Leeds Community Foundation supports thousands of people and voluntary groups across the city, distributing grants and providing expertise to strengthen communities.
In 2018, after becoming dissatisfied with their existing IT provider, the Foundation appointed TIEVA as their managed service partner. Since then, TIEVA has delivered a full range of IT services - including network switches, a Barracuda firewall, WiFi, and new PCs and laptops - as well as ongoing management of their firewall, Office 365 environment, and endpoint devices.
Before moving to TIEVA, the Foundation’s previous provider was struggling to deliver the service the Foundation needed.
“They weren’t very responsive, requests weren’t delivered in a timely manner, and resolutions weren’t always what we required. That costs time and money - it’s a hidden cost if we have to chase a provider or spend time trying to get them to deliver what we need. And it takes our small team away from doing their jobs.”
With no internal IT function, Leeds Community Foundation needed a reliable and cost effective solution so their team could focus on its mission rather than IT problems. Steve Trow, Head of Finance, explains:
“For us to do our day-to-day jobs we need the full suite of Microsoft services, but we don’t have an in-house IT team. Therefore it’s essential to have support available when we need it. In charities like ours, capacity is always an issue - people wear many hats. So it’s important to have the knowledge and expertise to call on when we don’t have it in-house, or we just don’t have the time.”
TIEVA was selected as the Foundation’s new managed service provider, offering experience in the charity sector, a full suite of IT solutions, and a competitive pricing model. As Steve explains:
“We use a scoring matrix for retenders. Price matters, of course - every penny counts in the charity sector - but it wasn’t the only factor. Experience with charities was important, as was a local presence. And then there’s the gut feel: do you get on with the people and their
communication style? That’s important too.”
Since partnering with TIEVA, the Foundation’s IT environment has been modernised and is now proactively managed. Firewall, endpoint devices, and Office 365 are fully supported.
The partnership with TIEVA has proven highly successful, giving Leeds Community Foundation a stable, secure, and well-managed IT environment that supports the charity’s work.
“We’re in a really good spot with our IT systems. We only place calls to the help desk a couple of times a month, which is a good thing - it means everything is working as it should. TIEVA is clearly managing the environment well. It gives us peace of mind and frees me up to get on with my role.”
When issues do arise, support is fast and effective:
TIEVA’s proactive management has also helped the Foundation deal with security issues quickly:
“We had a phishing issue the other day. A staff member thought they might have clicked on something. I sent it to TIEVA, and they checked it, quarantined it, and made sure everything was safe. That’s where the value is.”
From a finance perspective, TIEVA’s pricing model also delivers predictability and transparency:
“Costs are predictable, with no hidden extras - that’s essential for charities. TIEVA are transparent when we discuss any additions or enhancements, and clear if something is outside of the service agreement. They’ve also been flexible when we’ve wanted to scale services back to drive efficiencies.”
For Steve, the relationship is a big part of the value.