For charities
- CEOs need a clear vision for digital. For the sixth year running, charities want their leaders to provide a vision of what digital can help them achieve. This needs to be linked to your organisation’s strategy, vision and mission. We encourage CEOs to take the reins on defining what digital success looks like for their charities, and what they and their teams need to do to achieve it.
- Develop a strategy. Half of charities (50%) have a strategy in place for digital, yet only 14% feel they have embedded this in their organisation and are advanced with digital. Having a strategy means that you will have a clear idea of what success looks like for your charity and how to work towards it, meaning that it will be easier to make decisions, track progress and plan where to go next with digital, data and emerging technologies such as AI. Charity Digital has a useful guide to developing a strategy.
- Invest in data capabilities. Data is a high priority for 1 in 4 charities. Improving skills, data collection, management and infrastructure will help organisations use data to inform decision making. This is a vital step to make the most of artificial intelligence opportunities and ensure AI tools are used effectively and responsibly. Take a look at the Data Collective’s resources to get started.
- Boards and CEOs need to skill up and be AI ready. 62% say their trustees’ digital skills are low or could improve. A third want their trustees to learn about emerging tech and AI tools. Use this AI checklist for charity leaders to plan your next steps.
- Explore how to adopt AI tools responsibly. 61% of charities are currently using AI, yet only 22% feel prepared to respond to AI opportunities and challenges. Charities need to continue learning about AI. They also need support, guidance and capacity to explore how they adopt AI responsibly and develop their skills. We encourage funders and support organisations to consider this, otherwise ethical, effective implementation will become challenging for the sector. Charity Excellence’s AI Governance Framework is a good resource for charities.
For funders
- Create capacity (time, people, training). Three quarters of charities need funding to create time and capacity to work on organisational development and digital strategy. This has become even more important during the cost of living crisis, with squeezed organisational finances being the biggest barrier that 68% of charities now face when it comes to moving forward with digital. We urge funders to consider how they might meet these needs.
- Develop inclusive digital funding practices. It is positive that some charities are doing user research, ensuring this involves diverse groups and co-designing their services with communities. We encourage funders to support this good practice and recognise the time this takes to ensure all services are designed inclusively. In addition, we encourage funders to review the needs of small charities and charities led by marginalised groups. These groups are struggling to prioritise organisational development due to the cost of living crisis and meeting demand. Funders also need to create inclusive access to digital funding. For example, 41% of black led groups cannot identify funders who will support their digital projects.
- Invest in skills development. Charities identify training and access to expert guidance as their key digital support needs. Furthermore, 43% of charities (and 49% of small charities) say they most need funding to access training for staff and volunteers. We encourage funders and support organisations to consider developing comprehensive digital skills training programmes for charity staff and volunteers. This would also address the need for better digital collaboration between charities.
- Dedicated support and funding for small charities. We consistently see a digital skills gap between large and small charities. 72% of small charities are struggling due to squeezed organisation finances and this, in turn, means they have very little capacity and headspace to engage with digital. We hope that funders will plan how they can meet the needs of small charities.
- Recognise that digital costs are vital core costs. Once again this year, we heard from charities that they need funding for core costs. Two thirds (66%) of charities need funding for internal technology, hardware, systems and licence costs. As part of the report, charities have also told us that funding these costs would help them be more efficient and increase their impact. We encourage funders to reconsider their approach to what they fund.