This year, 570 small charities with an income up to £1m took the survey (higher than the 428 last year). We have significant representation across every income bracket, including:
- 97 charities with an income of up to £10,000 (12%).
- 178 charities with an income of £10,000 to £100,000 (22%).
- 209 charities with an income of £100,000 to £500,000 (26%).
- 77 charities with an income of £500,000 to £1 million (9%).
78% of small charities are at an early stage with digital, compared to only 56% last year, indicating that our sample has shifted. Small charities share many of the same priorities and barriers as large charities this year. However, large charities continue to lead on digital and AI adoption, with small charities facing distinct challenges due to their size and capacity.
Digital priorities for small charities in the year ahead
- 77% of small charities made some, good or significant progress with digital this year.
- Only 22% of small charities have a strategy in place for digital.
- Small charities’ priorities for the year ahead are to:
- Improve online presence and digital communications (58%).
- Build digital skills (staff, volunteers and leaders) (56%).
- Improve digital fundraising (49%).
- Improve how we collect, analyse and use data (47%).
- Improve online presence and digital communications (58%).
- Small charities’ digital communications and fundraising intentions are to:
- Grow our reach, online presence and social media engagement (60%).
- Increase online fundraising income (53%).
- Grow our reach, online presence and social media engagement (60%).
- In terms of social media, small charities plan to focus on storytelling and involving people with lived experience (48%), as well as sharing more video and informal co-created content (45%).
- Overall, 37% plan to develop or update their strategy for digital, data or AI this year. Size appears to play a significant role in whether charities see digital strategy development as a priority. Charities in large income brackets are more likely to prioritise strategy development:
- 17% of charities with an income of under £10,000.
- 29% of charities with an income of £10,000 to £100,000.
- 46% of charities with an income of £100,000 to £500,000.
- 56% of charities with an income of £500,000 to £1 million.
- 64% of charities with an income greater than £1 million.
- 17% of charities with an income of under £10,000.
Barriers small charities face with digital
- Squeezed organisational finances (63%).
- Lack of headspace and capacity (50%).
- Lack of technical expertise or someone to lead on digital (40%).
Digital services in small charities
- Less than a third of small charities (28%) provide digital services, where digital plays an integral supportive role, or where services are solely online.
- 50% of small charities provide some form of digital inclusion support (28% provide this informally).
- Digital inclusion support is also extensive amongst small charities led by and for disabled and deaf people (73%), global majority and Black communities (69%), and neurodivergent people (68%). The majority of these charities (between 82% and 94%) are small.
AI adoption in small charities
- Overall, 74% of small charities are using AI tools, with only 24% using these actively or strategically (much lower than the 49% of large charities).
- Similarly, only 38% of small charities feel they are fully responding to the opportunities and challenges surrounding AI. However, a larger proportion of 58% feel excited about the potential for AI to make their work more efficient and impactful.
- Small charities are primarily using AI in their organisation for:
- Administration and project management (55%).
- Grant fundraising (52%, vs 30% of large charities).
- Social media (43%, vs 29% of large charities).
- Administration and project management (55%).
- AI tools are helping small charities with capacity gaps in terms of social media and bid-writing work. Large charities are more proactively using AI tools in monitoring and evaluation (42%, vs 27% of small charities) as well as to analyse spreadsheet data (43% of large, vs 27% of small). Small charities could benefit from developing skills to use AI tools in these time-intensive areas of work.
- Small charities primarily use AI for productivity. This includes:
- Everyday tasks (52%, vs 82% of large).
- Writing documents and reports (52%, vs 73% of large).
- Research or information gathering (44%, vs 55% of large).
- Everyday tasks (52%, vs 82% of large).
- Only some small charities use AI tools to generate ideas and for creative thinking (36%, vs 60% of large charities), or to act as a thinking partner (27%, vs 43% of large charities). These could be valuable use cases in small charities.
- 55% of small charities are not taking any specific steps to move forward with AI.
- The key barriers small charities face to moving forward with AI adoption are:
- Limited skills and technical expertise (57%).
- Lack of training or support to upskill ourselves (46%).
- Data privacy, GDPR and security concerns (40%).
- Limited skills and technical expertise (57%).
Small charities’ funding needs
- Only 22% of small charities have accessed funding towards digital costs this year, compared to 37% of large charities.
- This includes just 16% that accessed funding from grantmaking trusts and foundations. The smallest charities are struggling most here, with lower proportions of charities with the lowest incomes accessing funding from grantmaking trusts and foundations. This includes:
- 4% of those with an income of under £10,000.
- 10% of those with an income between £10,000 to £100,000.
- 22% of those with an income between £100,000 and £500,000.
- 28% of those with an income between £500,000 and £1m.
- 4% of those with an income of under £10,000.
- Small charities most need funding for:
- Training staff, volunteers, leaders or board (44%).
- Software and licences (34%).
- IT, devices and equipment (33%).
- Revamping our website, content or brand (33%).
- Developing our use of AI (31%).
- Training staff, volunteers, leaders or board (44%).
Small charities’ skills
- Small charities’ strengths include using digital tools in everyday work, social media, collecting and managing data, and using data to inform decision making or strategy. In each skill area, over 75% say they are excellent, good or fair.
- Skills gaps for small charities include:
- Using website and analytics data: Half (52%) are poor or don’t do this.
- Investing in and resourcing digital effectively: Half (51%) are not doing this.
- Using AI tools: 46% are poor or are not doing this.
- Keeping up with emerging tech: 48% say they are poor or don’t keep up.
- Conducting and acting on user research: 42% of small charities struggle with user research, saying they have poor skills or don’t do this.
- Using website and analytics data: Half (52%) are poor or don’t do this.
- 72% of small charities’ CEOs have excellent, good or fair digital skills, but only 51% have excellent, good or fair AI skills. Similarly, 65% of small charities’ boards have excellent, good or fair digital skills, whilst only 38% have excellent, good or fair AI skills. These skill levels are fairly similar to large charities.
Small charities’ support needs
- 49% of small charities do not have relevant digital expertise at board level.
- Small charities most need their CEO to develop a clear vision of what we could achieve with digital (49%). They most need their trustees or board to learn more about digital generally (37%).
- To move forward with AI, the sector-wide support that small charities need most is training for staff and volunteers (58%), as well as for leaders and trustees (56%).
- Only 36% of small charities have an AI policy or agreed good practice in place or in development (vs 79% of large charities). Addressing this may help with AI concerns.
- In terms of data, small charities most need external support to use AI tools for data analysis (45%) and to use website and social media analytics (41%).