Another Folkestone charity has received £10,000 from the Nominet GiveHub scheme to ensure it had the computer infrastructure to continue to operate following an application on their behalf from Nominet members Prater Raines.
South Kent Mind, is the mental health charity for people from the South Kent Coastal area, covering Folkestone, Hythe, Dover, Deal, Sandwich, New Romney, or anywhere between. They are an independent local charity affiliated to Mind, the national mental health charity.
Nominet GiveHub is an opportunity for Nominet members to support an organisation of their choice. A fund of £50k each month is available. Applications are reviewed monthly by the GiveHub panel.
The grant application must link to at least one of Nominet’s Public Benefit pillars: Connected, Inclusive and Secure.
Connected: The project is linked to improving digital access to the organisation’s services. The project is supporting people through the provision of devices or connectivity. The project is supporting a digital service the organisation has or is developing.
Digital Inclusion: The project is enabling more people to access the services of the organisation. The project is improving the digital skills within the organisation or the service users.
Secure: The project is working on internet safety or digital resilience for its staff or service users. Or the project is protecting vulnerable users from online harm.
Prater Raines have been Nominet members since 2007. Tim applied to join the panel in 2022 as he has extensive experience of evaluating competing bids and prioritisation through his time as a Councillor and Charity Trustee.
In 2025, Tim was delighted to nominate South Kent MIND for a £10,000 Givehub award (but took no part in considering the application).
South Kent Mind (SKM) was established in 1988 to support people with mental health problems. They offer a range of long-term solutions and services to anyone with a mental health problem or those in need of support in developing coping strategies to maintain good health and wellbeing. They work with people to assist them in coping with life, and we focus on dealing positively with depression, anxiety, stress, self-esteem, anger and assertiveness.
Of the South Kent MIND application, Tim said:
“South Kent Mind currently operate using donated computers which are considerably outdated and will soon become obsolete in September 2025. Without funding for new computers, South Kent Mind will be unable to undertake many of the basic tasks central to the daily running of the charity such as operating their online booking system for service users who access their services, completing online training courses for volunteers and staff and tracking supporters, donors, and service user data on their CRM system. Without these basic abilities enabled through a fully operational computer system, South Kent Mind cannot continue their work, or seek to expand their services to reach others who would benefit from their vital work.
"Nominet funding would not only help the charity to maintain this daily service delivery, but it would allow them to expand and improve such services. South Kent Mind currently host a range of online services, such as Mindfulness sessions every Thursday and the Young Person’s Online Forum (which started on Thursday 13th February 2025), which are incredibly popular and have long waiting lists. New computers would ensure the provision of these vital services can continue, along with new online services supporting young people and those who are physically unable to attend the in-person groups and activities, or who are experiencing considerable challenges with their mental health which prevents them from attending in a group setting.
"Moreover, Nominet funding towards a new computer system would help increase the number of people able to access the charity’s services. South Kent Mind currently experiences high demand for their services and regularly introduce new service users. To do this, staff members monitor waiting lists electronically and make contact with new members using email and information from these lists; without which, the charity cannot maintain or grow its base of service users.”
The application was agreed by Nominet on 27th March.
In June, Joe for South Kent MIND updated Tim on the impact of the grant, saying:
"I am overjoyed to let you know that over the past few days we have set up all our staff with brand new laptops, with docking ports and screens – and crucially, Windows 11!
"We would like to thank you so much for identifying the Nominet grant, helping with the application, and submitting it on our behalf.
“All the laptops are fully operational and have made our lives so much easier – they have brought us into the 21st century!”