The web site of the regional ICT Champions provides answers to frequently asked questions about ICT and how it can help the third sector. It offers short, jargon-free answers and provides links to useful information elsewhere on the internet.

A large and well-organised collection of articles written in a straightforward free way specifically for the voluntary and community sector.

Commissioned by VONNE this free online toolkit can help organisations to develop an ICT strategy. Having an ICT Strategy helps to focus the work of your organisation and to assist it in securing future funding where required. By answering a series of questions about your organisation and the work that it does, this toolkit will produce an ICT Strategy which will prove invaluable in accounting for your communication and technology needs into the future. The toolkit can not only produce a general strategy for your organisation, but also allows the production of 'tailored' multi-budget strategies which you may need for specific projects and collaborations etc. Toolkit features include an ICT training needs analysis for staff and volunteers and an up-to-date costs projector for all of the equipment you have and will need to maintain.

Any charity can sign up to Charity Technology Exchange (CTX) to get low cost software from suppliers such as Microsoft, Symantec and Cisco.

www.mylearningpool.com 

Over 20 online training modules for social enterprises, community and voluntary groups, small charities and anyone involved in civil society. At a modest cost. Modules include: Getting started with social media and Write great online content.

www.icthub.org.uk/newsletter

Published every two months the NCVO ICT Development newsletter provides articles on technology in the voluntary and community sector plus information on the latest ICT events, publications and resources.

Open source software is free to use. This site lists what is available. There is also information about open source software on the ICT Knowledgebase site at http://www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk/

Publications, newsletters, contacts and other ICT-related information can be found at the ICT Hub website, now run by National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). These include the following invaluable guides which can be downloaded for free:

• A guide to managing ICT in the voluntary and community sector
• How to cost and fund ICT
• From nightmare to nirvana - an ICT survival guide for trustees

The ICT Knowledgebase has a range of articles concerned with buying ICT equipment, software and services. These include:

Buying, owning and disposing of ICT hardware:
www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk/buyingowninghardware

Buying and owning software:
www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk/buyingowningsoftware

Getting support:
www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk/gettingsupport

Choosing a database:
www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk/choosingadatabase