No charity left behind: the need for a digital third sector - Lessons from Tech Trust's 2017 survey into
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No charity left behind: the need for a digital third sector Lessons from Tech Trust’s 2017 survey into adoption and perceptions of digital
No charity left behind CONTENTS 3 Executive Summary - Methodology - Key Results 6 Introduction 8 Digital Strategy 10 Investment in tools and training 12 Digital engagement 14 The cloud 16 Cybersecurity 18 Conclusion 20 Calls to action 22 About Us - Endnotes
The need for a digital third sector
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The survey that this report is based on was carried out over a period of 30 days in
September-October 2017, with 1,261 different organisations taking part.
Methodology
The charity respondents are generally reflective of Tech Trust registered charities
in that they represent a range of sizes, with the largest group being small
organisations (under £1m in income), and with a significant number of micro-
organisations (under £100k income).
The organisations operate in a wide range of areas from health, housing and
education to youth, cultural and religious activities.
The respondents themselves are largely senior managers at 28%, followed by
staff (21%) and trustees (21%). The rest were CEOs or volunteers.
3
No charity left behind
In September 2017, we asked our charity partners to answer an in-depth survey
about their use and management of digital technology, their priorities, pain points
and plans for the future. The results gave us valuable insight into how charities in
the UK view technology, and their relationship with it.
We identified a few areas where attitudes and best intentions don’t necessarily
match up with real-world actions or investment. These could be red flags pointing
to the areas where many charities lag behind in digital adoption.
The survey also highlights some key indicators of success for those already
making the best use of IT. From this, the big picture is clear: charities who are
digitally engaged gain many benefits ahead of their less-digital counterparts,
including more confidence in future planning and the ability to meet strategic
goals, increased donations, increased productivity and efficiency, and better
protection from risk.
In this whitepaper, we explore each of the key areas covered in the survey: digital
strategy, investment in tools and training, digital engagement, the cloud, and
cyber security. We analyse the results from each and define strategic action points
for charities looking to take the next step. In each section, charities will find advice
from key experts and links to resources, advice and guidance, as well as signposts
to relevant Tech Trust services.
We also include advice from key experts, and highlight what some of the charities
themselves say about their use of digital technology behind the scenes.
KEY RESULTS
Digital strategy
Most of the charities (58%) in our survey say they do not have a defined digital
strategy.
Charities with a digital strategy are generally more optimistic about the future of
their organisations than those without. 92% of charities with a digital strategy in
place say that they expect to increase their measurable impact in 2018.
Investment in tools and training
When asked: “which of the following would be most helpful in meeting your
strategic goals?”, 17% of respondents in our survey answered: “a better
understanding of technology”.
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The need for a digital third sector
However, of those 17% who seek a better understanding of technology to meet
their strategic goals, most (70%) have no plans to invest in digital training.
74% of charities plan to spend either the same or more on IT infrastructure in the
coming year, whereas the large majority (73%) of charities have said they do not
plan to provide digital training.
Digital engagement
53% of charities fundraise online. Almost all of those (97%) have a social media
presence.
All of the charities that raise over 20% of their funds online are active on social
media.
The cloud
63% of charities have at least one of their core applications in the cloud. This may
be their CRM, website or another app.
Of these, only 41% allow staff to use their own devices to access them, suggesting
a lack of confidence or understanding when it comes to the BYOD (Bring Your
Own Device) approach.
Cybersecurity
45% of charities overall are highly confident in their ability to protect from cyber
attacks.
For small charities, only 20% say that they’re confident in their security systems,
while only 15% of micro-organisations are.
Despite this, 22% of charities thought that, out of all types of software, security
software would benefit them most if it was free.
5
No charity left behind
INTRODUCTION
The release of our publication on digital adoption amongst UK charities comes at a time when digital tech
is causing society to change more than ever, placing more weight on social organisations to cover the
inevitable cracks.
The flip side of this is that government funding to the third sector is being cut, increasing the importance of
operational efficiency in maintaining service-delivery levels, which is something that digital solutions can
offer to forward-thinking charities.
