Each year, we sponsor one Norfolk charity or social enterprise with a whole year of free IT support – eight hours a month, every month, for a full year.
Who can apply
You can apply if you run a registered charity or social enterprise based in Norfolk. Your work doesn’t have to be limited to Norfolk alone, though we do particularly like to support organisations that benefit people here.
We define a social enterprise as a business with primarily social objectives, whose surpluses are mainly reinvested into that purpose rather than paid out to shareholders or owners. If you apply as a social enterprise, we’ll ask you to evidence this.
What’s involved
At the start of the sponsorship we’ll create you a new Block Hours Agreement, to which we’ll credit you eight hours support. These free hours are the accrued monthly foundation block of your agreement and can be used for any IT support related purpose. If we visit your site, we’ll make a charge that’s discounted by 50%.
Sponsorship works the same way as any other Block Hours Agreement, with one difference: your free hours can be rolled over for up to 90 days if unused, rather than the usual 12 months. Beyond your accrued hours, any extra support is billed at our standard hourly rate, the same as it would be for any Block Hours customer.
You’ll also need our remote monitoring and management service and an antivirus and firewall package, both charged at a discounted monthly rate – these keep your systems properly monitored so we can act on problems before they cause you trouble.
How it works
If your application is shortlisted, we’ll arrange a visit to meet you and your team, look around, and answer any questions – and to get a feel for your IT setup before making a final decision. If you’re successful, we’ll let you know and start onboarding shortly after.
Sponsored organisations may be asked to take part in a case study or give a testimonial about the work we’ve done. Once your sponsorship year ends, there’s no obligation to continue with us – though of course we’d love you to.
Recipients
- 2024 – Wells Community Hospital Trust (read the review)
- 2025 – The Fairhaven Garden Trust (read the review)
- 2026 – For 2026, we didn’t manage to promote a new round of applications in time, so we’re continuing to support both of the above organisations.
- 2027 – This could be you.