How charity leaders can help end digital exclusion

In the UK, 13–19 million people over the age of 16 are estimated to be in digital poverty, meaning they can’t interact with the online world fully, when, where, and how they need to. Being in digital poverty can mean being excluded from essential services, information and entertainment, education and work, and friends, family, and society.

 

Our survey, ‘Digital Inclusion in the UK Charity Sector’ found that digital leadership was an issue in tackling digital exclusion in charities, and was considered the biggest barrier to some charities’ missions. Respondents told us that they struggled to persuade trustees on the importance of digital inclusion.

 

Charities can be a vital point of contact with people who are digitally excluded and can set the standard for how organisations of all kinds behave. In this article, we discuss how charity leaders can help put an end to digital exclusion.

 

 

Build your awareness, knowledge, and skills

 

As with much work on equality, diversity, and inclusion, leaders may not take action because they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing and causing offence. By building your knowledge and skills, you can speak with confidence and authority to make change happen.

 

Gain confidence on digital inclusion by making the most of the wealth of free resources on the topic. These can help you understand digital exclusion problems, such as lack of access, affordability, availability, and other barriers to participation:

• Charity Digital – Digital inclusion Hub
• AbilityNet Webinars
• Good Things Foundation – Research and evidence
• Digital Poverty Alliance Directory: for research and insights

For more, see our list, The best digital inclusion resources for people and organisations

 

 

Create a digital strategy

 

Strategising can help under-pressure charities make the most of their resources and make sustainable improvements in the long-term. It means co-ordinating action and being able to do more with what you have.

 

But surprisingly, our report, ‘Digital inclusion in the UK charity sector’ revealed that 36.6% charities do not have a digital strategy.

 

Digital strategies can factor in a variety of areas to make the most of digital technologies, including becoming more digitally inclusive. The Digital Poverty Alliance’s Charter for Digital Inclusion outlines some key areas that you can include in your digital strategy:

• Raising awareness of digital inclusion
• Providing accessible services
• Donating unused devices to a digital inclusion initiative
• Developing digital skills
• Partnering to end digital poverty

 

 

Integrate digital inclusion

 

Create a digitally inclusive internal culture to help put your plans into action and ensure that digital inclusion is integrated throughout the work of the charity.

 

Just like other areas of equality, diversity, and inclusion, the work is continuous and should be taken into account in a variety of situations. Having a digitally inclusive culture means that digital inclusion will be remembered by the charity team when making a variety of decisions.

 

For example, digital accessibility is important not only for externally-facing content, but also for work inside the charity, such as shared spreadsheets, documents, and intranets.

 

As a leader, you can encourage a digitally inclusive culture by making sure the team knows that digital inclusion is important to the charity, that they understand the different issues involved in digital inclusion and how it relates to the work they do. For example, frontline staff might come up against digital exclusion while interacting with service users who aren’t online, while social media teams should understand how to communicate accessibly.

 

 

Train teams

 

Service users, volunteers, and charity employees can lack essential digital skills and confidence, depending on a variety of factors. Essential digital skills include using a touchscreen, keyboard and mouse, the basics of video calling, and creating an email account.

 

As digital exclusion can exacerbate other problems in peoples’ lives, it is relevant to many charities’ services. Our Digital Inclusion Report found that 82% of charities are concerned about digital exclusion, and 56.5% said that a lack of skills among service users was their biggest barrier to improving or delivering digital services.

 

According to the Charity Digital Skills Report, 46% of charities said that growing digital skills was a priority in 2024, with teams struggling the most with digital fundraising, websites analytics data, and search engine optimisation.

Training should ensure that employees and volunteers have the right digital skills for the charity’s work, and this should include skills for digital inclusion.

 

The Good Things Foundation’s free online platform Learn My Way can help with essential digital skills. Charities can join or signpost to the National Digital Inclusion Network to support service users with this training.

 

 

Find out more

 

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.