One possible headache relates to donations of older used computers with older operating systems (OSs) installed. These OSs may not be compatible with current OSs. If you're lucky, you may inherit an operating system that's only one version back from current offerings. This gap will only widen though. Older operating systems come with their own problems, especially if we're talking versions of Microsoft Windows. The biggest problem to consider is the operating system's vulnerability to hacking. Even the latest version of Windows is not immune. While UNIX-based operating systems have security holes of their own, they are often attacked less often owing to Windows being more prevalent.
Just because you have Intel/AMD-based computers doesn't mean Windows is your only option for an OS. UNIX can be overwhelming to those who've never used a command line interface before, but UNIX can provide stability that older versions of Windows cannot. Linux and FreeBSD are good alternatives to run on Intel- and AMD-based hardware. Regardless of the OS, any hacker who wants to break in, probably can and will given enough time.
If security is a real concern, you might consider making the server available only from the internal network instead of from the Internet. This will detract from the server's purpose, but will maintain a higher degree of security.
To get a donation working with later operating systems, additional memory may be required. If the computer is older it may take some searching to find compatible memory. Additionally, donated hardware often comes without a hard drive or with a non-operating hard drive. This can pose a problem for older computers not designed to work with current drive capacities. Finding older RAM is one thing, finding older working hard drives is something different entirely. Trying to get new hard drives working may take a little finessing (a.k.a., trial and error) with the boot ROMs. If you're not a lucky person by nature, you'll probably also need to partition the drive so the computer can deal with the drive's overall capacity. Be prepared though, some older computers are better off being recycled. Have I mentioned older systems are more prone to failure? You may spend hours or days getting a machine up and running only to have total system failure a few months later.
There's a dark side to newer hardware donations, too, as seen in a tale a teacher related to me recently. A faculty member donated a server to the school. The server met a definite need, and several teachers came to rely on it. In time, however, the faculty member retired and took the server with them. This left the school without an important piece of gear. Any hardware donated by faculty should also come with the pink slip signed over to the school.
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