How charities can champion digital diversity

According to the Tech Talent Charter, diversity and inclusion in tech are in crisis. Leaders are not committed to sustained, intentional, and serious action for diversity and inclusion.

The problem is also clear in the charity sector, with the Charity Digital Skills Report 2024 finding that charities run by marginalised groups have greater digital funding challenges than others.

In our increasingly digital times, the lack of diversity in tech has wide-reaching consequences. The UN Roundtable on Digital Inclusion notes, “inclusive design means designing for everyone, not just for the privileged, in order to meet the needs of those traditionally marginalised or in situations of vulnerability”.

It says that people in these groups “should also be in leading positions throughout the processes so as to drive a human-centred, needs-based, and inclusive approach throughout”.

Diversity in tech is then one approach to making the digital world more inclusive for everyone. In this article, we explore the charities championing diversity in tech, helping to make the digital world more effective for more people.

The charities championing diversity in tech

The Prince’s Trust

The Prince’s Trust helps young people from disadvantaged communities and those facing the greatest adversity to succeed through building confidence and skills. That includes giving diverse groups of young people routes into further education and employment in the technology sector.

The charity’s employability courses include skills for digital marketing, coding, and gaming, while their Achieve Programme includes units for digital skills, digital creativity, and STEM skills.

Their partnerships in the technology industry allow them to provide expert guidance in skills programmes, ‘World of Work’ days in tech industry offices, and launch new digital-focused programmes for young people.

Tech She Can

Tech She Can inspires and educates girls and women to pursue technology in their education and careers so they can have an equal opportunity to participate in the jobs of the future.

The charity influences change in the workplace, in schools and colleges, and with government. Their ten-year manifesto urges the UK government to improve technology and careers education.

It also provides a programme of free learning materials called ‘Tech We Can’ to help teachers and parents inspire children about a future career in technology. This includes online lessons, lesson packs for teachers, resources for after school clubs, and videos of role models. Volunteer Tech We Can Champions visit schools to inspire younger generations about a career in tech, using these resources.

Code Your Future

Code Your Future helps people from disadvantaged backgrounds gain employment in the technology sector through software development and digital skills programmes.

The software development programme teaches functional programming, as well as the skills required to work effectively in technology industries, such as agility, teamwork, conflict management, and self-study. It is open to those experiencing problems getting the education needed to find meaningful work, including refugees and asylum seekers.

Graduates from the programme have gone onto work at technology companies like Slack, Capgemini, Deloitte, Financial Times, Amazon Web Services, BBC, and others.

Digital Advantage

Digital Advantage conduct the training and development of creative and digital skills for young people, especially those with special educational needs and disabilities.

In the charity’s PopUp Digital Agency, industry trainers challenge students to develop creative thinking, problem solving, storytelling, and business modelling skills through techniques and tools used in the technology sector.

The DISC Supported Internship, based in Central Manchester, helps young people develop their skills for digital and creative technology alongside preparing for adulthood and employment.

The charity’s other programmes include Digital Advantage Online, Your Digital News Agency, and the Blast programme, which gives Year 5 and 6 pupils industry guidance to work on a technology brief focused on social good in their school.

Digital and diversity in charities

Diversity in tech isn’t only about the IT industry: it is also about charities delivering inclusive services.

Around one in seven people in the UK are digitally excluded, meaning they can’t access the online world fully, when, where, and how they need to. This can be because tech is unaffordable for them, that the online world is inaccessible for those with disabilities, that they lack digital confidence and skills, or a host of other reasons.

Meanwhile, nine in ten charities told us they use digital tools to deliver their services, and according to the Skills Report, only 24% of charities said improving the diversity and inclusion of their digital work was a priority – making it among the lowest priorities for the sector in the coming year.

This means that while the majority of charities are delivering their services using online tools, a minority are prioritising the diversity and inclusion in how they use digital. 

As a starting point for improving diversity and inclusion in your digital teams and systems, find out how to be digitally inclusive, how to make recruitment inclusive, and how to help staff and volunteers embrace digital.

In addition, funders can find recommendations for supporting digital work in charities run by marginalised groups in the Charity Digital Skills Report 2024.