Help Support Our Museum

The Centre for Computing History has been thriving, but now we need your help so we can continue to preserve the UK’s computing heritage and educate the next generation of programmers and entrepreneurs.

When the museum moved to Cambridge and opened its doors to the public back in 2013, no-one then would have expected it to have achieved so much by now. We’ve catalogued over 36,000 objects and made them all available to view online, set up a unique and highly regarded learning programme for schools and the public, welcomed over 100,000 paying visitors, created scores of videos on computing history and we’re rated the #1 museum in Cambridge on Tripadvisor. In short, the museum has flourished, much due to the tireless dedication of the small core team and amazing volunteers.
 

Museum Staff & Volunteers

But when Coronavirus hit, the museum had to close its doors. That means no visitors, no schools attending, no workshops and no events. But the costs don't stop just because the museum is closed. We’ve taken all sensible steps to reduce outgoings but with our staff furloughed we cannot supply educational resources to children at home to help them through these strange and isolating times. 

Unique School Visits
With the doors closed we lose approximately £23,000 per month.

This is unsustainable, and unless we can find a temporary replacement for these lost funds it will be very difficult to re-open the museum.

We have always been proud to be a museum that is mostly self-sustaining. A rare beast in the museum world! We have occasionally asked the tech industry to help to make what the museum offers better, but never to sustain it. 

Sadly, due to the coronavirus, the museum needs the tech sector, whose history it preserves, to help support it through these impossibly difficult days. 

The Centre for Computing History is the UK's only accredited museum to preserve the hardware, software and the cultural stories that give context to the collection. 

** Update **
The first couple of months have been difficult, but with the government furlough scheme and public donations so far, we have made it this far. However, as the country comes out of lockdown and the furloughing scheme reduces, we fear the hardest time is ahead of us. As a hands on exhibition, the museum won't be able to open safely for some time, and it is obvious that school visits (a major part of our revenue generation) will not start until 2021 at the earliest. 

Please help us through the coronavirus lockdown and get back to the trajectory that we were on. Email me at jason@computinghistory.org.uk if you can help. We have several sponsorship packages available to recognise your contribution.
 

View Our : Sponsorship Packages 
 

The public have already been extremely supportive with over £16,000 donated through Just Giving,
and charity events and auctions taking place to raise funds. 

We are hopeful companies will help us through this too.

Thank you.

Jason Fitzpatrick
Founder.

 


Our Education Offer in Action

Date : 30-04-2020

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Founding Sponsors
redgate Google ARM Real VNC Microsoft Research
Heritage Lottery Funded
Heritage Lottery Fund
Accredited Museum