The role of digital leaders in shaping sustainable practices and driving positive change has never been more imperative. The gathering of such a great bunch of individuals at the Trampery was a testament to the commitment towards a more sustainable future, and for me and many others I spoke to created such a sense of pride in the strides the UK is making towards a better world.

Reflecting on the day, several key points I wanted to share

Foremost among them was the awe-inspiring showcase of finalists and award winners, whose contributions warrant attention and recognition. I highly recommend exploring their work further, which can be found here. I especially wanted to congratulate Matt Adam who was awarded the Founders Award after a really endearing speech about Matt and both of their founder journeys from Gori Yahaya. 

Addressing the ‘E’ in ESG, CGI’s Head of Sustainability, Mattie Yeta set the tone with a poignant discussion on the significance of data in driving sustainable development. Her wealth of experience in this arena provided compelling insights into emerging focal points from very comprehensive slides. A notable highlight was the panel discussion featuring Dr. Maria Carvalho of NatWest, shedding light on the bank’s proactive approach in supporting sustainable practices among the UK’s SME sector. Dr. Carvalho underscored the pivotal role financial institutions play in facilitating the transition to a net-zero economy, emphasising the importance of customer engagement and the provision of tailored tools and services. Dr. Carvalho’s presentation showcased NatWest’s initiatives, including empowering SMEs to track their carbon footprint and that of their supply chain partners which was impressive to see. 

Andrew Morris, VP at aql, furthered the conversation by elaborating on the utilisation of “Good Energy,” offering valuable insights into aql’s pioneering efforts in this area. Julie Furnell, CEO of Mobilityways, shared compelling insights into the environmental benefits stemming from remote working, particularly in achieving Zero Carbon Commuting.

Then onto the ‘S’ in ESG, Duncan Parker, MD of The 44 Group, delivered a keynote on the Purpose Revolution, emphasising the role of investment in driving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Then the panel, featuring Moses Setler of Screen Share and Becky Burgess of Rochdale Borough Council, highlighted the transformative potential of digital inclusion, with an incredible story on the impact of refugees and community support initiatives.

Julia Chippendale from We Are Group advocated for a unified “one front door” approach supported by technology to streamline support services for vulnerable people, exemplifying this through partnerships such as the excellent one with Lloyds Banking Group to provide digital skills assistance from the comfort of people’s homes.

Turning to the ‘G’ in ESG, discussions centered on governance amidst societal challenges. David Kempster shared insights into property-level governance, while Mariam Chrichton, CEO of 7Sataya, articulated the importance of global technology solutions in fostering positive impact.

Louise Campton of Primary Goal shared an inspiring narrative of leveraging training levies for continuous professional development (CPD) in schools. We then had Gori Yahaya of Upskill Universe and Elizabeth Vega, CEO of Informed Solutions, engaged in a thought-provoking dialogue on organisational culture management, which from what I could see really resonating deeply with the audience.

Finally, what a team!  special acknowledgment goes to the Digital Leaders Team for their commendable efforts, supported by Daisi Parker on the day too. The magnitude of their accomplishments, including hosting numerous events and honouring outstanding organisations, underscores their dedication to fostering meaningful change. This fantastic event was in a week where the team also led 80 other events with 12,000 registrations. Just incredible. 

Looking ahead, it is evident that digital leaders will continue to exert a profound influence on ESG initiatives, setting new benchmarks for responsible leadership and sustainable business practices. The journey towards a more sustainable and inclusive world remains ongoing, with digital leaders spearheading the transformative agenda and I am so proud to have played a small part in the day

Can’t wait for next year! 

Read More Tech for Good

The post Chairing the Digital Leaders: Visionaries Unite at the Impact Summit 2024 appeared first on Digital Leaders.

Think of the chaos that would ensue. It would be like Squid Game dominoes crashing down as ordinary life for many would come to a halt.

Banking and eCommerce would stutter to a stop. Supply chain misery on a scale unimaginable – even in today’s pandemic context. Food would start to run out. People wouldn’t be able to communicate using channels they’d grown used to. Social networks would be down. Hospitals and health services – and all the patients they care for – would suffer.

People everywhere would be disconnected from one another. Hunger, anger and devastation would be unleashed on the world.

Now cut back to today, and imagine a typical Tuesday. Your typical Tuesday. Just an ordinary mid-week day when you’re going about what you normally do. Only for the sake of the game, you’re not allowed to use your phone for the whole 24 hours.

