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CITRA and Socitm to merge to provide a single ‘home’ for IT and related professionals in public and third sectors The Charity IT Resource Alliance (CITRA), a non-profit membership organisation supporting IT professionals in the third sector, is to merge with the 1800-strong Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm) the professional association for IT professionals in local government and the wider public sector. The merger, which takes effect from 1st January 2009, comes at a time when, according to the Office of the Third Sector almost two thirds of local authorities have decided to make the existence of a vibrant and effective local third sector, a priority performance measure over the next three years. As part of the merger, David Clayden, Director of Strategic Information at The Salvation Army and a CITRA board member will join the Socitm board. The CITRA brand will continue to be used by a new Third Sector Special Interest Group that will operate within Socitm. Existing CITRA members will automatically have access to all the membership benefits enjoyed by Socitm, including a broad range of national and regional events and an established professional development programme. Speaking about the merger, Adrian Hancock, Socitm's Managing Director said 'This merger responds directly to the growing need for collaboration between the Third Sector and local and national government. It also comes at a time when the Society is transforming its ability to support professional development for its membership, not least in response to the Government’s IT Profession agenda. The merger will therefore provide an enhanced opportunity for third sector IT professionals to influence government's agenda for the development of IT skills and offer the chance for increased networking between our respective members.' John Tate, Chair of CITRA said ' We estimate that the Third Sector spends in excess of £750m annually on ICT and the sector needs skilled IT professionals to ensure that we are exploiting all of the potential benefits that technology can bring to our work. This merger provides a superb opportunity to support the development of the sector’s IT capability.' |