For WCVA members, Digital Skills Manager, Hannah Bacon reflects on the needs and barriers Welsh voluntary organisations are reporting when it comes to digital and the range of support that’s available.
We’ve recently been involved in a piece of work speaking with voluntary organisations in Wales to map challenges, needs and attitudes towards digital. While there are many obstacles to overcome, we’ve seen that organisations in Wales are keen to embrace digital and we’re involved in a number of initiatives that can support you to do just that.
OUR RESEARCH IN WALES
As part of Newid: Digital for the third sector, our Welsh Government funded project in partnership with Cwmpas and ProMo-Cymru, ProMo-Cymru conducted research with voluntary organisations on what they need to develop their digital capacity.
Focusing on quality over quantity our research took a deep-dive with eleven decision makers from charities across Wales with varying levels of digital maturity and different sizes.
Our research focussed on:
- Challenges voluntary organisations in Wales are facing
- What is taking time away from supporting their service users or beneficiaries?
- Issues digital can help resolve
- Challenges digital can’t help with
- How voluntary organisations are building services
- Organisations’ understanding of digital
- If there was a difference between organisations of different levels of maturity
- Aspirations for how voluntary organisations could look digitally in five to ten years
WHAT WE LEARNT
Strain on the sector
Organisations face increased demand for their services, compounded by the current cost of living crisis and rising needs of service users. This strain is exacerbated by limited resources and oversubscribed public services. We were told about deteriorating mental health, people becoming increasingly isolated, fewer volunteers and a lack of sustainable funding.
Admin burden
A worrying trend emerged of organisations spending a disproportionate amount of time on administration. Outdated systems, inefficient processes, and reporting requirements made it difficult for organisations to be able to deliver their core work with service users. We heard that digital can help but has also become a burden because of outdated systems, but organisations are struggling to find the time to resolve this.
Capacity to innovate
Not having the time to innovate or rethink things was the most commonly shared barrier to digital transformation. In smaller organisations, they lacked staff capacity and/or skills to implement the right solutions and in larger organisations they suffered from multiple systems, over-complicated processes and duplication of data. Most organisations recognised there was a better way of doing things (which added to the frustration), but they didn’t feel they had the time, space and in some cases skills to implement change.
Digital skills
Digital skills and confidence are also barriers for some organisations. Whilst some organisations are digitally mature, some reported that they lacked basic digital skills such as using Teams, online calendars or connecting to a printer.
Funding
Funding constraints result in limited capacity to invest time and resources in digital transformation. Organisations struggle with securing sustainable funding, especially for core costs. There is little funding available to help organisations to do the internal work needed to improve and rethink their systems and service delivery.
Hope
Despite these challenges, there was an appetite and eagerness to learn and embrace digital. There is a huge opportunity here to use digital to support organisations to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and ultimately free up time.
The sector needs support with digital
Due to the current context people are working in, it’s vitally important to provide advice, guidance, support and solutions that are relevant to Welsh voluntary organisations.
You can read the Newid Discovery Report 2024 on our Newid website.
LOOKING AT SOLUTIONS
We are using findings from the research to inform the support we’re offering to the voluntary sector.
From our analysis, we came up with three things to help you.
- A digital maturity scale, adapted from one produced by the Charity Digital Skill’s report team. This will help you understand where your organisation currently is on their digital adoption journey, and what next steps you can take to move to the next stage.
- A template CRM that organisations can use, accompanied with guidance on how to use it. We recognise that every organisation has unique needs when it comes to CRM solutions. This template was created to be highly customisable straight away, and it’s free to use.
- A self-assessment tool that allows organisations to see where they are on their digital journey and the practical next steps they can take.
OTHER SUPPORT WITH DIGITAL
We’re supporting ProMo-Cymru’s Third Sector Digital Support project. WCVA members that are looking to develop their digital capacity can contact the project for:
- One-to-one support with any challenges related to digital
- Bespoke support, training, and funding for voluntary organisations to create co-designed digital services
- Content to show what good digital in the voluntary sector looks like
FIND OUT MORE
You can find our more about Newid at newid.cymru and sign up to our newsletter for the latest digital opportunities. To learn more about Third Sector Digital Support please visit the project website.