Ultimately, the evolution of digital tech and the companies driving it brings both great opportunities and
serious threats, as can be clearly seen looking back at 2017.
Starting with the negatives, the year began with deep scrutiny of companies like Facebook and their
involvement in the promotion of fake news. This cast light on the nature of its algorithm in reinforcing
people’s views and intensifying divisions rather than fostering a balanced representation of events.
2017 was another year for serious data breaches and costly cyberattacks, which crippled charities and
companies alike. In April, eleven charities were fined a total of £138,000 by the ICO for breaching the Data
Protection Act, which could have been more under the General Data Protection Act to be implemented
later this year. The following month, several NHS trusts using outdated systems were hit by the WannaCry
virus, costing thousands of pounds and showcasing the need for security oversight in the modern world.
Still, while there are critical questions to be considered on the impact of artificial intelligence, algorithms
and robotics on jobs and beyond, so far, the results in these areas have been positive.
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The need for a digital third sector
Some of the most progressive charities are beginning to use bots to deliver services to beneficiaries in
more scalable ways, utilising work done by companies like Amazon, IBM, Facebook and Microsoft. Arthritis
Research UK, for example, launched Arthy in March to answer more questions on the impact of arthritis, its
symptoms and treatments.
Meanwhile, physical tech has become even more ubiquitous. While augmented and virtual reality devices
have yet to enter the mainstream, smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home have finally
brought purpose to voice-recognition work undertaken by the massive tech companies. These open new
opportunities for charities to reach supporters and deliver services in clever ways.
The year ended with speculation on bitcoin reaching ridiculous levels. Blockchain, the technology such
cryptocurrencies are built on, is finally starting to reveal potential value in stable, real-world benefits
though, such as its ability to serve funds to local charities across borders with ensured transparency.
We carried out our survey to better understand where the charity sector fits against this backdrop.
In any given business vertical, there are innovators, early adopters, early and late majorities, and laggards,
and the charity sector is no different.
What we have found, unfortunately, is a growing divide between charities with progressive, digitally-savvy
trustees and executives versus the majority of others, which are falling behind and risk missing out on
opportunities to improve the way they fulfil their missions.
The good news is that today’s technology is easier to embrace than ever. Modern pricing supports
scalability and suitability for micro-charities as well as massive ones. Rather than binding customers to
closed, long-term contracts, venture capitalists’ demands for short-term customer acquisition tends to lead
companies to offer lighter contracts, which reduces the financial risks of adopting new tech. Moreover, the
best software providers provide free educational resources alongside their tools, allowing adoption without
any great prior knowledge.
This is clearly disjointed with the reality for most charity trustees and executives, who lack the confidence
to ever begin researching or recommending new, digital approaches to traditional problems.
We, ourselves, will use the results of our survey to deliver services that better close this divide. Alongside
the published results of our study, we have also offered calls to action for charities looking to make
progress, which I hope can push the digital agenda within organisations that might otherwise fall behind.
Matthew Moorut
Head of Digital & Marketing
Tech Trust
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No charity left behind
DIGITAL STRATEGY
A digital strategy has been defined in many ways, but broadly speaking it’s
an organisation’s plan to maximise the benefits of data assets and digital
technologies for existing processes.
This doesn’t mean introducing technology for technology’s sake, but instead
enabling an organisation to do more, more quickly by identifying opportunities to
apply digital solutions to key business challenges.
Most of the charities (58%) in our survey say they don’t have a defined digital
strategy or consider digital to be embedded in their strategy.
But those charities that do make digital a part of their business plan display more
confidence in their effectiveness.
Among those with no digital strategy, only 27% are positive that they will increase
their measurable impact in 2018. However, 92% of those with a digital strategy in
place say that they expect their measurable impact to increase.
As charity-digital expert Zoe Amar says: “This is proof of the pudding that the
charities progressing in digital are either forward thinking or have tackled an issue
which could have threatened their future.”
“Digitally savvy organisations are growing in confidence and moving ahead. But
what will happen to the charities who are left behind?”