You’d have to figure out how to get from A to B by asking others, consulting a map. Not so awful, huh? But then what if you need to check your bank account or order something online and you’re nowhere near your laptop? Ah wait…. I’m taking away your laptop, too, and you’re not allowed to cheat and use someone else’s. You’re not allowed to go online….

Let me ask you something. How often throughout the day do you refer to your phone for information, the time, directions, the news? How many apps do you use to organise your life, pick up some shopping, order food or research something? Watch something? Listen to something? Do something?

What’s your screen time like?

Over the last couple of decades, more and more of us have grown reliant on the internet. It sort of happened by stealth, didn’t it? One moment you’re recording VHS tapes and learning how to ‘text’ and use a ‘modem’; then next you’re juggling devices as you multi-task everything you do from watching TV to cooking to entertaining the kids to travelling and working.

I lived in Japan in the early nineties – in a very remote part of the country and up a mountain in a little village. Before most of us had mobile phones. And before people had adopted personal computers en masse either for their home lives or their working lives. The internet was buzzing into life but most of us didn’t send emails. I wrote little letters by hand to friends and family. I longed to receive a blue envelope from overseas to help me feel connected to my life back home.

But in those days, my lack of connection mirrored that of more or less everybody else. I wasn’t particularly excluded. I had the telephone – which I used from time to time – although it was prohibitively expensive to do so very often.

I got a pay cheque and I could afford my bills. I was navigating a foreign country and a language I didn’t know how to speak or read – but it was ok. I was ok.

Fast forward to today, and there are people in our country who are more cut off now than I was back then. Because fast forward to today, and most of life is made possible through online connections. It has offered untold benefits to so many…. who among us could conceive how we would have got through the last devastating period of our lives without the wonders of the world wide web. It’s helped us through the best of times and the worst of times.

But think of those of us who don’t have connectivity, or devices, or the confidence to do things online or use the tech. How do we – they – go about their day to day lives?

Many UK citizens have mobile telephones. But lots of us don’t have broadband at home. And many of us choose to only have a landline. Maybe we’re a bit older and feel we’re perfectly fine without the internet. We’ve done perfectly well before and we’re ok. Maybe we’re a bit older and would love to understand more how to use the computers or smartphones our well-meaning families buy for us or help us install. Maybe we have access issues that challenge us. Or maybe we have to choose between putting food on the table or home access to the online world.

I feel fortunate and proud to work for a company that is trying to help solve some of these issues. From a social tariff designed to help people on benefits (called BT Home Essentials), to a package of measures to support children’s access to education (Lockdown Learning) to an amazing array of free training to help anyone and everyone make the most of life in the digital world – in their home or their work lives (BT Skills for Tomorrow)….. And that’s not even mentioning the wide range of support we have been giving people in need over the last twenty months – everything from joining forces as a partner of the National Emergencies Trust, to funding devices for vulnerable people to donating baby alarms to use in hospitals to giving free data to NHS staff and setting up the Nightingale Hospitals in a matter of days.

However, I think systemic change can only happen when people come together. Which is why I am deeply committed to lending my support and championship to the Digital Poverty Alliance. We have a bold ambition – to help end digital poverty. I was honoured to have been invited to join as an Ambassador in a personal capacity, and want to try to do my bit. This starts, I think, by helping shine a light on some of the programmes I am involved with which help address social mobility and digital exclusion – which of course are inextricably linked. I’d like anyone reading this to keep a note of some of these organisations in case they could help people you know, in your networks, some day….

First, a big shout-out here to CAST (and Catalyst) where I am a Trustee – they are helping civil society grow digital capability and capacity through ‘digital, data and design’ – ultimately benefitting millions of people across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and beyond. If you know a charity that could do with some help – please point them over here. They’re joining forces with Digital Poverty Alliance, too.

I also want to call out the work of FutureDotNow. I am delighted to serve on their Board (alongside their Chair Sir Peter Estlin, CEO Liz Williams, and other great organisations like Lloyds, Salesforce, PwC, Nominet and Good Things Foundation), having been part of the original working group that helped create it. For those who don’t know, FutureDotNow aims to help workforces across the UK understand the benefits of digital skills – not just for productivity and the bottom line – which is also critical – but for the wellbeing and prospects of people who work.

And I’m keen to signpost the brilliant work both FastFutures and Movement to Work do to help people from underrepresented backgrounds make that vital bridge from education into work in the digital economy. Movement to Work focusses on young people not in education, employment or training. FastFutures has created a completely free virtual programme with free wrap around support to help cohorts of young people learn digital and employability skills using real business case studies from employers such as BT, Barclays and the NHS. Both FastFutures and Movement to Work are helping transform young lives in our country.

