4 ways to support Apps for Good to benefit more young people

As a charity, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the support of others. In such a challenging economic climate for so many, we’re incredibly grateful. Over the past 15 years, we’ve been fortunate to have partnerships with organisations including EPAM, Google, The Hg Foundation, LEGO, OVO Foundation, Spotify, and Spectris Foundation to name just a few. Through mutually beneficial partnerships providing funding, volunteering, and access to pro-bono expertise, partners make a MASSIVE impact on our organisation and the young people we support.

Here are just some of the ways you could partner with Apps for Good to empower young people with the skills and motivation to shape their world with technology.

Donations and grant funding enable us to continue delivering our courses to schools, 100% free of charge. At a cost of £22 per student, a donation of £10,000 could help us to provide free computing courses to 455 students. Teachers will be able to access free, ready-made education content, choosing from three themed computing courses: Innovate for Climate Change, App for Social Action, and AI for Good. Young people from all backgrounds can develop their computing, digital literacy, and essential skills, increase their confidence to use technology to shape their lives and the world around them, and have broader ambitions for their future.

Showcase is our annual celebration of young tech innovators. Apps for Good students submit their app ideas, and each entry gets feedback from Industry Volunteers who help shortlist finalists. Student finalists then pitch live via video call to our Showcase Partners and compete to win the Judge’s Favourite and People’s Choice awards.

Every student team entry, regardless of whether they are a finalist, receives personalised written feedback from Industry Volunteers. Last year 193 student teams entered, with 68% of the schools entering being from challenging circumstances.

Showcase categories can be chosen to fit your own CSR priorities, and there are a host of volunteering opportunities for your entire team including:

• Shortlisting - A fully remote and flexible option where your Industry Volunteers spend 10-15 minutes to review an entry, reviewing as many as they wish from the comfort of their laptop, tablet, or phone.
• Selecting the Judge’s Favourite - A remote option where a panel of 3-5 volunteer category judges from your organisation become the friendly ‘dragons den’, hearing students pitch their app ideas. Your employees could help choose our ‘future founders’, ‘climate innovators’ and ‘inclusive creators’.
• Supporting your favourite team - Why not reward the finalists from your Showcase category with a bespoke opportunity to visit your place of work? We’ve had podcasting to skills building and lots more in between!

Engaging with industry inspires young people to reach their potential, providing them with role models who they might not ordinarily have access to. We want young people to see the diversity of roles available to them - as well as diversity in the people in those roles. We want young people to be able to make informed decisions about their future that aren’t limited by their current circumstances.

Students build their app prototypes using processes that are aligned with industry. Within each course is the opportunity to connect them to real-world professionals to support their ideas by providing feedback and career insights. Teachers really value how industry professionals supplement their own knowledge and understanding:

"Linking with the expert was wonderful.... The fact that somebody, who isn't their teacher, is having a look at it and going 'that's really good, I like that but you could work on this' - having an external voice in a profession is really powerful."

Teacher, Countesthorpe Academy

And as Industry Volunteers, your employees get a lot out of it too, with flexible volunteering opportunities that can easily slot into busy working lives:

“I would say it made me love what I do even more, because I realised how much I can give back by just sharing my knowledge and experience.”

Fabiana Guglielmi, Head of Creative and Production at Novakid

As a small education charity with a big mission, we rely on support from funders, partners and volunteers to fund our core costs. This support moves us a step closer to ensuring young people, regardless of their background, can develop the tech innovation skills to thrive in an ever-changing world. The Apps for Good delivery model has been sustainable for almost 15 years. Your donation will empower our small passionate team at Apps for Good to continue to thrive over the next 15 years, impacting more young people for generations to come.

If you love our mission and it aligns with your values, why not become part of our amazing community? We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch by emailing partnerships@appsforgood.org.