Bright futures
Results from charities in the 2017 Lloyds Bank UK Business Digital Index also show
that digitally-focused charities are more optimistic about their delivery. In this
survey, 83% of highly digitally-capable charities say they are ‘confident’ in their
organisation’s future, compared to 69% of those with low digital capability.
Interestingly, the Lloyds report found that 61% of those charities with the lowest
digital capability also believe being online is irrelevant to them. This is despite the
fact that those doing the most digitally are twice as likely to save time, twice as
likely to increase donations and ten times more likely to save costs.
This indicates that the least tech-savvy charities need more support to understand
the impact that a digital strategy can have.
When asked in our survey: “which of the following would be most helpful in
meeting your strategic goals?”, 36% answered: “grant funding for new digital
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The need for a digital third sector
products,” 25% answered: “more availability of digital products”, and 22%:
“donated software”.
Charities can access a range of donated software by signing up to the tt-exchange
programme, which includes everything from productivity and creative tools to
data management, security and web-hosting products, as well as non-profit
specific software for online fundraising and e-commerce.
“We do not have a specific digital strategy. However, when we
discuss and plan a fundraising campaign we give equal weight to
the following platforms: social media, website, print and digital
newsletters.
“There were barriers from some of the trustees who didn’t
understand how the digital media fitted in. We overcame that by
describing the different platforms as different mediums to target
different people.”
- Olivia Walter, Executive Director, Wildlife Vets International
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No charity left behind
INVESTMENT IN TOOLS AND TRAINING
On the subject of digital training and skills, when asked: “which of the following
would be most helpful in meeting your strategic goals?”, 17% of respondents in
our survey answered: “a better understanding of technology”.
Yet of those 17% who seek a better understanding of technology to meet their
strategic goals, most (70%) have no plans to invest in digital training.
Having digital skills in place seems to be a key indicator of confidence for the
future. 78% of charities that expect their digital impact to increase in the next year
either have a staff member responsible for encouraging digital upskilling, plan to
invest in digital training or plan to increase their spend on IT infrastructure.
So with 53% of charities overall having no paid staff operating in IT and 63% of
respondents saying they relied on the help of volunteers, there is a need for better
staff training around IT.
“Digital skills are no longer a luxury,” says Amar. “Charities need to start investing
in the digital skills of everyone from volunteers to trustees in order to provide
better services to beneficiaries, scale up impact and help their organisations
remain relevant and - dare one say it - competitive in our rapidly changing world.”
Barriers to learning
Our survey indicates there is a preference towards investment in infrastructure
instead of training: 74% of charities plan to spend either the same or more on IT
infrastructure in the coming year, whereas the large majority (73%) of charities
have said they do not plan to provide digital training.
10The need for a digital third sector
So what is holding organisations back from investing more in skills and training?
Lack of time and money is cited as the most significant barrier in improving digital
competence. Return on investment can often be more difficult to measure when it
comes to IT training over software, as it’s not always possible to link new skills to
increased productivity or efficiency with 100% certainty.
This could make it harder to prove its value to senior management - which could
be why 73% of those who said they weren’t planning to invest in digital training
were CEOs, trustees and senior managers.
Could lack of investment in training be as a result of attitudes high up in the
organisation? 20% of trustees state that their IT competency is below average,
yet 50% of these respondents believe their revenue will still increase.
Other reports show that training for trustees and the board could also be
improved: the 2017 Charity Digital Skills Report from the Skills Platform found
that 71% of charities say their board’s digital skills are low or have room for
improvement, even though 75% think growing their digital skills would help them
increase fundraising.
There are many routes to training for charity trustees and staff to improve their
IT skills. Organisations such as the Small Charities Coalition, the Charity Finance
Group and SCVO provide online and in-person training for free or at a low cost
around many areas of governance and digital skills, and the Small Charities
Coalition provides links to commercial trainers and consultancies that specialise in
charity digital and management training.
“I haven’t investigated formal learning as I don’t have the time to
investigate what I could get out of a training course that would
significantly add to what I’m doing already. It would have to
enable a huge leap forward in understanding for me to decide it
is worth taking the time out to go on a course. And I haven’t got
the time to research that!”
