BT Community Connections Awards winners use their £5,000 awards
Howard Lake | 29 May 2007 | News
The seven winners of the first BT Community Connections (BTCC) National Awards have each received £5,000 worth of tailored professional expertise from BT. Since receiving the awards in December 2006, the voluntary groups explain how they have put their training into practice.
BT Community Connections is designed to enable community and voluntary groups throughout the UK to get online.
The winners chosen from across the UK included The Source in Hampshire, Find a Voice in Kent, Vale Plus Cymru in Cardiff, Prosiect Dyslecsia Cymru in Cardigan, Groundwork Wigan and Chorley, the Coalfield Forum in Sunderland and Rehability in Antrim, Northern Ireland.
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Joy Butcher, founder of Find A Voice in Kent and BTCC National Award winner, chose £5,000 worth of media and PR training. She said: “The BTCC National Award has given us support on everything from styling our press releases, how to issue them and how to find out who to send them to.
“The radio and TV interview sessions were absolutely fascinating – specialist knowledge that you wouldn’t otherwise get the opportunity to learn about. Over the last six months it has given me the confidence to talk directly to the local media and represent our organisation in a way I haven’t been able to do before. I have learnt to keep interviewers focused on the areas I want to talk about and not be led off in different directions.”
The BTCC National Award is the highest level of award in the BT Community Connections scheme which supports voluntary groups in three levels. National Award winners initially won a BT Community Connections award consisting of a NEC Internet-ready PC, BT broadband connection and software package worth £1,300. They then won an e-ffective Connection Award – a tailored award package including digital cameras, printers and laptops worth up to £600.
To qualify for the National Award, applicants provided information on progress made since receiving their initial awards and specified the day-to-day challenges they had overcome.
Applicants then explained what type of expert advice, such as HR, finance, marketing or web development, would most help their group’s development and benefit their community.
BTCC was developed by BT to break down the digital divide and provide ongoing support to the community sector.
Melanie Carter, founder of Vale Plus Cymru and BTCC National Award winner chose £5,000 worth of web expertise. She said: The BTCC National Award has given us expertise and skills we would otherwise not have had access to. We have developed a professional website which can be designed and run by our own service users, who all have learning disabilities. It is very important for us to involve them and the website helps to highlight their needs and capabilities to the public.”
Beth Courtier, BT’s head of charity programmes said: “BTCC National Awards further our relationship with community groups, empowering organisations with expertise that isn’t always available to them. The award has a more lasting impact than a simple cash grant.
“Delivering tailored management skills to these groups has meant that they have had the opportunity to increase their impact in delivering vital work in the community.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.