A key reason your charity is struggling with digital

One of the biggest problems facing charities and non-profits when it comes to fundraising in a digital world is leadership and the struggle of charities in finding good digital people.

A key problem is that charities are not creating a culture that people with experience in digital want to be part of. In the workplace these people want to use a Macbook Pro and bring their iPad to work. They want to be in a fast paced environment where things move quickly.

But charities struggle to create an environment that attracts and also keeps good digital talent. They can (and do) get jobs at startups and companies Facebook and Google because the demand for them is high but the supply is low. So they are in control. How many of them dream of working for a charity?

On the whole, charities have slow processes, hierarchical structures & outdate tech. IT procurement, HR. It can take a long time to procure technology and staff. Often digital responsibilities are divided amongst the wrong teams. The result is that charities aren’t an attractive proposition for digital talent.

If charities are serious about digital, then leadership needs to focus on creating a culture and environment in which digital people first of all want to be in, but then also keeps them interested. It means taking a bigger view of where the bottlenecks are - across the whole organisation. It means thinking about office space and how all staff use technology.

The turnover of digital people in charities is incredibly high. If you don’t sort out the environment then you’ll just be continuously recruiting mediocre digital staff who have one foot out the door from the get go.