Behind the scenes working on the Charity Digital Skills Report 2021

The Charity Digital Skills Report is our annual barometer of the state of digital skills across the sector. This is why we (and I personally) love it and a sneak preview of what we’re finding so far from the 250 or so responses. It’s genuinely heartening to have so many people take time out to do this and think about where they are. As of Wed 26th we’re on 270 responses and it closes on Tuesday 1st June at midnight. This is why we’re really hoping to get to 400. You can complete the survey here and please do share with your friends and networks of other organisations. It will help reflect on where you are with digital and make the case to put more time and energy in to this.

Why I got involved

About 5 years ago I was working at Comic Relief, keen to advocate internally that digital funding was much needed. The Charity Digital Skills report was fundamental to making the case for this. Fast forward a few years later, I find myself turning to this again whilst working with Catalyst. They help a network of people and organisations, who in turn help UK charities grow in digital skills and confidence. The Charity Digital Skills Report offers an invaluable benchmark and an independent view of digital skills in the sector and what charities want from digital.

I couldn’t help but get involved. With support from Catalyst, I was lucky enough to partner with Zoe Amar and the Skills Platform to help inform the survey questions and give support on the data analysis. As a small core team of 3 women harbouring a secret love of surveys (with support on PR from the wonderful Janine Mitchell and report design by Carla Adol), we set about making the survey bigger and better.

What I do as part of the survey team

My job is to support the team and make sure the survey is as meaningful as possible to those who complete it and those who use it. Given the diversity of these audiences, the breadth of digital and the changes at the moment, this is somewhat tricky.

I have undertaken a lot of interviews with people leading on digital change in their organisation and worked with a lot of people committed to offering support and money to help. I use this experience to shape what we ask, the response options given and how these are phrased.

I’ve also been helping to gather input from stakeholders and feedback from user testers. It’s not perfect (the inner survey critic in me hides behind the sofa when I look at how long it takes to complete) but I like to think the survey and report creates a space for reflection and challenge. I love finding out about people’s jobs, asking questions, seeing patterns and advocating for change when it’s needed. The survey is perfect for this.

What we’ve focused on this year

We’ve gone through every question and word with a fine tooth comb. The highlights for me are:

• We have worked hard to make the language and questions more inclusive of smaller and volunteer-led organisations. For example, we’ve removed references to digital teams, departments or senior management.
• We wanted the survey to feel relevant to those at an early stage with digital (so they don’t need to answer questions about product development for example). We’ve introduced a filter to opt-in to more advanced questions.
• We have of course asked a lot of questions about what has changed as a result of the pandemic, plans for the future and funding needs specifically.
• We’ve also asked more about challenges and ethical considerations surrounding digital development.
• We’ve debated and added new questions extensively to help build a case for where the sector needs support and funding.

There is of course more we can do and if you have any feedback at all, please do get in touch (nissa@thinksocialtech.org).

What I’m most excited about

• I am very excited to see if the data shows clear differences between digital skills, funding and support needs different size charities and different stages of digital (building on my own Charity Digital Journey maps).
• To help with this, fingers crossed we do get a lot more smaller organisations and those newer to digital completing the survey this year.
• Presenting a clear picture of what funding and support is most needed. I know from other research that infrastructure costs are particularly hard to resource and funding for digital can be restrictive.
• We very much hope it helps those leading on digital in charities and other not for profit organisations to make the case for support, resource and funding.

A sneak preview of the interim findings

The survey is still open until midnight on June 1st. With a week to go, 250 people have completed the survey and this is going up daily (I’ve already removed the blank responses). I couldn’t help but take a look and insist we shared ahead of time to prompt more people to add their views and experiences.

In case you were wondering so far…

• 99 respondents so far have an income of under £500,000 — that’s 39%! I’m very pleased and this is an improvement. I hope more follow.
• We do have responses from across the UK — but we’d love more from Northern Ireland, West Midlands and East Midlands
• Basic digital skills look to have improved this year. Only 2% have rated themselves as poor so far, compared to 18% last year.
• Over half (54%) so far say that they anticipate investing more in data skills and infrastructure (CRM, analytics, etc) as we emerge from the pandemic.
• 80% started offering online services and 40% have provided users with devices, data or support to get online or access services.
• 51% are worried about excluding some people or groups from their services in relation to digital.

We need you!

You can still complete the survey here until Tuesday June 1st at midnight (the day after the bank holiday). No matter how big or small your organisation is, or what stage of digital — we’d love to hear from you. It takes around 10 minutes or so and is a great time to talk to others in your organisation about where you are with digital. Please also share that you’ve completed it and pass on to friends in other charities and not for profit organisations.

A huge thanks to all those who have taken the time to complete the survey so far — it’s looking really interesting and useful. We will publish the 2021 report, where we share everything we’ve learnt from the survey at the start of July. You can register for a copy on the survey. We’ll also be running a webinar and sharing insights on Twitter. Follow Skills Platform, Zoe Amar and / or myself for more on Twitter.

PS. Quick update on Geographical representation!