- Olivia Walter, Wildlife Vets International
“As an organisation, we are pretty good at being up to speed,
however, we find that far too many people in our wider networks
are less aware of technology and how it can benefit them, such
as developing projects through wiki’s or using tools like shared
calendars; we think this will hold progress back.”
- Leila Sharland, Director, Tir Coed
11No charity left behind
DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
Social media can be a hugely useful - and free - resource for charities to encourage
new donors and support existing ones.
Many charities are being innovative with their social media strategies, and it
doesn’t have to involve complicated planning or endorsement from celebrities.
In 2014, charities hijacked the #tubestrike hashtag on Twitter, which was trending
at the time, to talk about issues affecting Syrians. Save the Children tweeted:
“By Thursday, this week’s #TubeStrike will be over. No-one knows when the
disruption in #Syria will end.”
This garnered a lot of press attention and support for the charity, showing the
power of social media to champion causes simply by being reactive to events in
the public eye.
Social media can also be a way of building ongoing relationships. Organisations
such as blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan have done a great job of not only
showcasing the stories of beneficiaries, but making it easy for donors to share
their experiences through social media platforms and encourage new donors.
Anthony Nolan has published a free guide for charities looking to get started with
their own social media fundraising.
The NCVO has also collated guides and information for charities looking to put
together a social media strategy or make the most out of various social media
channels and platforms.
Start spreading the word
Our survey found that 53% of charities fundraise online and that almost all of
those (97%) have a social media presence. In fact, 100% of the charities that raise
over 20% of their funds online are active on social media.
According to the 2017 Lloyds Bank UK Business Digital Index, charities using social
media are 51% more likely to increase their donations.
Our survey shows that those who raise the highest amounts through social media
are also on multiple social media platforms.
Across the board, both Twitter and Facebook are popular. While a sizeable
percentage (57%) of organisations using Instagram are micro and small charities,
larger organisations are proportionately more likely to use the platform.
12The need for a digital third sector
However, Facebook is a clear favourite with 87% of respondents having an active
presence. This may be because it’s the world’s largest social network with active
users now surpassing over 2 billion. It may also be because charities can take
advantage of free tools specifically for non-profits on Facebook.
In September 2017, the social network rolled out donate buttons for UK users.
Charities can now collect donations directly from their Facebook page for free, as
well as allow supporters to set up dedicated fundraising pages within the social
media platform. They can also take advantage of free event pages that allow
them to organise supporters around specific activities.
Richard Craig, CEO of Tech Trust, advises: “Just dive in and have a go. It’s not
something you can break. A good way to start is to follow people that interest
you, learn how and when they post, their writing style and the imagery they use.
“Be conscious about what you’re doing on behalf of the organisation; you’ve got
to be pragmatic and stay on-brand, but don’t be afraid to use your voice and make
it personal.”
“It’s almost a default now that if you’re a charity the first place people are going to
go is their mobile phone, email and social media. If you haven’t worked out how
to talk to people on those channels you will lose all means to talk to people.”
“We are an infrastructure organisation so it’s incredibly difficult
to fundraise using any platform as we don’t have a particularly
emotive cause that tugs at the heartstrings. We use social
media, web and email marketing mostly to raise our profile,
demonstrate our impact and engage the public.”
- Matt Little, Digital Inclusion Coordinator, Volunteer Centre
Sutton
13No charity left behind
THE CLOUD
Cloud tools can be hugely beneficial for organisations looking to enable staff to
work from anywhere, be more efficient and save money.
The cloud is consumed on a pay-as-you-go basis, needs no IT expertise to run and
is hosted remotely at no extra expense. Allowing staff to access it from their own
devices that they pay for themselves could present a big cost-saving opportunity.
According to our survey, 63% of charities have at least one of their core
applications in the cloud. This may be their CRM, website or another app.
But out of these, only 41% of those also allow staff to use their own devices to
access them, suggesting a lack of confidence or understanding when it comes to
the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) approach.
