Who the Turing Trust are
The Turing Trust is a charity set up by Alan Turing’s family. It takes donated computers, wipes and refurbishes them at its workshop near Edinburgh, loads them with educational software, and gets them into the classrooms that need them most.
It’s been doing this since 2009. Its main focus today is Malawi, where it works with local partners to set up computer labs, train teachers, and keep equipment running long after installation.
Why their work matters
In 2016, only 5% of secondary schools in Malawi had access to computers. That’s a lot of students finishing school without ever using a keyboard, while digital skills matter more and more for university and work.
The Trust tracks what changes when that gap closes. Its research found that Malawian students who graduated with Computer Science at secondary level were three times more likely to go to university, and 4.7 times more likely to study a STEM subject there.
What we’ve donated so far
To date, we’ve registered 549 desktops and 65 monitors with the Turing Trust.
Using the Trust’s impact figures, that kit could give 10,467 students the chance to learn vital IT skills. Reusing it instead of building new also saves an estimated 163 tonnes of CO2e, roughly the annual carbon footprint of 17 people in the UK. The embodied energy saved is about what 40 UK homes use in a year.
It’s good to know kit that’s done its job here can go on to do something this useful somewhere else.
“As we close out the first half of 2026, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve just shipped off our second container full of life-changing IT equipment. Our superstar team at Pentland worked hard to pack an amazing 2,388 computers and monitors into this container, which will serve disadvantaged communities throughout Malawi!”
“Your devices enable hundreds of students, such as those at Chaminade Marianist and Rachi Secondary Schools in Malawi to begin learning digital skills. Prior to the installation of staffed computer labs, the students at these schools had little access to digital resources.”
Paul
Donations TeamGot older kit? Give it a second life
Most organisations have a storeroom somewhere with older equipment waiting for a decision. Donating it is easier than you might think.
- Free UK-wide collection for larger business donations
- Free certified data erasure for donations of more than 20 PCs, with certificates listing make, model, and serial number
- Anything they can’t reuse goes to authorised WEEE recycling, with nothing sent to landfill
- Impact reporting, so you can show exactly what your donation achieved
Devices generally need to be under 10 years old and able to run Windows 10 or later. If your Windows 11 upgrade left a pile of perfectly good older machines, they could be exactly what a Malawian classroom needs.
Let’s keep it going
We’ll keep donating, and we’ll share more updates as the Trust tells us where our kit ends up.
If you’d like to get involved, the Turing Trust’s Give Computers page is the best place to start. And if you’re planning a refresh, speak to our team.
Luke
With a decade in marketing and the last four years in product marketing, Luke looks after VeryPC's content, customer stories, campaigns and sales collateral. He works alongside the marketing and sales team to bring our products to life for schools, businesses and public sector customers.
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