There are so many other organisations I want to tell you about, and I will, in future articles. In the meantime, I urge you to Google TeenTech, Every Child Needs a Mentor – and the magnificent Positive Transformation Group.

I started this article asking you to imagine a world where the internet closed down for a while. And then a twenty four hour period where you, in your life, wouldn’t be able to go online. The first scenario borders on apocalypse; the second – if it happened – would make many of us twitchy and anxious. A whole ordinary day without being able to access the internet?

Well the brutal reality is that many citizens across all of our devolved nations don’t, or can’t, access the internet. Deprived of the information super high way which enables so many of us to lead enriched, enabled, empowered lives.

The Digital Poverty Alliance wants to fix this, to help create a more equitable digital economy for all. I am proud to join them in that endeavour.

Blog originally posted here

To learn more about The Digital Poverty Alliance and to get involved please follow us on Twitter  @DigiPovAlliance  and  LinkedIn.

Learn more about DPA here

The post Why all this matters appeared first on Digital Leaders.

Craig Macdonald was a technology professional dedicated to public service who passed away suddenly in early 2020. In honour of Craig’s memory, Digital Leaders have teamed up with Tech investor Rob Wilmot who has offered the prize of £5,000.

Craig Macdonald was the Chief Digital and Technology Officer of Crown Commercial Service, an Executive Agency of the UK Cabinet Office dedicated to helping the government and wider public sector to get the best deal when procuring common goods and services.

Simon Tse, CEO of Crown Commercial Service, said: “Craig was a much-loved member of our CCS family, as well as a passionate and influential industry leader. This award is a fitting tribute to Craig, committed as he was to encouraging grassroots digital innovation.”

Rob Wilmot, former NED and Chair of the Technology and Digital Transformation Committee at CCS, commented: “Like all those who worked with Craig, I was shocked and saddened when he passed away so suddenly. I wanted to do something to honour his memory and his passion for technology and community regeneration and I approached Digital Leaders as the ideal partner for this, because of their reputation and broad reach. After discussions with Craig’s family, we created the Craig Macdonald Memorial Prize.”

Find out more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HK5HjsZrN0

Opening the nominations for this new prize and also entries for the 9th Digital Leaders 100 Awards, Robin Knowles, Founder of Digital Leaders said ”The DL100 has always highlighted the unsung teams and champions of digital transformation across the UK, so we are thrilled to be honouring Craig’s memory with this new award.’

Nominations for the Craig McDonald Memorial Prize and all 13 categories in this year’s DL100 are open until Friday 3rd September. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced on the 11th November in Central London.

The DL100 recognises people, organisations and programmes across the UK who are leading the way in digital transformation in all sectors. Winners have previously included industry names such as Martha Lane-Fox, Mike Bracken, Maggie Philbin, Liam Maxwell, Seyi Akiwowo, Kevin Cunnington and Eileen Burbidge.

Find out more visit http://digileaders100.com or follow #DL100 or #digileaders on Twitter

About the Digital Leaders 100
Each year’s list is created from nominations submitted by members of the 150,000 strong Digital Leaders community, before being shortlisted by the DL100 judges, who are often members of the Digital Leaders Advisory Board.

This year’s list is the 9th cohort to join the alumni of previous winners that now numbers over 600 leaders from government, enterprise, startups and charities. These former members stay in touch, network and learn from each other through participation in the DL100 Club.

About Digital Leaders
Digital Leaders is a global initiative that has created a shared professional space for senior leadership from different sectors promoting effective, long-term digital transformation. Our community of 120,000 senior leaders are involved in leveraging technology to promote economic growth, increase social well-being and narrow social gaps.

To find out more visit https://digileaders.com/ or follow Digital Leaders on Twitter: @DigiLeaders

The post £5,000 Craig Macdonald Memorial Prize opens for entries appeared first on Digital Leaders.

So I began to ask myself what it would take to make a lasting difference to this man’s life. He had never had a job, and was illiterate. For me, the answer lay in empowering him with the skills and training needed to sustainably support himself. Of course, that would cost far more than coffees or socks – but what if everyone chipped in?  

From here, the idea of crowdfunding employment training for homeless people was born. Over the following nine months, I developed the model working with homeless people and charities. And since launching in late 2017, more than 600 homeless Londoners have used Beam’s crowdfunding platform to secure stable jobs and homes. It’s been heartwarming to see hundreds of strangers change so many lives, whether that’s funding someone’s life-changing training or rental deposit or sharing a message of support on our newsfeed. 

