking sites in 2026, because several makers publish no prices.

Item	A year	How we priced it
500 seats on paid course platforms	$212,000	$425 a seat, the top of the range seen for Coursera. LinkedIn Learning about $380, Udemy Business $360
Microsoft Office on 1,000 computers	$122,000	$610 a computer, bought once, spread over five years
Microsoft 365 for 50 staff	$13,000	$22 a person a month
Adobe Creative Cloud, 60 seats	$72,000	$1,200 a seat
Autodesk: 30 Fusion and 10 AutoCAD seats	$41,000	$680 and $2,095 a seat
MATLAB, 20 seats	$19,000	$940 a seat
Managing 300 Macs	$43,000	$12 a Mac a month
Managing 700 Windows computers	$29,000	$3.50 a computer a month
Firewall protection	$18,000	Allowance
Protection against viruses and attacks	$10,000	Allowance
Booking and sign-in system	$10,000	Allowance
E-books and research databases	$50,000	Allowance: publishers quote these privately
Library system	$5,000	Allowance
Design and programming tools	$10,000	Allowance
Screen readers and magnifiers	$5,000	Allowance
VAT on software bought from abroad	$119,000	18%

Building upkeep: $522,000

3% a year of $17.4 million, the cost of the buildings and outside works without the batteries and backup power, which have their own line below. APPA, the association of education facility managers, puts upkeep and renewal at 2% to 4% a year of what a building would cost to replace. It pays for servicing lifts, generators and air conditioning, repairs and painting, and replacing roofs and plant as they wear out.

Replacing equipment: $1,378,000

The cost of each item, divided by the years it lasts, is set aside every year. Usual lives are from Computek; for most items we chose the shorter end, because the centre runs long hours.

Item	A year	Usual life
1,000 computers and workstations, every 4 years	$726,000	Desktops: 3 to 5 years
Monitors, every 6 years	$52,000	5 to 8 years
Headsets and webcams, every 3 years	$48,000	Allowance
Printers, every 5 years	$8,000	Allowance
Spare computers, every 4 years	$19,000	As computers
Staff laptops, every 4 years	$25,000	Laptops: 3 to 4 years
Network, every 5 years	$55,000	Switches: 5 to 7 years
Servers and storage, every 5 years	$150,000	Servers: 5 to 7 years
Sound, video, makerspace and teaching-room equipment, every 7 years	$79,000	Allowance
Furniture and fittings, every 10 years	$120,000	Allowance
Batteries for solar power, every 10 years	$27,000	Allowance
Backup power (UPS), every 4 years	$62,000	UPS units: 3 to 5 years
Van, every 8 years	$7,000	Allowance

Insurance: $100,000

Rates are the minimums set by Uganda's Insurance Regulatory Authority (2019).

Item	A year	How we priced it
Buildings: fire and other damage	$27,000	0.15% of $17.9 million: 0.125% for offices, plus 20% for wider cover
Computers and other equipment	$50,000	1% of $5.0 million
Public liability, $2 million of cover	$6,000	0.3%
Theft	$7,000	0.1% of $7 million of contents
Staff accidents, the van, directors' liability	$10,000	Allowance

Programmes: $210,000

What programmes need beyond staff, space and machines. All are allowances.

Item	A year
Four hackathons	$60,000
Two demo days	$30,000
Public talks, recorded	$20,000
Makerspace materials	$40,000
Free printing	$15,000
New library books	$20,000
Transport for school days	$15,000
Sign-language interpreters and assistive devices	$10,000

Administration: $118,000

In Kampala, property used for charitable and educational purposes is exempt from rates (IGC, 2025). We budget for rates anyway, in case the exemption is refused.

Item	A year
External audit	$15,000
Lawyers	$10,000
Office supplies	$10,000
Staff phones and data	$10,000
Van fuel and servicing	$8,000
Recruitment	$5,000
Bank charges	$5,000
Property rates, if the exemption is refused	$55,000

All eight are allowances.

