Image by dragon762w via FlickrCharities should rest on their laurels!
Stop reclining and get online NOW
Times are particularly tough for charities and funding is becoming increasingly restricted. However, in an article for this month’s Trust & Foundation News, Martha explains how funders can raise awareness of the power of technology for charities – both for the groups they work with and their own productiveness and efficiency.
There are a growing number of free or low-cost technology tools available to charities: includingMicrosoft’s free software, Charity Technology Trust’s hardware and software donation schemes,Solutions4Inclusion’s database of projects and IT4Communities volunteers, all of which could support charities to improve their reach, fundraising and daily work.
Recent research from the Community Foundation Network shows that while large national charities are increasingly alive to the fundraising and awareness-raising benefits of using ICT, woefully few small charities have skills, exposure or confidence to take advantage of these new tools, despite the fact they represent a possible revenue stream that runs into the billions.
As the CFN argues, what makes small charities so important and so effective – how deeply embedded they are in their own community, how passionately they are committed to their cause, also limits how much time they have to spare. IT is often seen as a distraction from the hard work of helping people or fundraising. This is becoming a false economy with corporate and individual donors going digital, opting for digital payments over cheques, a failure to embrace digital will actually start to pose a real threat to small charities’ survival.
- Read more about the benefits of technology for charities in our Manifesto
- Have a look at our Charity and Third Sector Toolkit
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