We’ve also spent a lot of time understanding the economic impact of Beam’s crowdsourced model at scale. Last year, we released an Impact Report, which showed that for every homeless person Beam supports into work, the taxpayer saves on average £31,300 due to a reduction in welfare spending and additional taxable income. The report also showed that if Beam’s services were expanded to support 600,000 people (the number the National Audit Office states are long-term unemployed but close to work), we have the potential to save the taxpayer £10bn. 

Of course, in order to get even close to that figure, we need to grow Beam considerably over the next few years. As a social enterprise, our growth target will always be focused on “social metrics” rather than financial metrics: the number of people who move into stable jobs and homes through Beam. Right now, 75% of people who launch a crowdfunding campaign with Beam go on to sustain work, after being unemployed for an average of five and a half years. We also get paid by London councils to achieve these outcomes on a payment-by-results basis. This means the more people we help, the more we grow as a business. That keeps us laser focused on providing the highest quality service that is truly creating meaningful change in people’s lives.

The next step in our growth journey involves launching Beam in more cities both here in the UK and overseas. Wherever the need is greatest, we want to be providing access to our service for free to those who need it. We’re also exploring how we can support other disadvantaged groups, such as people with disabilities, care leavers and ex-offenders. This is about using tech and an innovative new services model to create equality of opportunity at scale, so that everyone can fulfil their potential. 

Homelessness is a complex issue, but humankind has solved many complex ones and my belief is we can make homelessess a thing of the past faster than most people think. Even more so if we bring the right people around a problem and are radically collaborative. Beam has already hired 25 passionate and ambitious problem solvers from the worlds of tech, social enterprise and business and we plan to grow our team by a further 25 people this year. I’m excited about what the future holds – both for the impact Beam is having on some of the most marginalised members of our communities and for how we can encourage others to use business and tech for good.

More thought leadership

The post Tech for Good: How Beam is using tech to tackle homelessness appeared first on Digital Leaders.

Answering this question forms one aspect of my work at Nominet. We are the registry for the .UK namespace, an organisation committed to operating as a ‘profit with a purpose’ business; we’ve invested over £49m into ‘tech for good’ initiatives to date and are determined to support those at risk of being left behind as our nation marches towards a digital future.

For the past two years our Public Benefit activity has been handled in-house with a specific mission to make a lasting, positive impact on the lives of young people. This is the generation that our future depends on, after all, and they face challenges growing up in a digital world. We work to reach them by focusing on a variety of emerging social issues, from a lack of access to digital skills and opportunities to coping with mental health issues.

The phrase ‘lasting positive impact’ is important because we believe in making sustainable changes, not simply sticking plasters onto problems. We achieve this by employing an approach that starts with careful research into specific issues to identify the root of the problem before we design and deliver programmes best positioned to make the biggest difference. And then we measure our progress via an annual Social Impact Report. The report for FY20 has recently been released and shares figures that I think we can be proud of.

When deciding on our approach to measuring social impact and how the projects we fund would report back to us, we found that due to the sheer breadth of impact areas we work on – which means different programmes and projects working in very different ways in very different settings – a flexible approach is required.

As a result, we took inspiration from Comic Relief’s reporting, where funded projects use indicators relevant to their area of specialism to report back against an overall theory of change for the funding scheme. As such, the figures, measures and outputs within our report are all developed by our partners with our support, and that of an independent external MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning) partner, InFocus, and are based on best practice. It’s worth noting here too that some of our projects are ongoing or funded in the period, so outcomes are not yet available. We look forward to seeing these when ready. Of course, by far and away the most important aspect is generating insights that lead to sustainable and substantial positive impact in the field of tech for good and digital social impact and for which we can build on the successes and work on improving where there might be gaps.

I am pleased to say that as a result of this process, over the past twelve months we can report an impact on 720,000 young people via £1.7m in grants to projects and programmes. This is through a mixture of our own initiatives, such as providing access to digital skills and opportunities through our This is How podcast series, and working with established partners, including leading mental health charities like Samaritans, as well as youth organisations like the Scouts and the Micro:bit Foundation.

The range of work we have planned and delivered is covered in detail on our website and touched on in the report. For example, we have launched a new Digital Citizenship Badge with the Scouts, released Micro:bit classroom to help get young people improve their digital skills including coding, and funded key organisations tackling online harm, like the Internet Watch Foundation and the National Crime Agency, among many other activities.

The arrival of the coronavirus – and the changes it wrought to our lives – has tested our capacities and capabilities in Public Benefit in new ways. While we are proponents of the design-led, considered approach to funding, the pandemic demanded we react swiftly to changing circumstances. If we wanted to truly make a difference and meet some of the gaping inequalities that had moved from inconvenient to potentially life-threatening, we had to act fast. The most pressing issue was digital exclusion: being ‘locked down’ at home left the 1.9m households without access to the internet cut off and isolated, without access to medicines, food, advice or support.