Contingency: $491,000

10% of everything above, for costs that rise faster than we expect. That includes costs paid in shillings rising faster in dollars (see The endowment).

Every part, unit by unit

Everything Donum Centre needs, to build it, to equip it, and to keep it running for good, adds up to $180,035,500. Each line below can be given to on its own, or helped with in another way. Lines that come in units, such as computers, desks or books, can be given one or more at a time. Each line also carries its own label, planned, under way or done, because parts of the centre will be built as the money for them comes.

Read more: all 80 units

Land: $1,196,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
One acre within walking distance of Makerere University, at UGX 40 million a decimal	$1,096,000
Stamp duty on the transfer, budgeted at 3%	$33,000
Lawyer, title search, survey, boundary opening, valuation	$22,000
Fence and guards for the empty site, 12 months	$45,000

Design and approvals: $3,626,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
Architect, quantity surveyor, structural and services engineers	$2,508,000
A project manager who works for Donum	$358,000
VAT on these fees (18%)	$516,000
Surveys and studies: land, soil, water, traffic, environment	$179,000
NEMA environmental review fee	$13,000
KCCA plan, structure and occupation fees	$2,000
An independent audit of cost and quality, for givers	$50,000

The centre: five floors: $12,800,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
Ground floor (1,280 m2): entrance, help desk, 500 lockers, auditorium for 300, exam room, cafe, server room, prayer room, nursing room, first aid	$2,560,000
First floor (1,280 m2): makerspace, electronics lab, video and podcast studios, 12 founders' rooms, pitch room, 8 meeting rooms	$2,560,000
Second floor (1,280 m2): open floor for 360 computers	$2,560,000
Third floor (1,280 m2): open floor for 360 computers, 150 seats open all night	$2,560,000
Fourth floor and roof (1,280 m2): six teaching rooms, reading room, research room, roof plant	$2,560,000

Donum's offices: three floors: $1,920,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
Offices, ground floor (400 m2): reception, training room for partners, meeting rooms, a private room	$640,000
Offices, first floor (400 m2): Donum's team, the Executive director's office, finance, records room	$640,000
Offices, second floor (400 m2): the centre's managers and staff, board room, kitchen	$640,000

Outside works, power and data: $9,590,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
Wall and gates, gatehouse, paving and parking, drainage, rainwater tanks, planting, lighting	$750,000
Power connection and transformer	$120,000
Two 500 kVA standby generators, fuel tank and changeover	$190,000
Solar panels on the roofs, 200 kWp	$200,000
Solar roofs over the car park, 150 kWp	$240,000
Batteries, 600 kWh	$270,000
Backup power (UPS) for the computer floors and server room	$250,000
Data cabling: 1,500 points	$450,000	$300 a data point
Server room: cooling, fire suppression, raised floor, racks	$180,000
Auditorium: 300 raked seats, acoustics, stage, lighting	$305,000
Sound-proofing for the video and podcast rooms	$60,000
Security: cameras, entry gates, member cards, alarms	$180,000
Contingency on the building, 15%	$2,687,000
VAT on the building contract (18%)	$3,708,000

Computers and network: $4,665,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
300 iMacs (24-inch, 24 GB memory, 512 GB storage)	$840,000	$2,800 a iMac
660 Windows desktops (Core Ultra 7, 32 GB, 1 TB)	$1,584,000	$2,400 a desktop
40 graphics workstations (RTX PRO 4000) for engineering, 3D design and AI	$480,000	$12,000 a workstation
700 monitors, 27-inch	$315,000	$450 a monitor
1,000 headsets and 700 webcams	$145,000
Printers and scanning stations	$40,000
Network: 32 switches, 2 core switches, 100 Wi-Fi 7 points, 2 firewalls, racks	$276,000
Servers for the centre's own systems, 500 TB storage, backup	$250,000
Two research servers with 8 RTX PRO 6000 cards each	$500,000	$250,000 a research server
Spare computers (3%)	$75,000
Booking, sign-in, library and device-management systems, set up	$60,000
Laptops for 55 staff	$100,000

