Category: Digital

#ReclaimSocial returns on 6 February for its sixth anniversary.

As the world becomes more digitally-focused, it’s essential for nonprofits to have a digital presence. With more and more options for online engagement, we know that this can be challenging for nonprofits to tackle. But, we also know that it is a huge opportunity to increase audience engagement, awareness and fundraising. To help nonprofits navigate this, we’re going to explore the “whys” and “hows” of creating a nonprofit digital strategy. We’re even providing a free digital strategy canvas to help nonprofits improve their online presence in just a few steps.

We’ve been hearing a lot about the metaverse lately and nonprofits that we work with are wondering what the emerging technology means to them. It’s difficult to get your head around something so new and different so we wanted to try to dig into it to understand more.

Even if you have very little interest in social media, you will probably have seen the series of headlines generated around the world by Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter. If you do have a keen interest in social media, you have probably read countless articles about the ongoing fallout and regular dramas that keep unfolding from that situation. It raises important questions about the culturally dominant (in influence if not active users) microblogging platform and its future, particularly for nonprofits and their engagement on that platform.

How a major grantmaker and a grassroots charity are helping to ensure that education systems can prepare every child, everywhere, to thrive in an increasingly complex world.

GivingTuesday started as a one-day online campaign 10 years ago with the hashtag #GivingTuesday and it quickly turned into a global generosity movement that encourages people to do good.

End-of-year campaigns can help nonprofits raise vital funds and boost their profiles - tapping into the season of goodwill. It is an opportunity for them to connect with existing and new donors who believe in their mission and want to support them.

One of the primary goals of Lightful's BRIDGE programme is to help small and grassroots nonprofits raise more funds through digital channels. Thanks to the tools and support we provide, participants' confidence in their digital skills grows dramatically. We also help them practice their new-found skills by running campaigns around key milestones, like Giving Tuesday, which provide real-world opportunities to test, learn and improve further.

Nonprofits had to adjust during COVID-19 in the way they deliver services, communicate with their stakeholders and their own teams.

Many nonprofits embraced digital during COVID-19 to maintain their service delivery, volunteer management, stakeholder engagement, and internal communication.

Nonprofits embraced digital technologies during COVID-19 in order to continue delivering their services and reach their beneficiaries. However, the transition was not smooth for everyone, and there were many obstacles they had to navigate.

Nonprofits around the world have had to change the way they deliver services as a result of COVID-19. A combination of restricted movement, furloughed staff, and increases in demand at a time when forecasted revenue has become more uncertain has created a challenging - at times, impossible - environment in which to make adjustments to delivery models. However, so many nonprofits have shown remarkable resilience, transitioning to virtual delivery models where possible and in many cases, almost overnight. For some, the challenging circumstances have led to accelerated digital transformation and related opportunities.

What are you up to this weekend? Perhaps you’re going to the pub or a restaurant, or even the cinema. Life as it was before the pandemic is starting to return. Maybe you’re even planning your first face-to-face work meeting or a day in the office soon.

This week we’ve hosted a free webinar with a wonderful panel on community outreach for #GivingTuesday.

It’s the perfect time to start planning your end of year or Christmas campaign.

We hosted a fantastic webinar last week including great guests to talk about nonprofit digital capacity building and how it is rapidly evolving during COVID-19.

Starting a charity podcast is not hard. We’ve asked the podcast expert, Rachel Stephenson Sheff, Senior Advisor at Lightful and IG Advisors and also Producer of the successful podcast ‘What Donors Want’ to share her tips. From coming up with an idea of a podcast to the practical aspects of it such as the equipment and the software.

There’s been some anxiety in the recent global shift to home working. Here at Lightful, we’ve shifted to homeworking, which has been an adjustment in terms of how we work. The change, however, has perhaps been less drastic than we’ve thought. I’m happy to say that many of us here at Lightful have pushed forward, and have, among other things, facilitated a new special Covid-19 related cohort of our BRIDGE programme.

As the world moved into lockdown earlier this year, we seemed to experience ten years of digital acceleration across the charity sector in ten days. Engaging (online) with supporters, raising (emergency) funds, delivering services (remotely) – under increasingly difficult circumstances, charities are needed more than ever to help those who need it more than ever.

‘Fast-changing priorities’ has been one of the biggest challenges facing charity professionals during the Coronavirus epidemic. For those working in comms and social media, it has never before been more imperative to know your audience, what their needs are and how their behaviours are changing.

No one could have predicted a global pandemic that would force the world to go into lockdown with no guaranteed end date in sight. This has, of course, come with huge challenges. From setting ourselves up to work from home, juggling work and home life, having to change course to find different ways to support beneficiaries, to having to get creative with fundraising.

We’ve hosted a webinar last week with nonprofit expert, master trainer and author Beth Kanter to share tips to get better at online meetings. There are more meetings than ever happening right now, both internal and external ones. It’s easy to be tired, distracted, confused. That’s why we’ve asked Beth Kanter to join us in a practical and interactive session that will teach us how to improve our online meetings using Zoom.

It’s a hard time for all of us both personally and professionally. We are experiencing a range of emotions during uncertain times but we’re still trying to work on projects that we’re passionate about.

It’s time to be more digital and we need to access the best tools to make our lives easier. The problem is there are too many tools out there and our time is limited.

We’re all adjusting to a new reality that asks us to stay safe and work from home for the foreseeable future. Some of us may have experience in working from home for a day here or there, others are completely new to this. Either way, many of us have found ourselves having to get used to this new ‘normal’.

We are certainly living in strange times and we are trying to adjust. Charities of all sizes are exploring new ways to adjust to this new reality to survive. From work from home policies and crisis comms to staying in touch with their supporters and maintaining regular donations, the challenges are real.

This article was written in collaboration with Matt Saunders from Charitybox. His book, The Digital Charity is available in paperback now.

On Friday 14th Lightful hosted a BRIDGE networking breakfast for charities and social enterprises in Bristol at the coworking space the Engine Shed. We were joined by a number of organisations to discuss the digital trends for charities looking forward to the rest of 2020 and beyond.

It’s that time of the year that we love thinking ahead to predict the digital trends that will affect us over the next 12 months. We’ve asked #TeamLightful to share their thoughts so these are our digital tech predictions for 2020.

We all have special dates pinned on our calendars. Online awareness days can make great opportunities for charities and nonprofits to celebrate their work while inspiring their supporters on social media.