Our first action was, in partnership with Snook, to secure zero-rate access from smartphones to the websites that were key for staying safe, such as the NHS site. We were conscious that those with limited funds or data may be denied access to essential information or the fast-changing advice. This move was achieved with the collaboration of UK Government and major mobile network operators.

Next, we developed our involvement in FutureDotNow to play our part in addressing digital exclusion with DevicesDotNow (DDN), instigating a national drive to source digital devices and connectivity, and get them to those in need. This initiative secured over 11,000 devices in the months from lockdown to the end of July, and this important work is continuing to be built on via Reboot by Nominet. This new online platform provides a playbook full of guidance and support for community groups – schools and local charities – that are keen to (or already hard at work to) source unused devices and ‘reboot’ them to help close the digital divide and secure access to online learning opportunities and information.

New projects like Reboot sit alongside long-established programmes as we look ahead now to next year’s Public Benefit activity. We will continue to work with mental health charities and leading organisations tackling online harms, helping to keep young people safe online. We will continue to fund organisations that are arming school children with digital knowhow and develop materials to help teenagers be ready to join a digital workforce. We also continue our support of the Micro:bit Foundation and help to get young minds fascinated by the possibilities afforded by coding.

Importantly, we will continue to monitor changing circumstances and be ready to react with speed and efficiency when needed. Our digital world changes quickly and we need to help catch those who may fall through the cracks, especially as the coronavirus looks set to disrupt our lives for some time.

Thank you to the Nominet team and all the partners we work closely with for another year of great work. Together, let’s focus on the task ahead. We must rise to the challenges of a post-Covid world, identify the emerging social issues and digital inequalities, and do all we can to help young people meet a digital future successfully and securely. The pandemic may have hit them hardest when it comes to education, opportunities and future prospects. Now is the time to give them the support to help them secure a brighter future.

Read the Social Impact Report for FY20 on our website.

Originally posted here

The post How do we measure the impact of our ‘tech for good’ intentions? appeared first on Digital Leaders.

Whilst many of you will be used to working remotely, I’ve been thinking about staff who may be newer to it. People are understandably anxious at the moment, and if they’re also adjusting to new ways of working and potentially self-isolating that is a lot to ask of them. Hardest of all is that no-one knows how long this will last.

I ran a quick poll on Twitter last week and 53% of the charities I heard from are ready to work remotely and just under a third were getting ready, which is positive. Having the right tech in place is however just one aspect of successful remote working. If we are to take staff with us through this change then we need to understand where they are at with digital skills, attitudes and behaviours- something that is top of mind for me as part of The Charity Digital Skills Report survey we are currently running.

How can we help staff adjust to new ways of operating? I asked non-profit leaders to share their views. I think these ideas will be useful in any sector.

• Find ways to help staff feel connected. Getting the right tech in place is key (CAST have shared excellent advice on this) but going from working in an office to working alone can be a shock. Edward Walden, Digital Transformation Officer at Power to Change, advocates setting up remote office spaces via video conferencing where colleagues can work side by side, similar to having neighbouring desks in an office. Walden warns, ‘Some people struggle a bit with understanding that it isn’t a meeting – that the space does not need to be filled with communication – that instead, it’s a window to the team or a work buddy that is there if you need it.’ Partnering colleagues in your team up for a regular slot each day will help them stay close.

• Create a virtual office culture. Think about why people like where you work. Is it the friendly banter? Or the way people take an interest in how you are? Look at where you can use digital to reinforce your organisation’s beliefs and behaviours.

Emily Casson, Digital Marketing Manager at Cats Protection shared how she does this.

• Help staff look after their mental health and wellbeing. Charity staff are incredibly committed to and passionate about their work, which makes us liable to burnout. Encouraging staff to take care of their wellbeing will be vital to helping them thrive.

Vishnee Sauntoo, Head of Communications at Age International advises her team to, ‘Create a good space at home, a table and comfortable chair – you are going to be there all day but also remember to take breaks every hour and get up.’

Russell Findlay, CEO of Speakers Trust asks staff to set boundaries.

The Mental Health Foundation has produced a guide on coronavirus which you might want to share with your team. It’s inspired me to ask my team what they’re going to do to look after themselves, and where I can help.

