Back in 1994, Intel established a fund with us as they were keen to be part of the community. Over the last 25 years, they have built an endowment fund to support our work and the work of community and voluntary groups in Swindon and across Wiltshire.

Dr Andy Tait, chair of Intel’s voluntary and charitable activity, explains why the company decided to partner with us: “If we hadn’t come to Wiltshire Community Foundation, we would have incurred the cost of staff time and other resources to oversee our giving. It made far more financial sense to entrust the Community Foundation with our giving. In fact, it allowed us to give more money because we weren’t burdened with those extra costs.”

Intel's donations have helped groups across Swindon and Wiltshire, from supporting mentors for young people to help them to develop skills and confidence for their future careers to funding equipment and materials for community facilities like Men's Sheds. Dr Tait said a major benefit of working with us is being able to utilise our knowledge.

“Without this partnership, we would have had to either appoint a member of staff to oversee our giving, who might not be equipped to make the right choices, or hire someone specifically with that knowledge, which is obviously a cost. Working with Wiltshire Community Foundation, which has the know-how, the experience and the right decision-making structure to allow it to make well-informed choices that ensure the money goes to the most worthy causes was the perfect option for us. And then, of course, it has a rigorous monitoring structure to ensure the money is spent as it was intended.”

In addition to building their endowment fund, Intel has also supported us with donations of computer hardware to help our growth and development. And, Dr Tait was so impressed with our work he became a trustee. Our relationship with Intel is just one example of how we work with local businesses to develop and deliver their local giving.

Commenting on our long-standing partnership Adrian Criddle, General Manager and Vice President, Intel UK said “Intel aims not just to be in the community but also part of the community. Our 25 year long relationship with Wiltshire Community Foundation has really helped Intel to achieve this and there are many worthy causes in the Swindon and Wiltshire community which we are really pleased to be able to say have benefitted as a result.”

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