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Many charities were catapulted forward by the pandemic, with digital transformation happening as a matter of urgency. Elements of service delivery, fundraising, and campaigning switched online, and there was an almost overnight move to remote working for thousands of charity workers.

 

And looking forward, the National Council for Voluntary Organisation’s (NCVO) Road Ahead 2022 report shows that charities’ use of technology and digital is only set to escalate further.

 

 

Positives from the pandemic

 

It’s been a time of rapid digital transformation. Over the past year, digital has become a priority for the majority of charities with the Charity Digital Skills Report 2021 reporting that 67% saw digital as a prime concern.

 

Charities are taking digital accessibility seriously (more on that later). And innovation is thriving – 83% of those surveyed changed their services in response to demand and 78% used digital to reach new audiences.

 

Charities now find themselves in different places in their journeys. So, whether you’ve yet to create a digital strategy or are looking for the next innovative fundraising tool, here are our suggestions for how to continue to improve digitally.

 

 

Maintaining momentum

 

While the sector has made some great gains over the last two years, there’s a real risk that charities will not only lose momentum in their digital journey, but actually return to pre-COVID-19 processes.

 

Making a conscious decision to continue digital development, as well as putting plans in place to keep progressing, will be key if charities are to carry the lessons learnt into the future.

 

 

Building a digital strategy

 

Sixty percent of charities surveyed have a digital strategy in place (an impressive increase of 11% from 2020). But that still leaves almost half of charities without one.

 

If that’s yours, then putting some simple building blocks in place is a great start. There are lots of tools to help you, including our own free step-by-step guide to designing a digital strategy for your charity and tips for putting strategy goals in place.

 

 

Conducting user research

 

The best digital products and services are made by those organisations who best understand their audience. Yet 44% of charities surveyed think they are poor at user research to inform new services.

 

You can never know your audience too well. And even if you think you know them well, your users aren’t static – so check in with them regularly. Ask for opinions on a newsletter. Run a focus group when developing your website. Or for starters, develop marketing personas.

 

 

Keeping ahead of trends

 

To build on the digital successes that emerged during the pandemic, charities need to stay ahead of trends. It’s a crucial part of maintaining momentum and making sure they’re adapting to the shifting needs and demands of service users and supporters.

 

For 2022, trends include the ongoing move to charities working in the cloud, the use of VR for service delivery (for example, Great Ormond Street Hospital using virtual tours to put patients at ease before arrival), and the rise of cashless and contactless donations, among others.

 

 

Accessing discounted and donated tech

 

Smaller charities often need to make their money go further and using discounted or donated tech is a good way to do this.

 

Our Exchange programme, for example, gives charities access to a vast range of useful digital tools, products and resources – all for free or at discounted prices. The companies we work with include Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce and so far we’ve helped charities save over £260 million on technology investments.

 

 

Making digital content and services accessible

 

Before the pandemic, few charities were concerned about digital exclusion. The pandemic changed all that, and now 52% of survey responders are worried about excluding some people or groups.

 

There’s lots of information to help you make your content accessible, whether that’s video captions, the language you use, the font on your website, or the images on your social media. CharityComms offers a helpful starting point to foster more inclusive communications.

 

 

Getting better at using data

 

Using data more effectively is a key priority for charities. In the survey, getting more from data rose from second to first place (with 47% organisations seeing it as key). But alongside that, 49% rated themselves as fair at managing and analysing data, and 36% said they were poor at it.

 

Clearly there’s work to be done. If your charity struggles to use data well, you might like to explore organisations like DataKind UK (which can connect you with some of the UK’s best data scientists for free) or the Data Collective (a community for people using data in the social sector, which has lots of free resources).