• Create structure. Losing the routine of office life can be disorientating but leaders can help teams find a shared rhythm. Dominic Atkinson, CEO of Stay Nimble, organises setting ceremonies.  He says, “The start of the week is ‘3 things’ each of us is aiming to achieve for the week. End of the week is individual “highlight of the week”. We do this via video (Slack or Zoom).’ This gives staff a sense of community and progress. Frequent and clear communication will help reassure colleagues and set expectations for remote working.

Jane Ide, CEO of Navca, told me how she does this.

Digital platforms can be useful for giving staff consistent information . Rachel Miller, Director at All Things IC says, “I advise creating advice and guidance as a credible source of truth your people can refer to e.g. a section of your intranet that focuses on remote working, which gives them the latest information and invites discussion and questions.’ 

We’re in tough times but moving staff over to remote working may be an opportunity to help colleagues do things differently. We can all learn from each other about how to embrace change.

Share your views on the digital leadership issues affecting charities in The Charity Digital Skills Report. All responses must be received by midnight 3 April.

More thought leadership

The post How to help staff adjust to remote working appeared first on Digital Leaders.

The report had responses from 271 charities, all of which with an income under £5m, the majority of which turn over less than £500k a year. The survey was quite wide-ranging, covering areas such as strategy, leadership and partnerships. The numbers that emerged regarding digital were very similar to those reported in 2018. An interesting outcome, as it can be interpreted in different ways – either things are not getting better, or not getting worse!

Survey findings

• 30% of respondents cited major IT upgrades and IT failures as a key challenge this year
• 33% had invested in training for IT/digital skills
• A further 33% identified IT/digital as the professional skill-set they needed most

Based on this it is clear that we need to create more space for, and focus on, digital efforts and digital transformation as a strategic and leadership challenge/opportunity. My experience with over 800 charities through Pilotlight is that small charities are doing vital, inspiring work. They are also, broadly speaking, (particularly the smaller ones), under-resourced and under-financed. So, it’s the day-to-day, hands-on essential work for their user groups that take priority.

Therefore, I applaud Digital Leaders’ aim ‘to build the capacity of the UK’s leadership creating effective digital leaders, raising awareness of the importance of good leadership in digital transformation’. In the survey mentioned above, 34% of charities had invested in leadership training in the past year; barriers cited for not doing so or doing more were financial cost (69%) and time commitment (63%).

For us, access to opinion, resources and training, and especially the impetus to run our first ever webinar through Digital Leaders has been incredibly useful. Preparing our first webinar ‘Stepping into digital’ was a great opportunity to articulate how we were structuring our digital journey. Essentially, it was looking at our strategic objectives through the lens of digital and using three ‘buckets’ – culture, data/technology & strategy to shape plans and actions. Sharing our evolving story in a second webinar for Insight Live Week, we were delighted (& relieved) to realise that the buckets held water so to speak, and we were making progress. We also had some nice feedback which confirmed there is an audience for this non-specialist approach, and that sometimes taking the first steps is the hard part – so here are some simple tips to help you to get underway:

Take thinking time

I can say one thing with complete certainty – time is at a premium for charity sector leaders. Yet, before worrying about investment and resources, take a step back and think about your ambitions – how does digital support your strategic objectives and how does it challenge them? While you absolutely don’t want to be left behind, there are choices to be made and they involve all your stakeholders.

Take action

Your actions will fall out of your plan, which will fall out of your strategy, but as a leader, making a statement of intent is important. Demonstrating to your staff team and your Board that you are making digital efforts a key priority is a powerful tool. This can be as simple as setting up a working group – and using the principles in the Charity Digital Code is very helpful; I think it provides a great framework for areas of focus.

Take heart

Digital can be daunting, but it’s a wonderful opportunity for the sector, and for our leadership to come together around what has the potential to be a real game-changer. I’m excited by the thoughtful and insightful conversations that are happening and the potential for better connections and joined-up thinking in this digital evolution/revolution.

* To read the full report on the results of our survey, click here.

More thought leadership

The post Stepping up the digital efforts in charities appeared first on Digital Leaders.

In the last 20 years the number of 4-24 year-olds reporting a mental health problem has increased six fold and understandably, as digital natives, these young people are looking to the internet and technology when they need help. The NHS reported in 2018 that tens of thousands seek help for their mental health problems online rather than wait up to 18 months for support from a mental health professional. While it’s positive that young people are being proactive in sourcing help, can we be confident that the right support services are available online? And that someone in crisis would be able to navigate them?

There are tens of thousands of apps and websites offering mental health support, but a limited number are clinically-supported, run by mental health charities or operated by experts with decades of experience in supporting young people. We know this because we have spoken to many of the leading mental health charities ourselves, hearing how they struggle with their digital offerings despite being conscious of a growing demand online.

