For the second year in a row, Valparaiso’s BucherTech saw a demand to address IT needs in the community. Awarding over $7,000 in grants, the local Information technology company used its reach in the community to positively impact organizations during a time when they needed the most support.
Since last year, BucherTech, founded by Tim Bucher in 2000, wanted to use its tools and resources to help local organizations struggling to adapt to our technological world.
“A year ago, we had a good year, so we asked ourselves, 'How do we give back to our community?'” said Tim Bucher, President of BucherTech. “The four organizations we awarded grants to this year had varying degrees of IT needs, some struggling with basic needs.”
So, the company banded together and began its grant program. Last year, Hilltop Neighborhood House in Valparaiso received the company’s first grant of $2,500, providing them a strategic IT overhaul. This year, BucherTech chose to give grants to four out of the 13 local organizations that applied, which was an important step in addressing IT concerns that the organizations saw amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020’s recipients included The Caring Place, Team Valpo, Family & Youth Services Bureau, and St. Agnes Adult Day Service Center.
“The premise was centered around organizations who wrote a compelling grant proposal to address their special IT needs,” Bucher said. “They needed to have a specific need and identify what they were going to do with it, especially in how they were going to help the community.”
Depending on the IT needs each recipient had, BucherTech provided a grant to fulfill those requests. The Caring Place, a local nonprofit serving the needs of domestic violence and sexual assault victims, required three new Google Chromebooks. St. Agnes Adult Day Service Center needed a complete overhaul of its system along with new computers and equipment to go with it.
“Family & Youth Services Bureau, which works to end youth homelessness, domestic violence, and teen pregnancy, needed a new computer and a new projector,” Bucher said. “This new equipment is for when they are giving presentations about their services.”
Team Valpo, the City of Valparaiso’s new initiative in partnership with Habitat for Humanity to assist qualifying homeowners in maintaining their homes, needed a new laptop to get started in its mission.
BucherTech found that Team Valpo, along with the other recipients, were not meeting its IT requirements in order to function efficiently and effectively in the community.
“We saw a lot of nonprofits that had the bare IT necessities,” Bucher said. “Years ago, I coined the phrase, ‘living like IT pauper,’ which meant that we saw organizations living like IT paupers and doing things the hard way because they didn’t have the necessary equipment and resources.”
“So, this was our goal,” he continued. “How can we help nonprofits in our area? By doing so, we are giving back to the community where we live and work.”
BucherTech will continue its grant program in 2021. Applications will be open from July 1 to September 1.
For more information, please visit BucherTech at https://buchertech.com/.