Furniture, books and equipment: $2,382,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
1,000 desks and chairs for the computer seats	$550,000	$550 a desk and chair
Reading room: 100 seats, quiet booths, shelves	$90,000
4,000 textbooks and technical books	$240,000	$60 a book
Library gates and book labels	$30,000
Team, meeting and research rooms: tables, chairs, boards, screens	$125,000
Projectors and screens for six teaching rooms	$24,000
Auditorium sound, screen, cameras, recording, hearing loop	$250,000
Video and podcast studio equipment	$90,000
Makerspace and electronics lab	$190,000
Exam room: partitions, lockers, security kit	$25,000
500 lockers for members	$60,000	$120 a locker
Cafe and break area: furniture and kitchen	$100,000
Office furniture: 80 desks, board room, meeting rooms, training room	$167,000
Signs, including tactile and Braille signs	$50,000
One van	$55,000
Contingency on furniture and equipment, 5%	$336,000

Price rises over the four years: $5,249,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
Building and fees: 5% a year, to the middle of construction	$4,365,000
Equipment: 3% a year, bought in year four	$884,000

Before opening: $831,000

Unit	Cost	One unit
Donum's lead for the project, for the four years	$160,000
Staff hired before opening, about four months of pay	$217,000
Fibre connection charges, two providers	$30,000
Three months of testing: power, internet, security, cleaning, insurance	$304,000
Lawyers and auditors during the four years	$80,000
Opening: visits to schools, colleges and neighbours, printed guides	$40,000

Keeping it running: its share of the Donum Endowment: $135,075,000

Never spent. This is Donum Centre's share of the Donum Endowment, the one endowment that pays the running costs of every place Donum builds. Each year 4% of its average value over the last 12 quarters pays the running cost on that line.

Unit	Cost	One unit
People, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$16,900,000
Security and cleaning, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$8,975,000
Power, water and internet, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$19,275,000
Software and courses, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$19,450,000
Building upkeep, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$13,050,000
Replacing equipment, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$34,450,000
Insurance, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$2,500,000
Programmes, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$5,250,000
Administration, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$2,950,000
Contingency, for good: paid every year from the endowment's returns	$12,275,000

The cash reserve: $2,701,500

Kept in cash and short-term government bonds, and used only if the endowment's returns fall short.

Unit	Cost	One unit
Six months of running costs, kept in cash and short-term government bonds	$2,701,500	$450,250 a month of running costs

In all	Cost
To build and equip	$42,259,000
Endowment	$135,075,000
Cash reserve	$2,701,500
Donum Centre in all	$180,035,500

The endowment

What it is. An endowment is money that is invested and kept. Each year only part of what it is worth is spent, and the rest stays invested, so that it can pay again the next year, and the year after.

One endowment for every place. Donum Centre's running costs are paid by the Donum Endowment, the one endowment that also pays the running costs of the six places Donum plans to build next to Nakivale Refugee Settlement. It keeps each place's share apart in its accounts.

How much is spent: 4% a year. Each year the endowment pays out 4% of its average value over the last 12 quarters. Using an average means that one bad year in the markets does not cut the centre's budget at once.

Why 4%. We calculated that the endowment can pay 4% a year from its returns for good, without ever being spent.

• In the ten years to June 2025, US college and university endowments earned 7.7% a year on average (NACUBO-Commonfund, reported by TIFF, 2026). The plan assumes less than that.
• In the United States, private foundations must pay out at least 5% a year. That is a legal minimum for them, not a rate that keeps an endowment's value, and the plan spends less.

How large. $5,403,000 a year divided by 4% is $135.1 million. Every $100,000 a year of running cost needs $2.5 million in the endowment.