Like so many issues in the third sector, it often comes down to cost. Innovation Labs estimates that it costs from £5,000 to £25,000 to prototype and produce a minimal viable product like a web or mobile app. Delivery can then cost upwards of £100,000 – and this is before you even consider scaling and sustaining services that require important design features and curation for people in vulnerable circumstances. Additionally, charities can lack the digital expertise to create online services, however savvy they may be with social media or running a website. There are also the charities that are run completely by volunteers, with little hope of ever affording to digitally transform their services.

Having identified the need and the challenges, I am thrilled to announce the launch of the Nominet #RESET Mental Health Programme, a fund that will support seven partners to deliver online programmes that are working to meet the mental health needs of young people today. Our #RESET programme includes some incredible charities and organisations, such as Barnardo’s, stem4, YoungMinds, Anna Freud, The Mix, Nightline and Chasing The Stigma.

All of these organisations inspired us with their plans and their commitment to supporting young people, whether it be to transform their existing digital apps or services, integrate more features to existing products, or create new tools that will offer better services to those they seek to help. Barnardos’ differs slightly, planning to use their funding to create digital templates that will help other charities to deliver digital mental health services.

Based on current estimates from these charities, the #RESET fund should help more than 600,000 young people between now and the end of 2020, and we hope up to three million over the next three years. For Nominet’s own ambitions, to impact the lives of one million young people each year through our public benefit work, this is a hugely significant programme.

While the scale of the figures is promising, we mustn’t forget that every single one of those 600,000 is a young person living through daily challenges that are impacting their life. For each of them, getting help with their mental health needs is vital. It is hugely rewarding to know Nominet is playing a small part in making that happen in a format and medium that suits their needs and – crucially – is integrated with signposting to wider support such as face-to-face services.

This is where technology shows its power for good; while the internet and technology may sometimes be part of the problems that young people are facing, they can also be part of the response.

Find out more about the Nominet #RESET Mental Health Programme here. Keep an eye on the blog for updates on the charities’ work in the coming months.  

Originally published here.

More thought leadership

The post Online mental health support for young people appeared first on Digital Leaders.

However, I don’t believe that the commercial landscape is what’s going to drive the success of the UK over the next 10 years. It’s difficult to say this as someone so passionate about entrepreneurship and the capacity of the UK. But we are an insignificant minnow compared to giant tech investments being made globally – in China particularly but also in the US.

I believe deeply that here in the UK we must grab other kinds of opportunities instead and build a different kind of resilience, a digital resilience beyond the commercial.

That some of our leading funders, City Bridge Trust, Comic Relief, Esmée Fairbairn, National Lottery Community Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and the Department for Digital Culture Media & Sport have just come together to move the dial in how we approach digitisation in this country, and have formed a radical new collaborative The Catalyst, is a major step in the right direction.  

The Catalyst, which sets out to revolutionise how we tackle social and environmental problems in the UK by massively accelerating how charitable and voluntary organisations use digital, is vital. Because a full decade after I tried to tackle poor use of digital within civil society, when I was UK Government Digital Champion, we still haven’t even really scratched the surface of using the tools of the modern age to solve our most pressing problems or to support and enable those people who most need help. Far too little has shifted or changed.

Right now we have hundreds of thousands of charities, many of whom are trying to focus on loosely the same issue, many of whose leaders and staff have little or no digital understanding of the tools available to them in 2019.

It’s absolutely essential if we’re to build a robust and resilient post-Brexit UK that we have a much more deep understanding of technology across all sectors, but particularly within this sector.

Reshaping voluntary and charitable organisations to be more responsive to the communities they serve; more resilient; and more collaborative in the creation and scaling of solutions is genuinely urgent work. Embedding a culture of reuse – of ideas, products and code – to dramatically cut the cost and accelerate the speed of innovation within these organisations is not optional. We won’t be able to effectively change millions of people’s lives if we don’t use the best tools of the modern age.

While I’m fundamentally an optimist, the UK needs this right now. We are staring into more complex challenges than ever before. Climate crisis, whatever happens with Brexit, the mass movement of people and the enormous retrenchment of public services. I don’t make a political point. I make a point about the state of our country right now and how much civil society is being asked to catch people who are in difficult situations. Doing so, I believe, will be impossible without much deeper levels of digital understanding.

We are a small country, and one with so many resources. We have a vibrant and extraordinary social sector. It needs to be brought into the modern age and encouraged by funders, government and the sector itself—exactly what The Catalyst sets out to do. The internet is the organising principle of our age and these technologies are getting faster, more prevalent, more deeply entwined and require dramatic policy shifts and cultural shifts so we can use them and the opportunities they present.

