How to build inclusive digital projects

Charities are keen to innovate, finding new ways to achieve their missions using the available resources. Introducing new methods, ideas, and technologies, it’s possible to deliver more effective services, to do more with less, and achieve so much more than was previously considered possible. 

Digital innovation can be important for charities to tackle the challenges and opportunities of today’s world. But it also has a downside: it can risk leaving people behind. 

Today, an estimated one in seven adults in the UK are experiencing digital poverty in multiple ways, meaning they are not able to use digital technology how, when, and where they want to. This is as a result of not being able to afford devices or internet connection, not having the skills or confidence to go online, the digital world not being accessible to them, or a host of other reasons.  

In this article, we explore how charities can innovate inclusively, ensuring that service users, staff, volunteers, and supporters are able to engage as they need to. 

Reframe digital progress 

Technological change does not always mean positive progress. Technological change is not a linear, natural evolution over time – and it is not inevitable. 

We don’t need to embrace every new and shiny technology as if it’s just the next natural step. We don’t always need to fear being “left behind” when it comes to technology, because not every digital tool will necessarily mean progress for our specific organisation. 

Instead, digital innovation is about what is transformative for your specific charity and its specific stakeholders. Digital progress for your charity may not look flashy, you may not be “ahead of the curve”, but if people and their needs are at the centre of how you use digital, you’re on the right track. 

Work in partnership with users 

To innovate inclusively, simply include your charity’s stakeholders in processes of digital innovation. 

Co-designing digital services, websites, and apps with diverse users of your charity will ensure that a variety of needs and priorities are addressed from the perspective of those who will be using them. Consult with diverse users when it comes to proposed changes to the tech they will interact with. 

User testing helps to make online tools and services accessible for users, enabling people with disabilities and different needs to flag elements that make tools and services more difficult to use. This means that when rolling out an “innovative new digital solution”, it is usable and can therefore have the desired impact. 

Creating opportunities for users to offer feedback on the accessibility and inclusion of new projects is also important. This could be embedded into online-only tools and services, for example a form on the charity’s website. But don’t forget about those who aren’t online: ask for feedback in-person, over the phone, or with paper feedback forms. 

Similarly, in staff or volunteers are having difficulty with technological changes, it should be clear how they can offer feedback and gain support. 

Crucially, act on the feedback you receive and close the loop with those who gave it, letting them know what changes were made. 

Embed inclusion in your strategy 

According to our 2024 Digital Inclusion Report, less than two fifths of charities have a digital strategy (37%). But, at the same time, 56% find it difficult to reach service users due to problems with digital technology, and 82% are concerned about digital inclusion. 

Embedding inclusion into your strategy means managing innovation to ensure the right people can interact in the ways they need to. Taking inclusion into account from the beginning of new projects is one key action to take. Another is consulting with tech suppliers to ensure that any new technologies you onboard are accessible for all users. 

A digital strategy informed by users themselves will help you prioritise what is most important when it comes to their digital inclusion. 

Build internal skills and awareness 

When everyone on the team has awareness of why inclusion is important and how it can be implemented, their ideas and projects will naturally take inclusion into account. 

That might mean avoiding jargon where possible in the communications they use, ensuring a good colour contrast on new websites and graphics, making new internal policies and shared documents simple to read, and ensuring user journeys on new digital tools and services are accessible for all users. 

In addition, building digital skills throughout the organisation will allow you to gain diverse insights and ideas. Research consultancy Careful Industries has suggested, “innovation starts with human relationships: with the confidence to have a go, to explore, to make something new or take something apart and show it to your friends or ask for help and support.” 

In this vein, all members of the charity team should be empowered to learn, try new things, and innovate.