NICVA Members' Day a great success

Photo: Peter Davitt, Chief Executive of FIT NI, seen with Will Haire, Permanent Secretary for Department of Social Development with Una McKernan, Deputy Chief Executive of NICVA and Paul Tanner, Public Sector Director, Microsoft Ireland accepts a $50,000 cash donation from Microsoft at the ‘Making the most of your IT’ event held today at NICVA, Belfast. [Parkway Photography]

 The Members' day event, ‘Making the most of your IT’, took place at NICVA, 61 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast, with over 120 people from the sector attending.  It was officially opened by Will Haire, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Social Development and also included the presentation by Microsoft Ireland of $50,000 to a charity attending the event, FIT NI.

Will Haire, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Social Development said: "The voluntary and community sector has an important role in delivering better public services to those who need them most.  The NICVA Members' day will help do this by giving local voluntary and community organisations practical examples of how using IT can make them more efficient and effective.”

"I strongly welcome the support provided by Microsoft Ireland to the conference.  This IT initiative will provide many organisations with the opportunity to further develop their services, to the benefit of their members and the public."

Seamus McAleavey, Chief Executive of NICVA commented “In these times of recession, with reducing resources, we are offering this help to our members, with the support of Microsoft.  Using IT to become more efficient and effective will be vital over the coming years, along with making use of free IT solutions like social networking sites to continue to promote the work of organisations to the wider world.”

The event was geared at individuals who work in all areas: those in finance who want to learn more about Sage; those in communications who are interested in maximising the use of their website or other social networking tools; or those responsible for business administration who want to maximise their knowledge of IT and some of Microsoft’s other solutions.
 
Commenting on the event, Paul Tanner, Microsoft Ireland said: “I am delighted to formally announce Microsoft’s partnership today with FIT NI at the ‘Making the most of your IT’ event.  Many of the challenges of running a charity are similar to those of running a business. However, many voluntary groups don’t have the resources or the time to identify and invest in the latest practices and technologies that might be available to them.”
 
He continued to say:

“At Microsoft we work with a growing number of non profit organisations, helping to ensure that as many people as possible have access to the latest technology and to ensure that we help to alleviate the digital divide. This conference will go one step further to tackling this problem.”   

Presentations

Presentations from the Members' Information session are now available from the following link: http://www.slideshare.net/NICVA

If you registered for the Sage workshop, but were unable to attend we’re sorry we didn’t get to meet you however if you email your details to ian.brown@entec.co.uk or phone 01462 499540 we’ll post you a copy of the workbook (and the mouse mat and pen!). If you had any questions you wanted to ask on the day please include them and we’ll do our best to answer them or identify the best course of action for you.

If you have any Sage Accounts or ACT! queries please do contact the presenter, Belinda Gee, Entec’s Sage specialist on 01462 499550 or belinda.gee@entec.co.uk.

 
About NICVA
NICVA (Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action) is the representative and umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector of Northern Ireland.

Since its inception in 1938 NICVA has been committed to social change and community development, acting as a catalyst to promote innovation and new approaches to targeting need.  NICVA works for justice, equality and dignity throughout society by promoting opportunities for community participation in the essential decisions that affect the lives of people in Northern Ireland.   

About Microsoft Ireland
Microsoft first opened its doors in Ireland in 1985 with a small manufacturing facility employing just over one hundred people. Since that time, Microsoft Ireland has grown to encompass four distinct operations at its campus in Sandyford in Dublin, employing over 1,200 full time employees and 700 full-time contract staff.

Microsoft's operations in Ireland include software development and testing, localisation, operations, finance, IT, HR and sales and marketing, both here in Ireland and across Europe, Middle East and Africa.