Category: Digital

Every year, we wait with baited (and sometimes apprehensive) breath for the annual Charity Digital Skills Report to be released. It’s become something of a key marker of the UK charity sector’s state of digital maturity, and forms a key part of how we at Lightful measure the need for our digital training programmes. Having quickly read the (119 page!) report, here are my *hot takes* and thoughts on solutions:

At Lightful, we believe that telling a compelling story is at the heart of every successful nonprofit. But beyond just capturing attention, it’s essential to tell these stories ethically, upholding the dignity and consent of the individuals whose stories are being shared. That's why we've developed our Ethical Storytelling tool, designed to help nonprofits communicate their mission while respecting and empowering the people they serve.

In today’s competitive digital landscape, effective communications are crucial for nonprofits striving to make a meaningful impact. Understanding and reaching the right audience can often be a daunting task, but our new tool aims to simplify this process. We are thrilled to introduce our latest AI-powered innovation, designed to help nonprofits create marketing personas.

We're delighted to introduce Svitlana, a passionate and dedicated Digital Communications Coach from Kyiv, Ukraine, as the newest member of the Lightful team.

In today's fast-paced, technology-driven world, the power of digital transformation is more apparent than ever. For nonprofits, leveraging technology can be a game-changer, driving social good as well as enhancing efficiency and organisational resilience.

“Women and girls in Africa and the Caribbean are leading climate justice movements, but there aren’t many funders who will give money to young, emerging organisations and movements like these—who might not be formally registered or have long track records of doing this work. That’s why I’m focused on shifting money, power, and other non-financial resources to feminist climate activists so they can build their agency, control their narratives, and scale up their actions. It means meeting groups where they are while providing the resources for them to get to where they need to be to have the greatest impact.” Ayesha Constable, Technical Director for Climate Justice at Global Fund for Women

As the world tackles some of society’s greatest challenges, from climate crisis to global health, the collective effort to bridge gender gaps in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) becomes ever more crucial. The global community recently marked the International Day of Women and Girls in Science which celebrates the invaluable contributions of women and girls to the economic development of the world.

In an era where climate change is one of the greatest challenges to our planet, the voices of environmental nonprofits need to be amplified louder than ever. Lightful believes in the power of digital to elevate climate justice, and we believe that every organisation deserves the skills, tools, and confidence to fully leverage digital to enhance their mission.

The persistent gender gap in digital access and skills is preventing women and young girls from unlocking technology’s full potential. Gender justice and reproductive rights organisations have been battling with a huge swell of demand for services, yet they face a severe lack of funding, resources, and digital training to strengthen their organisation and keep up with other sectors.

At Lightful we are on a mission to help nonprofits become better storytellers, communicators and fundraisers, and we believe in the transformative power of digital to help them do this. With more and more individuals turning to online platforms to connect with one another, campaign, share stories, and support the causes they care about, it’s crucial that nonprofits have a strong digital presence as a powerful tool to build trust with their audiences.

Over the past few months we have seen an acceleration of news and developments about artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can potentially transform the way nonprofits are working. Last month, Lightful was delighted to host a fireside chat with smart tech experts and co-authors of The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centered in An Automated World, Beth Kanter and Allison Fine.

Back in November 2022 the Bolton Digital Skills programme launched with the aim of equipping 50 local charities with the confidence and skills needed to thrive in the digital space. The programme was a collaborative initiative made possible by Bolton Wanderers in the Community, a charitable organisation associated with Bolton Wanderers Football Club, and Bolton CVS (Community and Voluntary Services), a leading infrastructure organisation supporting the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector in Bolton.

Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of running a webinar in partnership with Alliance magazine, shedding light on the (hot) topic of Philanthropy and AI. I was joined on the panel by Karen Gill, Vice President of Operations, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and Catherine Miller, Director, European & AI Society Fund.

The latest technical innovation that has got the internet abuzz is ChatGPT, so I wanted to write about what it means for nonprofits. Given that it is a chatbot that can answer pretty much any question, I decided to ask ChatGPT to help me write this blog post to demonstrate how it works. As well as being pleasingly meta, this also shows how it works and its limitations through a sort of human-to-AI interview with my thoughts in parentheses…

How can nonprofits use online campaigns to build trust?

The Zagoriy Foundation aims to build a culture of giving in Ukraine, building trust is vital for them, but also incredibly challenging. We spoke to them to find out how they do it.

#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.

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.

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.