On Friday, September 19, 2014, a group of Bay Area CIOs and IT service providers went to play golf in Livermore.

But they weren't out there just to get away from the office. No, they were gathered to participate in a charity event benefiting students.

This was the 5th Annual CIO Scholarship Fund Charity Golf Tournament. Over 100 IT professionals came out to participate, among them 65 CIOs.

The CIO Scholarship Fund is a non-profit "focused on scholarship creation for the world's future information technology leaders." It funds scholarships for financially-disadvantaged students to take IT and Engineering courses. Current IT leaders helping the next generation learn.

Most of the golf event's sponsors were from IT-related companies, such as Juniper Networks, PureStorage, Canon, FireEye and (of course) PlanetMagpie. For contributing to the CIO Scholarship Fund, sponsors could play a round of golf with Bay Area CIOs, and enjoy a sunny day at the Course at Wente Vineyards.

"We have been vocal supporters of rebuilding the American IT workforce," said Doreyne Douglas, PlanetMagpie VP. "One of the ways you do that is by making sure that students with technical aptitude can get an education in STEM subjects, even if they have financial challenges. A charity event aimed at adding more qualified IT professionals to the job market? We couldn’t pass that up.”

The CIO Scholarship Fund began in 2002, when a group of Silicon Valley CIOs collaborated on a series of books dedicated to the IT field. Profits from these books, and charity events, were funneled into scholarships for students who wanted to study IT or engineering, but lacked the financial means to do so. Currently, students receiving scholarships are enrolled at Ohlone College, DeAnza College, San Jose State University, San Francisco State University, and UC Berkeley.

You can learn about the CIO Scholarship Fund at http://www.ciofund.org/, including how to contribute to the scholarships. Or follow them at @CIOFund on Twitter.