Charities are still struggling to embrace digital transformation, with those on the operations and finance side still not understanding the potential, according to a report from technology charity Eduserv.
Eduserv surveyed 310 digital professionals in partnership with umbrella body CharityComms for the report Business transformation and the role of digital – a manifesto for change, and found that the message is not getting through to the operations and finance teams, which "lag behind" other departments such as fundraising and communications.
Less than a quarter of finance departments are “increasing their effectiveness through use of digital”. Some 35 per cent of operations departments are doing so, compared to 74 per cent of communications and 52 per cent of fundraising.
Half of charities surveyed said that they did not have a digital strategy.
The report concludes that the digital transformation message is not getting through and that: “This puts a real question mark over whether digital departments are able – in their current guise – to play a strategic role in driving organisation-wide transformation.”
It recommends that that heads of digital stop talking about ‘digital’ and instead talk about ‘business transformation’. It also calls for charities to develop a “manifesto for change” focusing on four areas:
- Business change over digital first
- People and processes over technology
- Building relationships with HR and operations
- Strategy and consultancy over delivering services
Tim Cockle, head of digital at Eduserv, said: “What emerges from this research is a worrying picture of a charity sector which is still muddling along rather than putting in place decisive plans to embrace the technology and digital platforms which are essential to their future health.”
He recommended charities “plug the digital gaps in knowledge and skills”, “take a digital-first approach” and “make sure that they follow through their plans with the right financial investment”.
Cockle added: “Charities that fail to action in this way will not only fail to realise the transformational benefits of IT and digital, but risk losing out on the funding and support to the charities which do grasp the importance of this agenda.”
