IT provision
45% rate their IT provision as good or excellent and not a barrier to their development. This is similar to 2023.
This year we revised this question and expanded our rating scale to improve the validity of our results.
- 41% of charities say their IT is fair. It works for where they are currently, but could be much better.
- 45% of charities give a positive assessment of their IT, with 31% saying that it is ‘good, well managed and not a barrier to our development’, whilst a further 14% indicate their IT provision is ‘excellent, we are confident that it meets our needs’.
- 13% have poor, very poor or no IT provision.
- This is slightly more optimistic than last year, when 1 in 5 said their IT provision was poor (20%) and 36% said it was sufficient.
- There are only minor differences for size of charity and stage of digital.
Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRMs)
Charities are struggling to prioritise or invest in their systems, databases and CRMs
Last year, 54% of respondents said their CRM was causing significant challenges for their organisation and 49% said the biggest barrier they faced to making progress with digital was finding funds to invest in devices, software and infrastructure. Whilst 45% planned to invest in their digital or data infrastructure or systems as a top priority, this continues to be a challenge.
This year, responses from a range of questions tell us:
- 60% say that finding funds to invest in infrastructure, systems and tools is the biggest barrier they face to progressing with digital, along with squeezed organisational finances (68%).
- Only a third (32%) are currently prioritising investing in infrastructure and systems. This rises to 47% of large charities, compared to only 24% of small charities.
- 30% of small charities do not have a CRM, compared to 13% of large charities.
- 24% of large charities say that their CRM does not meet their needs.
- A third of charities (32%), both small and large, would like support with data, to focus on how to choose a CRM or review their needs for it.
- Whilst a quarter of charities (25%) say they most need grant funding to implement a CRM, both large and small, more charities identify other needs for funding, such as capacity and headspace.
Procurement and choosing digital partners
When choosing suppliers, less than 1 in 5 charities (17%) say that a supplier’s commitment to inclusion is very important, whilst two thirds (67%) say cost and value for money is key
The top criteria that are important or very important to charities when they are choosing suppliers are:
- Cost/value for money (93%)
- Experience with organisations like us (85%)
- Their values and ethics (75%)
- Chemistry/relationship (68%)
- Socially responsible business model (66%)
It’s surprising to see that a commitment to diversity and inclusion was only important to 52% of charities (and only very important to 18%). A similar level of importance is given to how the supplier involved people with lived experience (only very important to 19%). This is less than 1 in 5 charities. This indicates that inclusion is not being widely prioritised in procurement when choosing digital suppliers.
