Modernise or fall behind: charities’ digital wake-up call
UK charities are facing perhaps the most challenging environment for decades. Economic uncertainty puts pressure on donations, causing real hardship for the sector.
Fiscal contraction also brings into question state funding, both direct grants and contracts for services. Both sources of funding, grants and contracts, are worth billions.
Charities need a way to reduce and control their operating costs while being more agile in raising funds and delivering services.
The quickest way to do this is by investing in technology. And the most cost-effective way to achieve that is with IT support for charities and management.
Table of contents
- Without a clear digital strategy, charities will fall behind
- Why technology is a big part of the answer
- Why UK charities need outsourced IT support
- Top tips for building a digital strategy for charities
- How we can help
Without a clear digital strategy, charities will fall behind
A recent survey found that only half of UK charities have a digital strategy in place. This is a problem. Without a strategic approach, charities risk spending more than they need to, having poor returns on investment, and systems that don’t work properly.
But things start to look even more serious when you consider some of the other challenges British charities said they were facing:
- More than 40% said they weren’t good at digital fundraising.
- Almost 40% said they want to make better use of data than they do today.
- 66% of larger charities are hit by at least one cyber-attack a year.
These challenges go to the core of a charity’s purpose. If an organisation cannot fundraise or protect its data and infrastructure, it will be unable to fulfil its charitable objectives.
Why technology is a big part of the answer
One of the best ways to control costs, boost productivity and increase agility, is to modernise, consolidate and streamline your charity’s technology ecosystem.
Modernising and streamlining the technology you use to support your mission can increase your productivity by as much as 25%.
Charities also say that digital transformation has helped them raise their public profile and increase awareness of their brand. For organisations that rely on crowdfunding, this is a significant advantage.
Three quarters of charities say that more and more donors want to use digital means of giving. More than 80% of charities now also use digital tools to deliver their services.
Any way in which a charity can use technology to increase its efficiency, security and resilience will have a positive impact on fundraising and services for end-users.
Why aren’t all charities investing in digital transformation?
Often, they’re constrained by the difficulty of hiring skilled employees, of whom there is a shortage in the UK. They may also be deterred by the perceived scale of capital investment and upfront costs.
There is a way to overcome these obstacles. By working with a provider of IT support for charities they can access the support and expertise they need, now.
Why UK charities need outsourced IT support
By outsourcing their IT support and management to an expert service provider with experience in the charity sector, you can instantly access market-leading expertise, with no capital outlay and minimal upfront costs.
In one step, you bypass the problem of recruiting against the skills gap. Your IT outsourcing partner will already have the skills and the experts you need.
Bringing in expertise in IT support also gives charities the agility they need to adopt new technologies as well as to innovate in how they reach donors and deliver services. With specialist support, charities can streamline not just technology but also the workflows that technology enables to help foster a culture of continuous innovation.
The Edinburgh charity VOCAL, for instance, outsourced crucial aspects of its IT provision with the goal of improving efficiency and resilience. Within a very short time, Texaport helped them migrate outdated on-premises systems to modern, efficient and secure cloud alternatives.
"The difference today is huge. IT is no longer a headache. Now, it helps us all do our best work. The team can provide the best support day-to-day, and our leadership team feels far more confident in our ability to respond to changes and grow safely."
Rosemary McLoughlin, CEO, VOCAL
Another example is the charity Hey Girls, which helps women throughout the UK overcome period poverty. The organisation needed to bolster its cyber security stature and achieve its Cyber Essentials certification as a condition for being able to bid for a government contract. Working with Texaport, they achieved this in time to submit the bid.
"This partnership allows us to focus on our mission to combat period poverty, confident in our reliable and secure IT infrastructure."
Celia Hodson, CEO, Hey Girls
Texaport has helped many charities like these modernise their IT infrastructure, ensuring they are equipped to thrive even in uncertain times. By working with an IT provider, charities can quickly achieve their technology goals. But more importantly, they set themselves up to achieve their funding and public-service targets, even at a time of increased financial pressures.
Top tips for building a digital strategy for charities
- Align your IT with your mission: understand which technology is the right fit for your charity.
- Plan for future goals: map the change you expect in your mission and choose technology that will empower your goals.
- Involve all relevant stakeholders: when planning and deploying, ensure that everyone is informed and consulted as needed.
- Make security your priority: ensure that security, data protection and compliance are at the core of any new technology implementation.
- Build agility from the start: to keep up with changing demand and flex as resource levels change, you need agile technologies.
- Be ruthless about value: work with providers who can help you choose and deploy technology for maximum return on investment.
- Monitor, measure and track: ensure that logging, tracking, auditing and optimisation are built into your strategy from the start. Implementing an IT strategy from the start enables continuous improvement, resulting in long-term cost savings.
How we can help
Texaport is one of the UK’s leading providers of charity IT support, with years of experience helping charities achieve their goals.
Our IT consultants and engineers have the industry knowledge you need to benefit from an instant productivity boost, integrate and migrate to new technologies, and meet your productivity, security, compliance, and fundraising goals.
Contact us today to speak to one of our experts.