There are 25,000 mental health apps out there. A shocking number, not shocking because all those entrepreneurial people are wanting to do something to improve people’s wellbeing, but because all that app-building talent is not being effectively managed or corralled when we have so many other pressing challenges.

And so I’d ask anyone out there developing a digital product to question yourself: are you working on the right problem? I’d ask anyone in civil society, are you using the best tools that are available to us in this amazing age we live in? And I’d ask both of you whether you are working with people from a broad spectrum of classes, races, cultures, genders and backgrounds and who might be facing very difficult circumstances of their own. I believe only when we do all three: right problem, right tools, right people, will we really power things up.

So no, I don’t believe the UK will compete on the world stage just by building another ride-sharing service or another gig economy platform. That’s not going to happen. Enough with the pizza delivery services.

But we could compete and we could transform ourselves if we think about society and the problems that we need to address for all of us living here collectively on this small island. If we keep resolutely focussed on tackling the right problems and ensure that we use the tools of the modern age. If you agree, please do follow and join forces with #WeTheCatalysts

This is an edited transcript of a speech given by Martha Lane Fox at the inaugural gathering of The Catalyst. https://medium.com/wethecatalysts twitter: @WeTheCatalysts URL: thecatalyst.org.uk

More thought leadership

The post Building a vigorous tech for good sector will power up the UK appeared first on Digital Leaders.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve spent 11 years sitting on charity boards and I’ve learned a huge amount from it about how to think strategically, persuade and influence and make difficult decisions. But as the workplace becomes progressively more agile, should trustees adopt this way of working?

How often have you heard the phrase ‘We’ll need to wait for the board meeting’ at a crucial decision making stage in a project? Having sat on the other side of the table, I know that trustees can be an invaluable check and balance. But what is the right level of scrutiny, and how can it be structured so that key opportunities aren’t missed?

This issue is really important to me. In  The Charity Digital Skills Report most charities (68%) rated their board’s digital skills as low or having room for improvement. We’re currently looking for examples of great digital trustees and strong digital leadership for The Social CEOs awards. As a sector we must ask ourselves what we want from our leaders and if we are really giving them the tools and support they need to fulfil that role.

Although the Agile Manifesto was about better management practices for software development, some of its principles apply to what it means to be a successful team player- and trustee- in the modern age. Putting users at the heart of what you do, working collaboratively and being able to respond to change quickly are all essential to good governance.

Here are a few things I’d suggest to help boards work in a more agile way.

1) Allow time to reflect. As a veteran of four boards and having undertaken several non-exec roles, I’ve sat through many board meetings in the past where we’ve waded through a huge agenda in a 5 hour meeting. When was the last time you had a chance to pause? Time to stop and think is an agile principle. You could take a leaf out of Jeff Bezos of Amazon’s book and start meetings by reading a particularly critical board paper in silence. Not the whole board pack- just one key document that trustees need to take a decision on. And since users’ needs are at the heart of agile, how could your board use this as a touchstone?

Whilst we’re talking about reflecting, agile methods include allowing teams to look at how they could work together more effectively, and adjust their behaviour accordingly. Exec teams give this issue due attention. Why not boards?

2) Embrace digital tools. Should charity governance revolve mainly around quarterly meetings as their big set pieces? Is the board working at a pace that matches that of the organisation, and could using digital tools in between meetings such as a Slack channel grow mutual respect, understanding and challenge amongst trustees?

Suzy Christopher, independent strategic communications consultant, inclusion specialist and charity trustee thinks that boards need to embrace tools that help them to collaborate better. Not only should boards go paperless, but allowing trustees to attend meetings remotely and communicate in between could help boards work together more effectively. “Today it’s the norm in many organisations to be able to work from wherever, and employees are equipped with the right collaborative tools to enable this – but a lot of Boards have terms of reference that insist on trustees attending all meetings in person. I query whether this makes Boards effective,” says Christopher. “And more than this, enabling trustees to attend Board meetings remotely would also be a huge step forwards from an inclusion standpoint as it would overcome some of the constraints faced by people for whom travelling is more difficult.”

Agile’s focus on continual improvement appeals to me both as a digital professional and a trustee. Perhaps discussing how your board can do this is a good place to begin when looking at how your board raise the bar not just for the charity, but its own performance.

Learn more about the Social CEOs awards here https://www.socialceos.org/nominate 

More thought leadership

The post Why trustees need to go agile appeared first on Digital Leaders.