[Chester LUG] Requesting FOSS suppliers in the volutnary Sector

[Open-IT-Up]

Hello All,

We hope that you accept our apologies for cross-posting.

We are mailing to request assistance in populating a free national
directory of IT suppliers working in the voluntary sector with Free and
Open Source Software (FOSS)

As part of the ICT Hub[1], we provide advocacy, support and guidance
to the Voluntary Sector about using FOSS. Our work is funded by ChangeUp
(part of the home office). We think that FOSS has a lot to offer and may
align well with the ethics and needs of the sector.

Assuming that we manage to advocate FOSS effectively, the next question
we are usually asked is 'where can I get support'. It seems that there
is a wide perception that there is little / no IT support for FOSS
users. We know this to be incorrect.

This is an opportunity to combat this myth and we would really like your
help to do so. The ICT Hub is building a searchable directory of IT
suppliers.

FOSS appears to be very under represented in the directory at the
moment, this is sending the wrong message everyone involved, including
the funding bodies and IT decision makers.

So if you or your company provide FOSS services which are:

* directly relevant to nonprofits' information technology needs.
* and are technology-related.

...then you can help us tackle this myth, increase FOSS uptake and
promote your business by registering yourself / your organisation in the
ICT Hub Suppliers Directory.

You can find the directory here... http://directory.icthub.org.uk/

The challenge is to find useful keywords that will allow punters to find
FOSS suppliers, you may want to experiment with this.

Thank you very much indeed,

We apologise again for cross posting but believe that with your support
we can make a real difference,

Mark Brier
Matthew Edmondson

[1] http://www.icthub.org.uk

-- 
  .~.   Mark Brier (www.OpenITUp.org)
 / v \  mark AT openitup DOT org
/( _ )\ PubKey - http://www.openitup.org/keys/markatopenitup.asc
  ^ ^	+44 (0)161 2422132 / +44 (0)7793 036840

-- 
  .~.    Matthew Edmondson - Project Manager
 / v \   The Open Source Project @ NCC - ICTHub
/( _ )\	 (www.openitup.org) matthew AT openitup DOT org
  ^ ^    +44 (0)161 2422188 +44 (0)7917163934