Ada & Impetus

It is refreshing to work with a Foundation that 'gets it' and can quickly galvanise it's resources to provide the support and guidance to help us get on with leading the organisation better which ultimately translates into increased impact for our brilliant learners!.

– Mark Smith, CEO of Ada, the National College for Digital Skills

The need: Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are twice as likely to be neither earning nor learning than their better-off peers. The digital industry is growing but many young people feel they don’t have the skills to contribute to it. Added to that, there is limited diversity in the tech sector, with just 14-15% of the tech workforce from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Our charity partner: Ada, the National College for Digital Skills, are empowering the next generation of diverse digital talent by offering high-quality apprenticeships and training to help more young people get jobs in one of the fastest growing sectors in the country. They have a deep commitment to under-represented groups, with a focus on reaching young people from low income and ethnic minority backgrounds, and women.

Our impact: Ada’s programmes are already high-quality: they are the top performing institution in the country for the Computer Science BTEC with their students attaining one grade higher than the national median. Our work with Ada will focus on supporting them to grow and grow well. We’ll work with them to reach 40% more students in three years by supporting them with business planning, refining their outreach approach to ensure they meet their diversity targets and securing more employer partners.