Building on ten years of grant making in socially motivated tech, Nominet Trust evolves as Social Tech Trust.
- Nominet Trust evolves into Social Tech Trust
- Social Investment Business becomes a new member and strategic partner
- New grant fund opens in July 2018
Press Release – London, 23 February 2018 – The UK’s leading dedicated grant maker in socially motivated tech, formerly known as Nominet Trust, has evolved into Social Tech Trust, with Social Investment Business becoming a new member and strategic partner. Social Tech Trust continues its commitment to supporting socially motivated tech with a new £0.5 million grant funding programme for early stage ventures.
The Social Tech Trust grant fund Tech to unite us, will support ventures demonstrating how tech can reach its transformative potential when it is driven to address one of the greatest social challenges of our time – inequality. Tech to unite us will open for applications in July 2018.
Social Investment Business CEO, Nick Temple will join the Board of Social Tech Trust as the two organisations form a new purposeful strategic partnership focused on scaling social impact with tech. Nick is a leading figure in the social investment and enterprise sectors and was previously Deputy CEO at Social Enterprise UK. Nick joins existing Board members, Bill Liao, Beth Murray, Sebastien Lahtinen and Hannah Keartland.
Bill Liao, Chair of Social Tech Trust said, “Powerfully leveraging tech with purpose will be strengthened by the Trust’s new standing as a key independent contributor to the UK tech ecosystem, in partnership with Social Investment Business. We are all looking forward to delivering our next round of grants to empower a new generation of tech that transforms lives.”
Rt Hon Hazel Blears, Chair of Social Investment Business said, “I am delighted that we are entering into a strategic partnership with Social Tech Trust. New technology is reshaping the world we live in and the world that charities and social enterprises operate in, attracting new talent and creating new models of change. There’s never been a more exciting and important time to enter into this partnership with the potential to transform people’s lives for the better.
This area is a key priority for Social Investment Business to ensure we can best support the social sector in future. We have complementary skills and expertise as partners, and I am looking forward to working closely with Bill and his team in the coming years to help more organisations harness the power of technology”.
Social Tech Trust will uphold Nominet Trust’s heritage of supporting socially motivated UK start-ups and businesses that are transforming lives with tech. The Trust’s growing portfolio of over 750 initiatives includes Open Bionics, creators of the bionic Hero Arm; GiveVision that specialises in life-changing vision technology and Open Utility, the pioneering start-up, democratising the energy sector.
Social Tech Trust will continue to back innovative partnerships, including their £1m backing of Fair By Design, which aims to end the poverty premium within the next 10 years, and their contribution to the £1 million iAMDigital programme, in partnership with Creative England.
After ten years as Nominet’s corporate foundation, the Trust is now independent and able to attract funding from other sources to help expand their programmes.
Nominet has supported the Trust with funding of £44m over the last ten years. Moving forward, Nominet is committed to investing in its own programme to help one million young people overcome the challenges of the digital age.
Mark Wood, Chair of Nominet, said: “As we focus on Nominet’s ambitious pubic benefit programme, it’s the right time for the Trust to have the freedom they need to pursue their social tech agenda. We thank the team for their enormous contribution over the last 10 years, and wish them well as they embark on an exciting new partnership.”
About Social Tech Trust
Social Tech Trust provides grant funding and support to organisations that use tech to transform lives.
Formerly Nominet Trust, since 2008 the charity has supported over 750 socially motivated initiatives in the UK, providing more than £31m of funding to drive change with tech. www.socialtechtrust.org
About Social Investment Business
Social Investment Business provides loans, grants and strategic support to charities and social enterprises to help them improve people’s lives.
They have helped hundreds of organisations become more resilient and sustainable so that they can grow and increase their impact and were one of the UK’s first social investors. Since 2002 they have provided over £400 million of loans and grants to charities and social enterprises. www.sibgroup.org.uk
About Nominet
Nominet is a profit with a purpose company, operating at the heart of the internet infrastructure. Nominet’s world-class registry services, sophisticated cyber analytics, cutting-edge spectrum management capabilities and public benefit programmes are helping create a vibrant digital future. The company runs the .UK domain name registry, provides a range of cyber and DNS (Domain Name System) services to UK government and enterprises globally, and has developed technology to dynamically allocate and optimise spectrum. Profits from the company’s commercial activities fund programmes that support greater connectivity, inclusivity and security online. www.nominet.uk
