Digital
How can charities use digital technology? Should I build an app? How do I address a digital skills gap?
Despite transforming how many charities and funders work, particularly when it comes to communications and campaigns, technology’s influence over how these organisations deliver services has been limited.
We think tech should be used for product and service design to help provide better support for more people, not just for spreading the word and mobilising support.
We also believe the charity sector’s adoption of digital should be collective and coordinated to minimise expense, avoid duplication, and maximise impact. We launched a new innovation space, NPC Labs, as a place for us to work in the open on new ideas.
To help charities get started, we’ve published a guide to developing your digital roadmap.
Key tools, resources and commentary on digital
Developing your digital roadmap
Developing your digital roadmap is aimed at charities that are working out how to get started on their own digital change process, and the people who need to be bought into that change—senior managers, Chief Execs and trustees.
Tech for common good: The case for a collective approach to digital transformation in the social sector
To tackle social problems in their entirety, organisations need to mount a collective approach and tackle problems at the sector level. This is a first step in a much larger mission of digital culture change in the social sector.
My best life
Introducing our new open and collaborative initiative to develop digital solutions to the challenges young people face.
Designing digitally: Start with the need, not the technology
Andrew Weston outlines two key questions charities must ask themselves when designing a digital product or service.
The charity sector’s digital future
In light of the launch of NPC's new report on digital transformations, Tris Lumley explains what good adoption of digital looks like for the sector, and why charities are at risk if they fail to adapt.
Is grant-making fit for the digital future?
As pretty much everyone has noticed, we’re in the middle of a great revolution driven by digital technology and the internet. But what should grant-making trusts and foundations make of this? Tris Lumley argues why much of funding practice is not currently compatible with the tech world.
Part 1: The power of digital to transform the sector
Technology has played only a minor role in the charity sector. We have websites, social media, and online fundraising, but on the whole our technological advances have been incremental, not transformative. Director of Development, Tris Lumley, hopes this all about to change.
Part 2: The power of digital to transform the sector
Much of the current discussion about digital transformation is about transforming individual nonprofits and social enterprises from the ground up. The transformation I’m most interested in—and where NPC wants to play a role through a forthcoming programme of work—is rooted in value chains.
So you want to build an app…
For many charities aware of the need to modernise, building an app can seem like a great way to step into the twenty first century. But is this the right approach? And how can charities ensure that their beneficiaries remain at the heart of the decision?
Latest updates
Listen: Tech for Good Live
Kathryn Dingle joins the Tech for Good Live Podcast to talk all things tech.
Five practical actions to mitigate the risk of cybercrime
In support of Charity Fraud Awareness Week 2021, this blog sets out how to protect your charity's cyber security. What is your ‘defence against the dark arts’?
How the National Gallery went ‘digital-only’ during the pandemic and what reopening could look like for the arts
The public arts sector may soon be able to welcome large numbers of visitors for the first time since March 2020. How did the National Gallery increase its digital offering during the pandemic and what learnings will the arts sector take into the post-pandemic world?
How can trustees help charities harness digital?
Covid-19 has accelerated the transition to digital for many charities. Trustees need to decide how to capitalise upon digital innovations and how to integrate new working practices with some of their charity's more traditional approaches.
Where next for online charity retail?
The pandemic has greatly reduced charity trading income and has accelerated shifts in consumer behaviour. Here's four innovations in online retail that charities could harness and develop further.
Digital mental health services
The impact of Covid-19 on young people's mental health
Listen: Digital transformation
Rosario Piazza talks digital transformation for the How We Innovate Podcast.
What’s holding back digital innovation in the charity sector?
Insights and recommendations from Media Trust and NPC’s virtual roundtable.
Creating safe online spaces for young people
In this guest blog, Kelly Bradshaw-Walsh from the Centre for Youth Impact explores how social distancing has led to a new focus on safe online spaces.
Ten tips for facilitating online workshops
Since our first paper on theory of change was published back in 2012, the NPC team has facilitated hundreds of theory of change workshops. As a result of the Covid-19 crisis, we have since started delivering them online. Here are our top ten tips for online facilitation.
Digital Skills
We've been working with Media Trust to review the effectiveness and impact of their Digital Skills Training Programme. Our analysis found that all aspects of Media Trust’s Digital Skills Training Programme received positive feedback, both in terms of participant experiences and outcomes.
Digital services: How to connect in a time of crisis
Very little has prepared mental health services for how to provide support in times of global crisis. For Mental Health Awareness Week 2020, we spoke to the team behind the Shout text service about connecting with users during the coronavirus pandemic.