A cash reserve: $2.7 million. Six months of running costs, kept in cash and short-term government bonds. If markets fall hard in the centre's first years, the reserve pays the gap, so that no floor has to close.

Rules for the endowment.

• Each place's share is recorded apart. A gift to keep Donum Centre running stays its share for good; a gift to keep every place running goes to the share for Donum Foundation's own running costs, or to the share of the next place to open that is not yet in. We choose where it does the most good.
• It is kept and invested apart from the money Donum spends on its other work.
• Its investments follow our investment policy, and are handled professionally in a trust owned by the foundation.
• Its value, what it earned, what it cost and what it paid to the centre are published every year.

Like every figure here, the target is in October 2026 dollars, and it rises with prices until it is reached. Money given to the endowment while the centre is being built is invested from the day it arrives.

Income, and what is never sold

The budget counts no income at all. The endowment is sized to pay every running cost by itself. The buildings could still earn money at times members do not need them. None of it is counted, and Donum has not decided to earn any of it.

What could earn money.

• Hiring the auditorium and meeting rooms to companies and conferences, at times members have not booked them.
• A café that sells food and drink at fair prices. Drinking water stays free.
• Training for companies' staff in the teaching rooms, at times members have not booked them.
• Fees that exam networks pay test centres, if they pay any. Pearson VUE does not publish its terms.

What would always apply. Two of Donum's rules for any business it runs apply here:

1. Any business is a separate company owned by Donum, and what it earns is reported apart from gifts.
2. No one's chance ever depends on buying anything. At the centre, that means no computer seat, course or programme is ever sold to a member.

What could go wrong

How we will know it works

Once the centre is open, these are published every year, each with its source. Totals are published whether they are good or bad.

• Members, and how many used the centre at least once a month.
• Hours of computer use, and the share of open hours when every seat was taken.
• Hours the centre was open with power and internet working. The aim is 99.5%.
• Courses finished, on the paid seats and on the free paths.
• Exams taken in the exam room, and how many were passed.
• Research projects that used research computing, and the papers and theses that came from them.
• Teams in the founders' rooms, pitches published, companies registered, and money those companies raised.
• Members who report a new job, online work or a promotion within a year, from a survey that members choose whether to answer.
• What the centre cost to run, line by line, against this plan.
• The endowment's value, what it earned, what it cost and what it paid to the centre.

A member's own story is published only if they choose to share it.

Questions people ask

Why build, and not rent a floor somewhere?

Rent is paid every year and leaves nothing; a building Donum owns lasts decades and is kept in repair from the endowment. Owning also lets the centre run all night, power its own floors and design for disabled people from the start.

Why does it cost so much to run?

The largest line is replacing equipment ($1,378,000 a year): computers every four years, servers every five, furniture every ten. Then software and courses, power and two internet links, and 49 staff. A centre that cannot replace its computers is a museum in five years.

Why an endowment of this size?

Because the centre is free and must stay open. At 4%, $5.40 million a year needs $135.07 million invested. Hubs that depended on donors closed: in 2019, 60% of African hubs relied on donors or sponsors and more than 110 had shut down (AfriLabs, 2019).

Why not charge members?

A fee keeps out exactly the people the centre is for. Nothing is sold to members and no seat is kept for someone who pays.

Why next to Makerere and not elsewhere?

New companies gather around research universities, and that is where students, lecturers and researchers already are. The centre is open to refugees with a refugee ID and to anyone 16 or older.

Why put Donum's offices there?

They are Donum's headquarters and are part of the budget. Donum Centre's share of the endowment pays to run both buildings; Donum's own team is paid from the share for Donum Foundation's own running costs, not from Donum Centre's share.

What if technology changes?

The replacement budget is spent on what members need at the time, not on the same machines again.

