Case Studies

Community organisations are under increasing pressure to be able to demonstrate that their programmes are delivering effective change. With drowning deaths down to 98 for 2009, and average for the decade of 116 compared to 181 in the 1980’s Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ) can claim considerable success with their education, awareness and prevention initiatives delivered to communities throughout New Zealand.

"Xero is ideal for charities. It's simple, so our time is freed up, letting us get on with our job" says Ross Bell of the New Zealand Drug Foundation. In this case study Ross shares his insights into how Xero can make a big difference for New Zealand charities.

Manawatu Stewart Centre in Palmerston North has improved its IT functionality, along with the skill development of their clients, with Microsoft donated software. This case study is a good example of how to make the most of some of the software available on TechSoup.

Our latest case study focuses on Whakatu Marae in Nelson and how they are using technology to deliver services and training to families. “This software has enabled many whanau to succeed in their ambition to be able to use technology and communicate with Whanau overseas, enrol in higher level courses at a local tertiary institute and be more positive in life.” Says Trevor Wilson Pouwhakahaere (CEO)

“Our hardware and software platform has had significant investment to meet this goal and features a thin client network with a range of software that enables us to manage most of our network through our central server. In implementing this upgrade across our platform we needed software to operate our network so we have upgraded our desktop environment to the latest Microsoft family of software so that we can. We now have a network that is the equal of large budget scale organisations thanks to support from TechSoup and Microsoft.”

A shared vision between Jeannette Baalbergen a teacher for people with disabilities and potter Iain Crichton to establish a place where people of all abilities could celebrate their creativity and be empowered to become valued members of their own communities saw the establishment of the Panacea Arts Trust and then the Spark Studio in early 2000.

“Thanks to Microsoft we are able to further develop our visual arts education programmes for people with disabilities and I now have access to the programmes I need to ensure that Spark Studio can meet its administrative needs.”

One of the most exciting outcomes for NZFVWO having partnered with ConnectingUp Australia to bring TechSoup to New Zealand charities has been the amazing effect it has had in just a few short months of operation. The Mangere East Family Service Centre is one such outcome.

“For the first time in fifteen years all our computers can talk to each other with a common operating system Windows XP and a common work platform, Office 2007. This means that staff can now share documents, collaborate and interact more on the work they are doing.”
Director, Peter Sykes.

Preventing Violence in the Home has recently started a new pilot project called "Safe At Home" which is aimed at keeping high risk families safe, by making their homes more secure, with locks being changed or fitted, sensor lighting installed, glass doors changed to solid wood, broken windows fixed, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors provided etc.  Each victim will also be given a personal silent alarm, monitored 24 hours a day.

This project will be running on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform.

“We anticipate having amazing information which will help New Zealand learn better ways to protect vulnerable families, as a result of this project and the only way we could manage this, is through our wonderful new database. Thank you for making this possible for us, we could never have afforded to buy your products. We are so grateful.” Jane Drumm.

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Big Buddy mentoring is based on the simple philosophy that boys need good male role models in their lives to become good men. Unfortunately, many boys do not have a father or male role model in their lives and while mothers do courageous work in the raising of their boys alone, they cannot model maleness. And above all else, boys learn through modelling.

“I think TechSoup is fantastic. We have already received our first order of Microsoft product which is making a big difference to our in-house design work for resources and marketing” Richard Aston Chief Executive

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