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At the height of spring 2025, we explore what the coming months could look like for charities tackling digital inclusion
Digital exclusion is a widespread form of inequality in the UK, with around one in seven people deprived across two or more dimensions of digital, according to Deloitte and the Digital Poverty Alliance. It is no surprise, then, that a vast 82% of charities are concerned about this issue, according to Charity Digital’s report.
With the digitisation of society, familiar socio-economic inequalities have taken shape through digital equipment, services, and behaviours. In 2024, Charity Digital has shared learnings from the many charities working tirelessly to end these inequalities.
But what does the future look like for digital inclusion in the charity sector? This article explores key approaches for charities in 2025 to help end digital exclusion.
The combination of local support and advocacy has proved effective for addressing digital exclusion. Charities can help individuals overcome digital barriers and simultaneously bring their experiences to the attention of key decision-makers, leading to large-scale change. Charities’ strategic plans reveal that they will continue with these two key activities.
In 2025, charities are advocating for, among other things:
Every organisation that uses digital technology has an opportunity to make their operations more inclusive in the coming months. The Charity Digital Skills Report 2024 found that around a quarter (24%) of all charities will prioritise improving the diversity and inclusion of their digital work in the coming year. Charities can do so in a number of ways, such as co-designing services with people with lived experience and developing and designing services with diverse teams.
There is an opportunity for charities to improve the digital accessibility of their websites and other digital products and services. We hope to see greater awareness of digital accessibility over the coming year, with charities and other organisations enacting the small changes that can make a huge difference to users. Changes might include upskilling on accessibility, inclusive user research, and tweaks like adding alt text and captions to multimedia content.
Charities are likely to invest in the digital skills of their teams, with the Charity Digital Skills Report 2024 finding that growing staff and volunteer digital skills was a priority for 46% of charities. While digital skills create myriad benefits on an organisational level, the digitally inclusive approach will support employees and volunteers individually, building confidence, empowerment, and wellbeing.
The coming months may also mark a shift in charities’ approach to artificial intelligence (AI). In 2024, organisations of various kinds have been eager to make use of the innovative new technology, but the Charity Digital Skills Report found that 58% of charities report want to gain practical knowledge of how to use AI tools responsibly, with concerns around factual accuracy, potential bias, discrimination, human rights, and the environment. Charities can use our Artificial Intelligence Hub to find out more about these topics in depth.
Collaboration within and across sectors is integral to much of the digital inclusion work already taking place, and we think this trend will grow in the coming year.
Digital Poverty Alliance’s Charter for Digital Inclusion, launched in 2024, calls for organisations of all kinds to embed digital inclusivity into their operations, with ‘Partnership for impact’ making up one of the pledges. The charity identified an opportunity for organisations with different expertise and resources to work together to tackle the complex, multidimensional problem of digital exclusion.
Charity Digital has found that 56% of charities find it difficult to reach service users due to problems with digital technology. Charities working in health, family and children, local community, and disability face the most difficulties. As the year progresses, we may see these charity types collaborating more with other organisations to improve digital inclusion among service users.
The government’s bold new Digital Inclusion Action Plan, launched in February 2025, highlights the vital role of civil society and builds on the cross-sector collaboration already taking place, indicating that collaboration for digital inclusion will continue to strengthen in the coming months and years.
Our 2024 Digital Inclusion Summit revealed how charities can help can make the digital world a safer, happier, more inclusive place, from improving access to digital devices to demystifying cyber security. Click here to watch the session recordings for free.
Our report, ‘Digital inclusion in the UK charity sector’, uncovers charity practitioners’ attitudes towards digital inclusion, including the challenges charities face in reaching out to service users and how they are making the most of the digital technology they use. Click the link in the orange box below to download the report.
Our Digital Inclusion Hub features regular articles, podcasts, and webinars to help charities reach across the digital divide. Click here to learn more.
Follow-up questions for CAI
How can charities effectively combine local support and advocacy to reduce digital exclusion?What strategies improve digital accessibility in charity websites and services?How might charities responsibly integrate AI tools to enhance digital inclusion?In what ways can cross-sector collaboration strengthen digital inclusion efforts?How can digital skills training empower charity staff and volunteers?Our courses aim, in just three hours, to enhance soft skills and hard skills, boost your knowledge of finance and artificial intelligence, and supercharge your digital capabilities. Check out some of the incredible options by clicking here.