The Thursday before the Easter weekend is traditionally known as Maundy Thursday. In the church calendar, this day is associated with the Last Supper. In England the monarch would wash the feet of a number of their subjects; indeed there is a picture of Queen Elizabeth I undertaking this duty.
There would also be the giving of alms – food and clothing – to worthy senior citizens. Starting with Edward I, money was distributed instead. Queen Elizabeth II distributes specially-minted coins at a ceremony to as many carefully-chosen men and women as there are years in the Queen’s age. This takes place in a different city each year, with Leicester cathedral being the selected venue for the 2017 ceremony.
So Maundy Thursday can be considered a celebration of charitable giving. Perhaps this is a good time for all of us to make a contribution to our local charities, rather than the more commercial focus on Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns!
We specialise in providing IT support for charities and we are pleased to be working with a number of local companies. While computing is a consistent requirement for all companies, there are points to bear in mind in the charitable sector.
In many ways, not-for-profit organisations resemble “normal” profit-driven businesses:
- You need to account for your income and outgoings
- You need to be able to produce reports for bodies to which you are accountable
- You need to budget for your projected expenditure
- You need to manage your team
- … And you need robust IT systems to ensure that all of the above can happen efficiently.
You will obviously look to maximise the funds available to the good works of your organisation by deploying volunteers where possible, and this could well include IT support, keeping your computers up-and-running for free. You may even benefit from generous donations of equipment, stocking your offices with a motley arrangement of desktop PCs and monitors.
We, of course, hope that you can see the benefit of professional IT support; FREE is not always the most effective option when it comes to the efficient management of a modern charity. You can learn more about how Computer Troubleshooters partner with not-for-profits here.
Whether you choose to use our services or not, you are missing a trick if you are not taking advantage of the following discounts available only to charities:
- ESET offer 50% off of their antivirus products
- Office 365 is available for substantially reduced prices and in many cases totally free if you provide proof of your charitable status
- A whole range of Microsoft software is accessible for next to nothing.
On the face of it, it could seem a lot of hassle to do all the form-filling for a bit of money off. However, software often represents a significant element of an IT project. We were recently asked to review a server upgrade quote given to a charity:
Without changing the software recommendations, but simply substituting the prices quoted for the lower prices available to charities, we identified a saving of over £2,500.00!
If you know a charity looking to upgrade their IT systems or looking to review their support arrangements:
IT MAY WELL PAY TO SEND THEM OUR WAY!
That’s a novel way for you to give (advice) to a charity this Easter.