Alistair Forbes

This grant, made possible by National Lottery players, will be used to match the subscriptions of companies that join the Tech for Good Alliance, a nationwide initiative spearheaded by the Scottish Tech Army.

The Tech for Good Alliance aims to foster the creation of tech volunteering schemes within the corporate social responsibility agendas of technology and tech-related businesses. By providing a framework and services to member companies, the Alliance helps streamline the development of these programmes, reducing overheads and overall costs compared to independent set up.

Alistair Forbes, CEO of the Scottish Tech Army, explained: “In the course of its work, the Scottish Tech Army has seen the value that can be delivered by tech for good programmes, both its own and those of tech companies that have already made a commitment to and investment in programmes of this kind.

“The potential to grow the tech for good ecosystem in the UK and the resulting impact is very substantial but the overhead involved in setting up such programmes from scratch is a significant challenge for companies and their busy staff.

He continued: “This innovative funding award from The National Lottery Community Fund will allow us to scale the Tech for Good Alliance faster and further and will amplify the contribution of every company that signs up to join the Alliance.

“Scalability of the outputs of projects is a key principle that will greatly amplify the impact of the work of Alliance member companies and their staff.”

Neil Ritch, Scotland director of The National Lottery Community Fund, added: “This award means that the Scottish Tech Army will be able to support many more groups across Scotland.

“By leveraging the capabilities of private companies in the tech sector through the Tech for Good Alliance, this project has the potential to significantly accelerate the development and adoption of digital solutions in the third sector, which will be very much to the benefit of the people and communities that they serve.”

Fiona Burton, club exec at AND Digital’s Club Grace, an early member of the Tech for Good Alliance, said: “The Alliance is better than setting up an in-house programme — the idea that anything we build can be used more than once and go on to create much more added value for many organisations, not just one, is a real key benefit of the Alliance.”