Is this really a matter of donating? Shouldn't it be a matter of changing economies? Donating helps but it also keeps the status quo, where wealthy still have access to opportunities and the poorest still don't.
Do you really wan't a job (employed by a company), or you just need one?
Have you thought that maybe your talents are not appreciated in the corporate world?
One must consider that the recruitment system is broken, or do we really believe that with a written one page document and a brief phone call, we can screen people and dimension their whole personality?
I have asked these questions myself because I relate to your situation. My advice: Just be productive every day, and this means to create things that you think might be useful to somebody.
And yes, not everyone has the ability to speak the language of the corporate world. Just try to find the people you can work with best. Maybe you're best suited to be an entrepreneur or a workshop guy building stuff and experimenting.
Also, a new family is not a small thing, it changes many things in our lives, it unbalances us in many ways, certainly in the economic one. But don't despair because this too is a great thing that is already pushing you to your limits and thus providing the opportunity to improve yourself.
In my case, I am hoping to develop an inexistent market in some cases (such as 3d printing). In my country we don't have so many hobbyists for example, but certainly I believe there could be many applications. The market is rather small and I doubt that these companies could develop the markets from abroad. Just a thought though....
Maybe I am wrong in my concept of distributor, for me there can be large distributors and smaller ones. Retailers of all sizes (small hobby shops or large hardware depots)
There are all sizes of distributors. But that doesn't mean all suppliers make use of all sizes, and regardless of size, they're bringing something of value to the supplier. The small hobby shop, for example, provides hands on assistance that a distant supplier can't. Telling people who sell via web site you want to sell via website isn't particularly compelling in and of itself.
Keep in mind that to achieve differentiation, Sparkfun/Adafruit etc. do build proprietary products themselves. Mostly breakout boards and other things that require low capital investment but make the components that they resell (Atmel and TI chips, etc) much easier to use for the through-hole hobbyist. If you don't do the same, you'll probably get stomped by them in the long term, but if you can build a market position in a specific country quickly enough, you can get bought by them instead.
You are right, volume discount is less risky for any business. Nice way to put it, thank you.
But anyway, I sometimes believe that some new companies turn too fast into "small" large inaccessible corporations! It's a good thing to take this in consideration for all startups out there.
