Bedford Inc: Nonprofit of the Month - December 2010

Dec

2010

By: Shai Coggins | Category: Nonprofits in Profile

Every month, Connecting Up Australia highlights some of the nonprofit organisations that we work with through DonorTec and other programmes. For December 2010, our nonprofit in profile is Bedford Industries.

Who or what is Bedford Inc?

Bedford Inc provides services for people with disabilities or the the disadvantaged in South Australia. According to Bedford's website, this is what they offer: "An integral part of our service is the availability of pathways between programmes and locations to ensure that each individual can choose the best options and opportunities for them.

We provide employment and training through our furniture, hospitality, horticulture, packaging, and various regional Australian Disability Enterprises (ADE's) or in the community though CareerSystems. In addition, life skills education is offered through our Day Options programme and key residential services in metropolitan and regional communities as well as accredited training through our registered training organisation."

How did Bedford Inc benefit from DonorTec?

They have received technology donations from Microsoft and Cisco through the DonorTec programme.

What technology donation did Bedford Inc receive?

Bedford Inc chose to set up a terminal server environment using Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition. Features include control over access to local and remote resources, a security-enhanced Web platform and efficient storage management. Microsoft Office Professional has given staff access to applications such as Outlook and Word to provide Email access, and to satisfy general business needs. Excel is used to set up spreadsheets, while Access is used for database storage. Donations made by Cisco enabled Bedford Inc to acquire additional Ethernet switches, making it possible for them to expand their network

What does Bedford Inc say about the DonorTec program?

Jill Seeman, Bedford Inc's IT Manager, says: "We wouldn’t have the calibre of hardware that we do without the program. It has allowed us to maintain a competitive business. The program is easy to use, the staff very helpful and DonorTec are constantly expanding the product offering. Without the services of DonorTec and the donations of their partners Bedford Inc would struggle to survive."