GOOD THINGS FOUNDATION
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Sustainable Business Magazine speaks with Helen Milner OBE, Group CEO of Good Things Foundation. The charity provides digital devices that are donated by businesses to people in the UK who need it most, as well as internet access and digital skills learning to use digital services affordably and confidently. Good Things Foundation is a UK-wide charity looking to bridge the country’s digital divide. There are ten million people in the UK currently lacking basic digital skills to navigate the contemporary world, and 2.5m households that lack internet connectivity due to cost. Good Things Foundation is attempting to resolve that issue through enduring partnerships and community action. Helen Milner OBE, the Group CEO of Good Things Foundation, gives a rundown of what she and her organisation are doing to bridge the digital divide - and what they need from businesses to help fix it. “The charity was set up in 2010 and sprung out of a recognition that the divide is a growing problem across the country. We help people that are on the ‘wrong side’ of the divide by working with local community centres, charities, food banks and other groups connected with people that might need our help. That way we reach right into the community and bring our resources to the people that really need it. In total, we 22 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
work with more than 4000 local community organisations called Digital Inclusion Hubs. “We focus on more disadvantaged communities because we know digital exclusion overlaps greatly with social exclusion. People who are on low incomes, for example, or in insecure housing or employment. Strategically, we look at places in the country where there are higher levels of deprivation and see if there are local partners that we can work with and bring into the network. Although 5000 existing local partners sounds like a big number, it doesn’t actually reach everywhere – and we’re determined to reach as widely as possible with the three pillars of digital inclusion: devices, data and digital skills.” Although Good Things Foundations is now more than a decade old, a certain world event saw the charity’s biggest change yet. “The Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on our work,” Ms. Milner says. “Not only did it raise awareness of digital exclusion across certain social strata, but it also led to businesses digitising much more