TechBridge welcomed 125 guests to the Cahaba Grand in Birmingham, Alabama on March 21, 2015 for an elegant evening in support of leveraging technology to alleviate social challenges in the community. TechBridge, a nonprofit that drives community impact by bringing affordable technology and business expertise to other nonprofits, raised $77,000 from 19 sponsors to further its mission in Alabama.

The event’s attendees made new connections and learned about TechBridge’s impact and the avenues through which they can get involved to improve their community.

—Scott McGlaun, CIO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama & Chair of TechBridge Alabama Advisory Board

I’m encouraged by the passion and leadership among the TechBridge Alabama Advisory Board members. They see an opportunity to provide nonprofit agencies with access to the very technology capabilities deployed in their businesses. Helping nonprofit agencies stretch limited resources farther through technology-enabled efficiencies means more lives impacted. That is the end objective: to help nonprofit agencies have greater impact. 

The evening culminated in a live text-to-pledge campaign to adopt a technology project for a local Alabama nonprofit—Grace House Ministries, a long-term group home for girls (ages 6-21) in Fairfield, AL, who have been removed from the custody of their families due to abuse or neglect. The text-to-pledge crowdfunding campaign exceeded the goal of $5,000 and received pledges for a total of $9,430. The pledges are to be coupled with a $5,000 match from TechBridge from the evening’s proceeds to transform the educational tracking and delivery process at Grace House Ministries.

Just as the crowd adopted a technology project for Grace House, so TechBridge matches funders (corporations, foundations or individuals) to nonprofit projects every day through its Adopt-a-Nonprofit® program. Click to find out how you can adopt a technology project or how (if you’re a nonprofit) to receive funding.

Among other event highlights was an announcement from Alabama Power Company CIO, David Cox, that through the Alabama Power Foundation, TechBridge has been awarded a $10,000 grant for technology assessments for six Alabama nonprofits—these nonprofits will be selected by TechBridge’s Alabama Advisory Board and will each receive a technology assessment to provide a roadmap to achieving stability and operational efficiencies and to leveraging technology to grow their mission.

The Digital Dinner in Birmingham was the last event in TechBridge’s inaugural 2015 Digital Event Series for Alabama, which has sparked the IT community’s imagination for what technology can make possible for Alabama’s nonprofits. Plans for the 2016 Digital Event Series for Alabama are currently under way and will be announced in upcoming months.

 *reprinted with permission