Member Article

UK tech charity hits £200million milestone

Tech Trust donates products from software giants including Adobe, Cisco and Microsoft

Tech Trust, a charity that helps its fellow third-sector organisations access donated software, has reached a significant landmark, breaking the £200million mark in savings.

The organisation empowers charities to accelerate their missions with modern technology, by providing donated products from the likes of Adobe, Cisco, Microsoft, Symantec and others. Tech Trust was set up over 16 years ago and currently serves 32,000 charities across the UK.

Tech Trust’s Chairman, Charles Mindenhall, says: “In our first thirteen years, UK charities saved £100m through our programmes. That same amount has been saved again in the last four. In the last financial year alone, over 5,000 new charities registered with us, saving £22m on IT procurement costs between them.

“The rapid growth is being driven by the realisation within the sector of the benefits that technology can bring to charitable organisations, while at the same time, many are finding that they need to evolve to make stretched funds go further.”

For many, Tech Trust is seen as a huge enabler of the technology revolution within the charity sector. One such person is Peter Jacobs, Head of Digital Engagement at The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, who says: “The research into the third sector is clear that there is a real risk that many charities will not survive if they cannot embrace digital as a way to increase donations, improve engagement, become more efficient and measure their impact.

“The platforms that Tech Trust is building should really help the whole sector get excited about the possibilities of digital, upskill on the basics and find solutions and suppliers that will help them on the path to scalable, efficient services, through informed use of digital and technology.”

As part of Tech Trust’s ongoing support of digital transformation within the sector, it is launching the Tech Trust 101 guide, which will build on the educational content and news blogs on the organisation’s Charity Digital News website. The guide will provide a platform through which trustees and senior managers can collaborate with others going through similar journeys. A charity-technology marketplace site will follow, helping IT service providers and cloud-based companies to discount their offerings to charities.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Elise Ivens-Barnes .