Northern Ireland-based learning technology company, Synergy Learning, has donated £30,000 to Simon Community Northern Ireland to mark the second anniversary of its partnership with the charity.
Synergy Learning’s support includes a financial donation of £19,000 and the creation of a Learning Management System (LMS) for the charity worth £11,000.
The LMS will be used by Simon Community Northern Ireland staff and volunteers to carry out mandatory training and specialist training covering mental health support and interventions for their diverse team across each of their projects. The donation will be used by the charity to help provide 570 days of Shelter and Support for clients in accommodation sites across Northern Ireland.
Simon Community Northern Ireland is the country’s leading homeless charity. Over the last three years, the charity has supported more than 800 people, including over 200 young people, providing advice and support to live independently or successfully reconnect with family.
Simon Community Northern Ireland has almost 400 staff that offer specialist services in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland, working without judgement to support people who are, or are at risk of, becoming homeless. The charity’s services include homelessness prevention, accommodation services, women’s advocacy, and young people’s support services.
Over the last two years, Synergy Learning has partnered with Simon Community Northern Ireland on a range of volunteering and fundraising activities. The team at Synergy Learning got behind the initiative in numerous ways, including walking for 508 hours with nearly 4 million steps between them. They participated in Christmas Jumper Days, raffled off prizes and also project managed and delivered a bespoke Learning Management System for the team.
Alicia MacMahon, Project Manager at Synergy Learning who was involved in the partnership, said:
“Simon Community Northern Ireland is a charity very close to my heart. The staff and volunteers dedicate so much of their time to people in need and they have positively impacted the lives of so many people across Northern Ireland.
“I loved working alongside my team to create a learning management system for Simon Community Northern Ireland. It was lovely to create something for the staff and volunteers to show our gratitude to the charity and everyone involved. I really appreciate Synergy Learning giving us the opportunity to work alongside such an important charity.”
Speaking on the partnership, Tory Kerley, Head of People, Performance & Culture at Synergy Learning added:
“We’ve really enjoyed building a relationship with Simon Community Northern Ireland. With over 18 years of in-house expertise in learning technology, we are grateful to be able to offer our skills and experience to benefit good causes. We are delighted to have developed our Giving Back programme for charities and community groups with the whole of 1Team voting for and supporting this charity partnership since 2021.
“Our team enjoyed developing a Learning Management System for use by staff and clients across all the charity’s projects. We hope the team at Simon Community Northern Ireland benefit from their new LMS and it helps to deliver incredible support for people experiencing homelessness in Northern Ireland.”
Brian Shanks, Corporate Partnerships Manager, from Simon Community Northern Ireland said:
“On behalf of everyone at Simon Community Northern Ireland, I would like to thank the team at Synergy Learning for their support over the last two years. Throughout our partnership with Synergy Learning, together we have supported nearly 1,000 people across Northern Ireland who are facing homelessness and the impact of this work will be felt by many across the country.”
“It was a wonderful experience to work alongside the Synergy Learning team to develop our new Learning Management System. We have already noticed a big improvement in our processes and it’s all thanks to Synergy Learning.”
Synergy Learning has recently been named as one of the UK’s fastest growing businesses and recognised as one of Northern Ireland’s Top 100 Tech Companies. These accolades followed several recent customer wins for the company, including the World Trade Organisation and Hyundai Motor Europe and a headquarters move to the new collaborative Hub located at the Catalyst Innovation Centre in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.
