When the Lloyds Digital Charity Index report was released in 2019, it made the bold declaration that 45% of charity leaders don’t see digital as relevant to their organisation.
This led to a fair bit of shock and outrage on my Twitter feed from people who work in tech and digital marketing on a daily basis. They are surrounded by relevance of their work.
I read these tweets in a cafe in London, and left feeling like something practical had to be done to change that stat in the 2020 report.
So I put out a tweet of my own.
I was looking for people who’d be willing to connect with people at charities smaller than their own, charities who don’t know what they don’t know about digital. The connection would be by phone, not email. It would be an opportunity for the smaller charity to properly discuss their objectives, and the volunteer expert to give their advice.
I was overwhelmed with responses from digital experts who wanted to help.
I set up two Google Forms – one for experts, and one for charities who want to know how digital can be relevant to them.
Fast forward 2 months, and:
- We have nearly 100 digital experts ready to give up an hour of their time to give help to charities that actually makes a difference.
- We have a working title for the project – Digital Candle, something to light the way in digital, even if only a little.
- We have support for the project from Catalyst – thanks so much guys!
This list of 100 experts is standing by right now to answer some of your questions on digital – everything from “Why should I bother?” to “What is user experience anyway?”. You just enter your details in this form, get introduced by email and arrange the call between yourselves.
So far, people from charities who have done the call have said:
“I wanted to thank you for your time last week. It was hugely helpful. My head is still whirring with all of the gems of wisdom and food for thought you shared!”
“[The expert] gave lots of insightful advice and talked through his experiences. Also offered further support in terms of sending me further info and being a sounding board.”
I really believe that small charities are getting left behind in the digital transformation game. I also believe there’s more than enough knowledge and willingness to share it in the charity sector. Let’s make more connections, and bring that stat down in the next Charity Digital Index.