How these numbers were worked out

• Prices are October 2026 prices, in US dollars.
• Shillings are converted at UGX 3,650 to the dollar. In the six months to 4 October 2026 the rate moved between 3,644 and 3,970 (Wise). A stronger shilling makes costs paid in shillings larger in dollars, so a rate near the strong end does not understate them.
• Nothing is counted as donated: no free equipment, software, space or work.
• Savings that may be possible are not counted: non-profit discounts (for example 25% off Coursera for Teams, and at least 49% off Adobe), Research4Life, any relief from VAT, duty or rates, and any income.
• Imported equipment includes 5% for freight, 18% VAT, the 1.5% infrastructure levy and the 1% import declaration fee. Computers pay no import duty. Other equipment carries 25% duty until a clearing agent confirms its rate.
• The buildings start from AECOM's Kampala rate (July 2024), raised as shown, with a 15% contingency, 18% VAT, 14% for designers and 2% for a project manager (both with VAT), and price rises of 5% a year.
• Salaries are at the top of Paylab's range for each job, plus 10% to NSSF and $500 a year for medical cover.
• "Allowance" marks our own estimate where we found no published price. Allowances make up about $5.8 million of the set-up budget and about $0.8 million a year of the running budget. Each will be replaced by a written quote before anything is bought, and this page will be updated.
• Not in this plan: Donum's own team, which has its own share of the endowment; Donum's chances, which are paid for by gifts; and the cost of raising the money.

Sources

Checked in September and October 2026. The date after each source is the date of its figure. Where we read only a report of a source, we say so.

Read more: every source

Need and place

• Olum and others, survey of Makerere health-sciences students, November 2020
• World Bank, connecting higher education institutions in Uganda, 2021
• PML Daily on the 2024 census final report, January 2025
• nLine, power outages in Kampala, October 2022 to March 2023
• Brookings, The Rise of Innovation Districts, June 2014
• Rest of World, tech hubs in Lagos, July 2021
• WRAL, why Google built an AI lab in Accra, July 2018
• IBM, first research lab in Africa, November 2013
• Daily Monitor, Makerere student numbers, March 2026
• AfriLabs and Briter Bridges, innovation ecosystem report, October 2019

Land, building and approvals

• Uganda Property Agents: Kikoni, August 2026; Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road, December 2025; Makerere, no date
• Kayungirizi, Kikoni, January 2024
• Ministry of Lands, service costs, May 2025
• MMAKS Advocates, tax proposals for 2026/2027, April 2026
• AECOM Africa Property and Construction Cost Guide 2024/25, rates at July 2024
• Daily Monitor, Makerere's business college complex, September 2026
• NEMA fees, S.I. 143 of 2020, December 2020
• KCCA physical planning fees, no date
• Jiji Uganda, 500 kVA generator, no date
• The Network Installers, cabling prices, July 2026
• Persons with Disabilities Act, 2020
• Building Control (Accessibility Standards for Persons with Disabilities) Code, 2019%20Code,%202019.pdf>)
• IGC, property tax in Kampala, December 2025

Equipment and software

• AppleInsider, iMac prices, October 2026
• URA, import duty on computers, no date
• Ubiquiti store, switches and Wi-Fi 7 access points, October 2026
• Tom's Hardware, RTX PRO 6000 prices, June 2026
• StackSheriff, Bambu Lab prices, May 2026
• Pearson VUE, becoming a test centre, October 2026
• Research4Life eligibility, August 2026
• Computek, equipment lifespans, 2026

Running costs

• Paylab Uganda, salaries, with its pages for management, security and general labour, October 2026
• URA, PAYE rates, no date
• UEDCL, tariffs for July to September 2026
• Rio Times, fuel prices in Kampala, September 2026
• NWSC Corporate Plan 2024 to 2027
• RENU price list, 2022
• US trade guide, Uganda ICT, December 2025
• APPA, capital renewal and maintenance, February 2025
• Insurance Regulatory Authority, minimum premium rates, 2019

The endowment and the shilling

• TIFF on the NACUBO-Commonfund study, FY2025, February 2026
• Wise, US dollar to shilling history, April to October 2026