Out of all the charities we surveyed, 79% claim they have the infrastructure in
place to allow staff to work remotely. However, many charities don’t allow staff to
use their own devices, have no applications in the cloud, and only have their CRM
system and data saved to physical servers or in offline records.
Depending on their job title and the nature of the charity’s work, not having these
tools in place could make working from home or on location more difficult. Are
charities really making the most of the resources to enable remote working?
14The need for a digital third sector
The sky’s the limit
According to a study by Cloud Industry Forum, 88% of UK organisations used at
least one cloud-based service in 2017.
“Cloud has become the norm in the UK,” says Craig. “If you look at G-Suite and
Office 365, we’ve got the highest uptake per capita of any country in the world.”
“Remote working and the cloud gives organisations the ability to recruit people
and give them the flexibility that you couldn’t have historically done. It gives
organisations the potential to run inexpensive offices, giving people the option
to work from wherever they want and just have a meeting place where they will
meet every so often. This can save a lot of money. The ability to work how and
when you want is valuable for everyone.”
Microsoft’s cloud solution, Office 365, is discounted for eligible UK charities,
allowing staff to easily store, share and edit documents, access email and
calendars and collaborate with instant messaging and video, from any device.
Google, meanwhile, offers a comparable package to eligible charities for free.
G-Suite provides apps such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google
Drive, allowing charities to write and store documents and securely access data
from anywhere as part of the Google for Nonprofits programme.
Charities can access these and many other cloud programs by registering
for the tt-exchange programme, which also gives access to productivity and
collaboration tools such as Box as well as design and publishing tools such as
Adobe Creative Cloud and Autodesk.
“Ours is a truly micro-charity (volunteers only) supporting
animal-welfare abroad. Without previous Tech Trust benefits,
cloud technology and a web presence, it’s doubtful we would still
be operational.”
- Tony Wright , Trustee Director, DPDSAA
“We moved to Office 365 for all our digital needs eighteen
months ago. This was achieved very smoothly by purchasing the
software through Tech Trust and installation and training by ESP
Sheffield.”
- Tom Long , Chair, Senior Citizens’ Support Group
15No charity left behind
USE AND PROTECTION OF DATA
Nearly half of all UK organisations suffered a cyber breach in 2017, according to
Government research, while incidents like the global WannaCry ransomware
attack threw many organisations into chaos, including the NHS. Cyber security is
likely to remain a big concern as the attack methods and technologies of criminals
evolve.
Encouragingly, our survey found that 45% of charities are highly confident in their
ability to protect themselves from cyber attacks. This percentage is, however,
much lower as charity size decreases. For small charities, only 20% say that
they’re confident in their security systems, while just 15% of micro-organisations
are.
This suggests that security software is not prioritised as an investment - despite
the fact that 22% of charities thought that, out of all types of software, security
software would benefit them most if it was free.
Cyber savvy
38% of charities can comfortably say they are confident in their ability to defend
against cyber-attacks, with the majority falling into the ‘on-the-fence’ bracket.
Of those whose confidence in their ability to defend against cyber attacks is
below average, 45% handle sensitive data. It is slightly alarming that charities
can be handling personal information without having confidence in their security
software.
This is particularly so considering that under GDPR, organisations can be fined up
to 4% of their annual turnover for a data breach.
While 82% of charities are in the know about GDPR and are confident they’re
ready for the upcoming changes to legislation, having the right security software
in place is crucial.
16The need for a digital third sector
Luckily, security software such as Bitdefender and Symantec is available at a
heavily discounted rate for eligible charities on the tt-exchange programme.
Craig advises that, much like with GDPR compliance, it is sensible to assign a
single individual to be responsible for cyber security.
“The board should ensure that the organisation is covered from a risk point-of-
view in the same way as are you covered by your insurance for the rest of the
business,” he says.
“There have been plenty of news stories recently of charities who have gone
under because of their lack of governance and due diligence, and people have
come unstuck because they haven’t done everything they should have done.
The board are the governance people. I would make someone from senior
management responsible for cyber security.”
