A Folkestone charity has £10,000 backing for a new digital support project in the town following a grant from the Nominet GiveHub scheme.
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.
Tim was delighted to nominate the “Digital Seeds” project from Sunflower House for a £10,000 Givehub award (but took no part in considering the application). The application was agreed by Nominet on 28th March. Tim says:
“Sunflower House is an organisation at the centre of so many support projects within Folkestone. From supporting the homeless to those who are lonely, have health or well-being issues, Sunflower House is there for all of them. With Digital Seeds, they plan to build on that and help to empower those they work with to deal with today’s digital world through teaching, equipment, mentoring and support.”
Jon O’Connor, the chair of Trustees at Sunflower House says:
“Sunflower House are really excited to have been awarded this grant to support our Digital Seeds project over the next two years.
“We can’t wait to get working on the arrangements for delivery and to widen opportunities for the whole community to enjoy greater access to digital technology.”