Is the charity sector prioritising digital ethics?

As digital tools and tech become embedded in our lives and how we work, there are particular perils to avoid. With so much information out there, is the charity sector prioritising digital ethics?

What should charities do? There has been a burst of guides and frameworks to help organisations tailor their use of digital.

The Charity Digital Code of Practice was published in November 2018. It helps organisations to measure their digital progress and consists of 7 elements:

• Leadership: senior leadership should encourage and ensure that digital is embraced
• Users: understanding the digital needs of users and how to meet them
• Culture: looking at how the organisation engages with digital
• Strategy: shaping the organisation’s goals and seeing how digital can help
• Skills: having a look at the current skill set and any additional training needed
• Managing Risk and Ethics: weighing up the possible hazards
• Adaptability: encouraging a flexible approach in using digital

It can seem like a lot but try treating the code as a guide on your journey towards a more digitally integrated workplace and talk to friends across the charity sector to see how they have done it. Remember, a small digital step could have a large impact so you don’t need to change everything as you know it!

The sheer amount of new information can seem a little daunting. Here’s someone who did it and who could show you how. The Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) asked DataKind UK to help develop a digital framework. You can view it here, as well as a list of questions for charities to consider. DataKind UK developed the digital ethics framework by considering the following aspects:

• Identify your ethics for your organisation: what is ethical for you?
• Identify how you plan on using data and how to align those activities with your ethics
• Identify a broad plan based on existing ethical practice: how are others doing it?

Have a look at the Digital Development Principles. Based on charities using tech to help vulnerable people, it can help you pick out the strands you want to focus on.