The best value technology for charities

Digital technology is essential in helping charities achieve their goals. But with limited budgets and resources, the right digital solutions can be hard to come by.  

More than a third of UK charities said they needed funding for computers, IT, devices, and infrastructure in order to progress with digital, according to the 2023 Charity Digital Skills report, second only to funding to develop their digital strategy. More than half of small charities, in particular, are struggling to find the funding for devices, software, and infrastructure, with the cost-of-living crisis taking its toll on the sector’s ability to invest in digital. 

Fortunately, this is where the Charity Digital Exchange can help. Charity Digital works closely with big technology partners such as Cisco, Microsoft, and Amazon, to provide discounted and donated technology to eligible charities, helping more than 77,000 non-profits save in excess of £284 million on software and hardware purchases. 

Below, we explore some of the best value deals for charities on the Charity Digital Exchange and a little more about what they do.

Cisco – For cyber security 

As custodians of a wealth of sensitive data and with the advent of Bring Your Own Device policies, it is more important than ever that charities prioritise online security to protect themselves against cyber attacks. 

In order to do so, charities may need physical network hardware such as routers, security appliances, and switches, as well as non-physical systems such as VPNs and virtual firewalls to keep their internet connection secure. Charities may also have outward-facing IT needs, such as the ability to provide an internet connection in sites where there is little or no broadband coverage.  

Cisco can provide charities with everything they need at a considerable discount on the Charity Digital Exchange.  

For example, routers are needed to “route” internet traffic between connected devices, including both incoming and outgoing traffic. Through the Exchange, charities can purchase wireless Cisco routers, meaning computers and other devices don’t need to be plugged into the router in order to use the internet. 

Different routers may be needed to deal with different numbers of users. For example, high-density routers are for environments where more than 30 users are expected to connect with the router at once during its use.  

On the Exchange, these are: 

All products including “5-Year Licence” in the title provide five years of access to the Meraki cloud platform, feature updates, and support. Charities can find out more about Cisco’s routers here.  

Charities may also be thinking about upgrading their firewalls to protect themselves against cyber threats. Firewalls work as a barrier between secured and controlled internal networks and untrusted outside networks and are one of Cyber Essentials’ core measures to prevent cyber attacks.  

If your organisation uses a Cisco Firepower 1010 next-generation firewall, you can use this Smart Licence upgrade and bundle, available on the Charity Digital Exchange:

By purchasing Cisco on the Charity Digital Exchange, charities can save hundreds of pounds on vital security technology. You can find out more about Cisco in this comprehensive and simplified product guide.

DotDigital – For email marketing 

Charity Digital’s email service makes email marketing easy. Using the dotdigital open source cloudbase platform, Charity Digital Mail offers personalised support tailored to your email marketing needs, whether you need custom design work for your templates or individual training. 

An average of six million emails per month are sent through our charity email service. It’s quick to set up and integrates with most systems, including the likes of Salesforce, as it is open source. With dotdigital, charities can easily automate campaigns and test their messaging so emails resonate with their supporters.  

Dotdigital comes with all the usual features one would expect from an email marketing platform, with one key difference from competitors such as MailChimp. While MailChimp allows you to use your own live domain for your from address, dotdigital require that you use a sub-domain or a separate domain to your live website. This is to mitigate the risk of your emails going to spam.  

There is no set up fee or charge for uploading or storing contacts. The service works on an annual bulk pricing structure whereby organisations buy email credits up front and send out emails as and when they wish, meaning no monthly bands or excesses.  

 
Charities can find out more about pricing from our calculator, where charities can put in how many emails they send annually and work out the cost.

Hootsuite – For social media