Charity Digital becomes home of The Charity Digital Code of Practice

Charity Digital has become the long-term home for the Charity Digital Code of Practice (the Code). The Code supports charities of all shapes and sizes, helping them to progress in the world of digital, define their long-term futures, benchmark against a wider digital framework, and so much more.

 

Charity Digital will aim to further develop the Code, increase overall exposure, and ensure that it continues to grow as a a vital resource for charities across the country.

 

The history of the Code

 

The Code was launched on 15 November 2018. It was developed by a steering group of organisations across the charity sector, which helped to develop, promote, maintain, and champion the Code.

 

Zoe Amar serves as the Code’s independent chair and the founding funders were the  Co-Op Foundation and Lloyds Banking Group, who were later joined by CISCO and Charity IT LeadersThe Code was the first of its kind in the UK and has proved incredibly important, particularly since the arrival of the pandemic.

 

COVID-19 forced a period of digital acceleration on many charities, as they got to grips with lockdowns and social distancing. Charities had to adapt to remote working, shift fundraising online, move huge portions of service delivery to the virtual sphere, and communicate with donors using digital tools.

 

The Code was instrumental in supporting that digital shift. As of February 2021, for example, the Code’s site has recorded more than 9,000 users, of which 78% are new to the site. The Code is completely free, offering charities an exceptional resource to support digital transformation.

 

 

Charities benefitting from the Code

 

The Code has already supported charities in so many ways. From its genesis, the Code outlined seven key areas of digital that charities should be constantly thinking about and offered advice in each of the areas: Leadership, User-led, Culture, Strategy, Skills, Managing Risk and Ethics, and Adaptability.

 

The stories of charities using the Code are often inspiring, showing how organisations in the sector have learnt to embrace digital and make short- and long-term changes to strategy. The Code’s steering group has heard from many different ‘Code champions’ – charities and charity professionals who have increased digital confidence and maturity using the Code’s resources.

 

International development and relief organisation, All We Can, serve as a good example. All We Can used the Code as a ‘coaching manual’ to embed digital across the organisation. The result was that when COVID-19 changed the way we work and live, All We Can were ready to adapt.

 

Digital and Data Manager at All We Can, Dean Gillespie, explains the results: “By embedding a ‘people-first’ approach, there’s been a significant increase in engagement and audience growth. Over the last year, we have grown new followers by 242% and increased engagement by 114%.”

 

The Code helped All We Can develop the right digital strategy and the right culture to progress through the pandemic. Gillespie puts it simply: “The Code has been so successful for us – we would encourage others to use it too!”

 

DataKind UK is a small charity that supports other social change organisations to use data and data science to transform their impact. The Code is clear about the value of digital work being user-led. DataKind UK took that advice and started engaging with the charities they support and with data scientists who volunteer with them.

 

Giselle Cory, Executive Director of DataKind UK, explains: “Charities can learn a lot about what they do, who they serve and the impact they have, by drawing on their data. Crucially, they can also use data and data science to improve their services, much the same way that the private sector does.”

 

DataKind UK found the Code useful in measuring their own performance against good practice, as well as in supporting the charities they work with.

 

For example, they worked with food banks to build a machine-learning tool that helps identify which people might need more long-term support, allowing the charity to focus their resources in the right places. The Code provided a basis for DataKind, something that helped them quantify.

 

So many other charities who have also benefitted from the Code. You can read stories from other Code champions, including CLIC Sargent, YHA, TLC, National Ugly Mugs, and more.

 

 

The future of Code

 

The Code will continue to provide support, advice, and inspiration to charities. Charity Digital will provide a long-term home for the Code, allowing more charities access and hopefully increasing general exposure and impact.

 

The plan for the Code was always to help as many charities as possible. The shift to Charity Digital will help to accommodate that plan, bringing the Code to more charities across the sector.

 

Charity Digital will launch several activities to publicise the Code – including three Webinars that explore important areas that the Code supports and a user experience study that will help us improve the Code – all of which will be free of charge.

 

 

Key activities around the Code

 

 

Join our Reboot and Rebuild webinar programme

 

Charity Digital is launching three webinars to help leaders plan for the future and make the most of all of the Code’s resources.

Whether you’re leading a digital project in your charity, a manager, leader, CEO or trustee, this webinar series will help you:

• Assess your charity’s digital performance during the pandemic
• Plan where you go from here
• Influence the stakeholders you need to bring with you on the road to recovery.

More information on the webinars, and an option to sign-up, can be found below.

 

 

23 November 2021: How to review your COVID-19 digital progress

 

The first webinar will show charities how to review their digital progress during COVID-19, look at what certain charities have achieved with digital, and identify what this means for your next steps with digital as we enter the recovery phase of the pandemic

 

Sign-up here

 

 

 

07 December 2021: Back to the future: plan for a post pandemic world

 

The second webinar is about planning. The webinar will help you to understand how the needs of users changes over time, allow you to define your post-pandemic digital vision, and help you develop key actions you need to achieve your vision and identify resources that you need.

 

Sign-up here

 

 

 

11 January 2022: How to get buy-in from senior stakeholders

 

The third webinar explores buy-in. The webinar will help you identify common challenges in stakeholder engagement, influencing techniques and reinforcement, and help you map out how to bring colleagues with you in the next stage of your digital transformation, whether they are from your leadership team or your peers.

 

Sign-up here

 

 

User experience study

 

We also need your help to improve the Code. We want to hear from you if you’re leading digital change at your charity, or if you’re in a leadership role with responsibility for digital

 

We want to find out how trustees and leader’s digital skills, needs, attitudes, and behaviours have changed during the pandemic, and where they need support, so we can develop the Code and the resources it offers to meet their needs and those of their charities.

 

We want to paint a picture of the current state of digital in the charity sector and use that to improve the future of the Code. If you’ve got an hour to spare to chat to us on a phone or video call over the next month, we’d love to hear from you.

 

We are looking for 15 participants in total. We particularly encourage users from small and large charities and people from diverse backgrounds to participate.

 

Sign-up here