For those seeking further information and training on how to keep their data and
services secure, resources such as the Government’s Cyber Essentials Scheme
and NCSC’s 10 Steps to Cyber Security are a good place to start. It costs for
an organisation to get accredited under the Cyber Essentials Scheme, but the
educational tools and checklists are free to access.
“We are starting our preparations for GDPR. As we have always
been careful in storing data securely, collecting consents and
recording these, we are at present pretty confident it won’t have
too big an impact on our data protection or protocols.”
- Leila Sharland, Tir Coed
17No charity left behind
CONCLUSION
The news that 58% of charities in our survey do not have digital as part of their strategy is hardly a surprise.
Other findings, such as the Lloyds Business Digital Index’s assertion that 52% of charities do not have basic
digital skills, and the Charity Digital Skills Report’s finding that 71% of charities rate their board’s digital
skills as low or needing improvement, add up to a picture of a sector in danger of getting left behind.
But as disheartening as this may seem, underlying the bleak statistics is an enormous opportunity. As
our report demonstrates, charities of all sizes have the potential to improve almost every aspect of their
operations, find new ways to save money, be more efficient, gain more supporters and recruit the best staff
and volunteers.
For anyone running an organisation today, technology has never been more accessible for people of all
skill levels at a reasonable cost. Anyone can fundraise and grow awareness online through a multitude
of platforms and channels, often at no cost. There is no technical know-how needed to set up and run a
cloud server on Box that gives everyone in an organisation the ability to collaborate from anywhere and
streamline funding processes. And no IT professional is required to produce an impressive-looking data
dashboard in Tableau that gives new insight into a charity’s supporter base and informs its decision making.
None of this requires investing in hard-drive space or specialist staff as most software is now hosted in the
cloud. And over 100 of them are available as donated products on Tech Trust’s tt-exchange platform.
There is also plenty of help available from a wide variety of sources, as we have shown. Because of the
nature of digital technology now, most training is geared less towards technical knowledge and more
towards governance- simply understanding the potential of digital and how it can create value within an
organisation.
18The need for a digital third sector
As Tech Trust CEO, Richard Craig, explains:
“People ask: how do we make the switch? It’s a mindset, and about the ability to self-learn and embrace
rapid change.
“Look again at parts of your organisation that cost most to deliver and where you can add efficiency. Use
a goal-based approach. You may not be able to directly prove ROI with everything but a digital tool will
almost always help you be more efficient and achieve your goals, over a traditional one.
“Bigger charities will have the technical staff, agencies and consultancies that can help, but actually, it’s the
smaller organisations that have more opportunity because the bigger you get, the harder it is to make the
change happen.
“One of the barriers to change is sometimes a board that is scared of change or scared of risk, or who want
you to justify the expenditure of a tool or service through an approvals process.
“Generally though, staff have a good feel for what will work and be beneficial for them, and the key is
trust from the board. Your board of trustees doesn’t necessarily need to be digitally savvy but needs to
understand that it is important.
“There is still a view amongst some that you can be the best at what you do in the world without doing
digital. That’s just not true anymore.
“Don’t think about having a digital strategy, just a strategy to be the best that you can be, and that will
naturally take you down the road of picking up a bunch of digital tools and platforms to do it.”
19No charity left behind
CALLS TO ACTION
Making digital strategic
Charities should embed digital technology into their strategy if they want to drive
growth and be financially sustainable.
This means looking for opportunities to apply a digital tool or platform wherever
improvements in efficiency can be made, assessing each business challenge from
a technology mindset.
Access to donated software could be most helpful in meeting these strategic
goals, and charities can register for the tt-exchange programme to gain access to
heavily discounted versions of software from major vendors.
Gaining a better understanding of digital across the board
Effective training could be a boost to help organisations operate more efficiently
and push the boundaries of what they’re capable of. Charities should seek out free
and discounted sources of digital learning for both staff and senior management
and prioritise it as an investment.
