Charities offered free help to get to grips with best practice by digital experts
Half of all UK charities do not have a digital strategy in place, a new report claims.
The Digital Skills Report found that 35% of charities who make use of technology to fundraise, communicate and deliver services have no long term plan in place.
Just over one in 10 (12%) are thinking about developing a strategy and 3% say they struggle to access basic digital tools at all never mind have a strategy in place.
Surprisingly 22% of organisations that spoke to researchers for the report, published by the Skills Platform charity and digital communications expert Zoe Amar, said that they have a strategy but are yet to put it in place.
To combat the problem the pair have created a free Charity Digital Toolkit to showcases best practice, expert insight and practical tips to directly help charities navigate through digital transformation.
Relevant for anyone working in the charity sector it covers the basics of digital such as mapping your audience and developing your digital strategy; understanding the benefits of different marketing channels and measuring success. Leadership; fundraising; governance and risk are also particular areas of focus.
Dave Evans, product marketing manager, at Skills Platform said: “Digital is a growing area for many charities, from strategy to fundraising to communications. Yet we know from our work on The Charity Digital Report that digital skills across the sector must be raised if the sector is to become more sustainable and stay relevant and to its audience.
“Our experience has shown that charities need to be bold when tackling digital and make sure it is fundamental to how they operate right across their organisations. Whilst this may seem daunting, done well it will open up a realm of exciting possibilities.”
Charities including Diabetes UK, Breast Cancer Care, and Marie Curie have all contributed to the toolkit with Marie Curie explaining how improving its use of digital has reaped rewards for fundraising and income generation.
Zoe Amar, founder and director of Zoe Amar Communications, added: “Digital transformation has been leading the way for many charities – helping them to improve their processes and communication, increase productivity and ultimately drive growth. However, charities are at serious risk of being left behind if they cannot get to grips with digital.”