WCIT MONITOR Issue 62 May 2014 | Page 9

CHARITY Information Technologists’ Company Can members suggest a charity that they would like to see supported? Yes! We don’t get enough applications from members or Panels. Contact Eleanor at the Hall to get the ball rolling… ChOps Grants 2013 The following grants were awarded by the Charitable Operations (ChOps) Committee for the financial year 2013: Lifelites £4,704 Livery companies Apprenticeship Scheme £2,250 Jim Stanfield Memorial Fund (University bursary for disadvantaged students) £2,000 P&P IT Working Group for small to medium charities £2,000 CITO Cutter, IT4Arts and Journeyman Scheme £1,234 Can members raise money to support projects outside of ChOps? John Chilton School “Music Through Technology Project” £765 Panels and Members can fundraise for projects on behalf of the WCIT Charity, but need to check with ChOps first to make sure that there is a fit with the Charity objectives. We have a shopping list of pre-approved projects that members or Panels can support, again, please contact Eleanor at the Hall if you would like to see this. ACFA Outreach Appeal Supporting 3x student places on this leadership project £700 The National Museum of Computing £646 The Peter Rigby Trust The London Centre for Cerebral Palsy £500 Cherished Memories £500 The Beckenham & Penge Sea Cadets £500 eSkills - Computer Club for Girls £350 The National Institute of Conductive Education £318 Blind In Business - Work experience computer equipment for visually impaired students £300 The Royal Corp of Signals Benevolent Fund £216 The Moggerhanger Preservation Trust £216 The Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel Trust Online £200 Dickens Journals Online £100 Cylan Meithrin Y Parc Website £100 The City of London Widows and Orphans Fund £50 “Thank you to WCIT…every penny will go towards bringing a little moment of joy into the lives of the terminally ill and severely disabled children” Susan Abbott, founder of Cherished Memories On a personal note, what project has ChOps supported that makes you the proudest? To be honest, they all do, both big and small, from Lifelites to a Welsh-language day nursery. We get many moving letters of thanks, which show the positive impact of the grants we make, and we report this back to the membership in every edition of Monitor. So I can’t really single one out - but I was very disappointed to have to miss Ralph the Reindeer – the London Centre for Cerebral Palsy’s Christmas play – as it clashed with the WCIT Charity Board meeting…! “Having iPads will make such a difference to the pupils, they will have more hands-on time and as a result they will learn and experience so much more. Christmas had definitely come early to John Chilton School!” Sue Hardy, Music Teacher, John Chilton school - for pupils with physical and medical difficulties The iT4Communtites grant was £7,740 & other grants totalling £5,991 were used towards supporting projects in Lilian Baylis Technology School & Hammersmith Academy. Overall Charitable Giving: £31,380 Page 9