This is because digital strategy requires a mindset of self-learning and the
confidence to embrace rapid change, as well as the ability to communicate its
potential to stakeholders. It doesn’t have to involve technical knowledge - simply
understanding the solutions that exist can be hugely valuable.
Routes to IT training range from organisations such as the Small Charities
Coalition, the Charity Finance Group and SCVO, which provide online and in-
person training for free or at a low cost around many areas of governance and
digital skills.
Charity Digital News, run by Tech Trust, is also a rich source of tech news, insight,
advice and information for UK charities.
Making social work for you
Social media can be a hugely useful free resource for charities to encourage new
and existing donors.
Increasingly, these platforms are becoming the default communication channels
for larger charities to interact with the public, gain news donors and collect
donations, with supporters of smaller organisations starting to follow suit.
20The need for a digital third sector
Skills Platform has curated a social media toolkit that’s full of information for
charities looking to put together a social media strategy or make the most out of
various social media channels and platforms.
The key is to do background research into what similar or inspirational
organisations are doing, their tone of voice, the services they are offering and the
ways they are innovating around social media - and then get stuck in.
Enabling remote working with the cloud
Faced with a restricted funding environment, charities can be more efficient and
save money with the use of cloud tools and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).
The ability for staff to work from anywhere, from their own devices, is
revolutionising the nature of work in the private sector – there’s no reason why
the third sector should not take advantage of these opportunities. In fact, they
stand to gain far more in terms of cost savings, productivity, and volunteer and
staff recruitment.
Charities can access a range of cloud software from major providers at a huge
discount by registering on the tt-exchange programme.
Building secure foundations
Charities need to increase their confidence in handling sensitive data in
preparation for GDPR coming into force in May 2018.
It is particularly important for smaller charities to know they are protected,
as they face a bigger risk of disruption, as well as potential fines under GDPR,
in the event of a data breach. Cyber attackers do not discriminate between
organisations according to their size or service area.
Having the right security software in place is crucial, as is ensuring those in senior
management know the basics of cyber security and have it on their risk register
alongside other more traditional risks that charities face. It may help to have
a single individual in the organisation assigned as a ‘cyber security evangelist’
responsible for understanding and communicating the risks.
Security software such as Bitdefender and Symantec is available at a heavily
discounted rate for eligible charities on the tt-exchange programme.
21No charity left behind
ABOUT US
Tech Trust has been working to connect the charity sector to the best technology
since 2001.
Our team helps over 35,000 UK charities and non-profits by giving them greater
access to tech from world-leading providers, as well as friendly advice and
support.
We run the UK’s only software donation platform, called tt-exchange, which
has helped UK charities to save over £200 million on software from the likes of
Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec and more.
We also run Charity Digital News to promote good tech stories, offer non-profit-
specific email marketing through tt-mail, and provide financial services for
charities.
For more information on how we can help your charity, visit the Tech Trust
website at tech-trust.org, or email us at customerservice@tech-trust.org.
“As a homeless charity that is dependent on funds raised through
charitable donations, we find having the support and resource
of Tech Trust invaluable. They have enabled the Canaan Trust to
secure its own IT operations through a range of system software
operational programmes and virus protection.”
- Kevin Curtis, Project Manger, Canaan Trust
Tech Trust
Registered office: Camburgh House, 27 Dover House, Canterbury, Kent CT1 3DN
Telephone: 020 7324 3380
Company registered number: 06902258
Charity number: 1133179
More information about Tech Trust can be found at tech-trust.org.
22The need for a digital third sector
ENDNOTES
This report has used anonymised data to report on the state of the charity sector
with direct relation to adoption of digital technology. While all reasonable care
has been taken to ensure that the information provided is correct, Tech Trust
accepts no liability for any loss or damage caused to any person relying on any
statement or omission. This is for information only and should not be relied upon
as offering advice for any set of circumstances. Specific advice should always be
sought in each instance.
Issue date: January 2018
Acknowledgements
This whitepaper was written by Chloe Green based on analysis undertaken by
Emelia Goodall. With thanks to everyone who has contributed quotes and to
everyone who undertook the survey.
23You can also read
