Key Facts & Figures

Foundation Dates

March 1st 2001: De facto association (unofficial start-up at the Free University of Brussels (VUB))

September 4th 2003: Official establishment of the legal entity by deposition of the articles of association at the Brussels Chamber of Commerce

May 2004: Official launch in the Netherlands

March 2006: 1st strategic partner study visit – Belgian crown prince Philippe and princess Mathilde visit one of Close the Gap’s support projects in Cape Town (South Africa) with Archbishop M. Desmond Tutu

October 2007: Close the Gap receives its 50,000th computer

March 2008: 2nd strategic partner study visit in Cuba

November 2008: Close the Gap receives its 100,000th computer

November 2008: CIO Pledge with call for PC donation by Dutch CIO community in the Netherlands

March 2009: PC Solidarity official launch in Belgium

September 2009: Close the Gap becomes founding member of the spin-off WorldPC vzw/asbl

December 2009: UN GAID forum member & recognition as UN Global Compact Programme supporter

June 2010: 3rd  strategic partner study visit in Tanzania and Uganda

July 2010: Close the Gap recognised as a official NGO by the United Nations (United Nations Department of Public Information)

Year on Year – 2010

Number of assets received: 16,000
Number of assets distributed: 15,360
Number of supported projects in developing countries: 114
Number of supported projects in Belgium – for PC Solidarity: 158
Number of countries worked with: 25

Its unique capacity to grow allows Close the Gap to reach out towards more communities in need of information technology. Since its unofficial start in 2003, Close the Gap has collected about 161,000 assets from its numerous donors in Europe. About one-third of that number qualified following the organisation’s high-quality standards. On the project side, this has translated into more than 65,000 pieces of IT equipment that have been transferred from Western companies to projects in developing countries.