Page 21 - Yearbook issue try out

One school had no girls in its GCSE Computer Your charitable contributions create opportunities
Science class: after ten girls attended a Cyber that money simply just can’t buy – or so it seems
Girls First workshop, all ten enrolled on the GCSE from the AI4C experience. 18 charities have
programme, and three went on to study Computer now joined this sales-free environment wherein
Science at Cambridge. WCIT members provide thought leadership
and practical advice in AI while charities share
experiences. Contacts are forged leading to new
understandings, alliances and sometimes to
further unexpected outcomes. Mencap cited AI4C
when its chatbot won the Nesta Legal Access
Challenge; and spinal cord injury charity Backup
heard about the Cast Discovery Grant from a WCIT
AI4C bulletin – and has now gained additional
funding.

The Charity continues to transform lives through IT
with your support. Your contributions throughout
lockdown have helped transform a substantial
forecasted loss in March 2020 to a small surplus
by the end of the year. But there is always more
to be done, and our work is more vital than ever.
We look forward to re-opening for grant-making in
2021, but we very much need your help in getting
our capacity for giving back to where it was prior to
COVID.

Cyber Girls First With your continued generosity, we can support
those who need us, not just now but, in common
with other more venerable livery charities, for
Similarly, Oakleaf Enterprises used a grant from the centuries to come.
WCIT Charity to help people with mental health
issues gain new IT skills and secure employment.
Another milestone in 2019 was the 20 birthday
th
of Lifelites. The WCIT Charity has worked with
Lifelites from the start, helping it to bring assistive
technology into children’s hospices for the benefit
of life-limited and disabled children. This year we
supported additional training for hospice staff
to make the most of the technology available to
them.

We have sponsored the Gresham College
Professor of IT, currently Richard Harvey; held
lunches and dinners for students at Hammersmith
Academy and Lilian Baylis Technology School;
run the University IT Awards for the fifth time; and
sponsored the AbilityNet Tech4Good awards.
We have also continued to provide vital practical
support and thought leadership around the use of
artificial intelligence in charities small, large and
enormous, through AI4C (formerly known as the CALM: we’re in this together
AI/ML Learning Exchange).

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