Here at CHILDREN 1ST we appreciate gifts in kind and time from corporate supporters. Whatever your business expertise or staff skill base you can help.

From donating office and building products to running staff team challenges, your business can help CHILDREN 1ST save money and resources that can then be spent on services to children and families.

Walker Group

Walker Group, a leading Scottish construction company, teamed up with CHILDREN 1^ST almost 3 years ago to support the building of "The Chill Out Zone", our new young people's healthy living centre in Bathgate, West Lothian. Their commitment was to meet the costs of all fees in connection with the procurement, delivery and management of the building. This included the architect, building contract and management on site.

The building is now complete and open to young people in West Lothian. Walker Group's gift over the last three years has saved CHILDREN 1^ST £40,000 - and their commitment doesn't stop there. Staff at Walker group have been busy raising money for other local projects, in one instance supplying the play room to an outreach project in East Lothian.

Group Managing Director, Bruce Walker said: "We have a lot of young parents within the company and were keen to fund a charity that is for the benefit of children and their families. CHILDREN 1^ST has this at its very core and we are delighted to be supporting a charity that delivers services directly in the communities they are needed".

Microsoft

During 2005 CHILDREN 1^ST undertook a huge project to upgrade and improve its IT infrastructure enabling staff to communicate and collaborate more efficiently than ever before. Microsoft Scotland got involved by donating the latest software allowing us to complete the upgrade. This donation represents a saving of almost £100,000 which we will be able to spend elsewhere on services to vulnerable children.

We provide services to children and families in locations as far apart as the Black Isle and the Scottish Borders. The latest Microsoft software will allow us to manage all our staff’s IT needs from our head office in Edinburgh. The donation means a significant reduction in overheads and greater support for staff in their daily work.

Microsoft’s commitment to Scotland’s children does not end there. Also in 2005 Microsoft donated the prize for the winner in our competition to name our young people’s healthy living centre in West Lothian, the Chill Out Zone (COZ) and in 2006 are sponsoring the prizes for our MoneyMaker schools competition.

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