# CAST to boost charities’ digital technology use with £1.12 million Lottery grant

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/08/08/cast-boost-charities-digital-technology-use-1-12m-lottery-grant/
- Published: 2016-08-08T08:45:06+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**[CAST](http://www.wearecast.org.uk) (the Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology),
has been awarded £1.12m from the Big Lottery Fund to boost the effective use of 
digital technology among charities.**

The funding will enable CAST, over three years, to expand its work in supporting
organisations to develop new digital products aimed at transforming their service
provision.

This will involve combining a bespoke team of designers, developers and business
support with the staff of voluntary and community sector organisations.

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The funding will finance two initiatives: an intensive product ‘accelerator’ programme,
which will work closely with 12 charities across the UK over three years to build
new digital services; and a set of learning tools, templates and publications delivered
on and off-line that will offer wider sector support around digital development 
and help participating organisations to share their learning.

CAST has developed and tested the accelerator model over recent months through [Fuse](http://wearecast.org.uk/fuse/),
a one-year programme funded by Comic Relief.

To date, Fuse has supported four national charities to co-develop new digital products
with their beneficiaries. This has included CAST overseeing the creation of BECCA,
Breast Cancer Care’s new community support app, and QuidsIn, Oxfam’s digital payment
service for families on the cusp of food poverty. The Big Lottery Fund award will
help more charities and voluntary organisations across the UK benefit from this 
intensive development process and follow-on support.

[⌊Breast cancer care BECCA app⌉⌊Breast cancer care BECCA app⌉[

Breast Cancer Care’s BECCA app

The learning resources will draw on CAST’s experience from working with a range 
of charities through its Fellowship and accelerator programmes, and will include
peer support together with a digital innovation kit that a voluntary and community
sector organisation can use to steer its own route to digital transformation.

Dan Sutch, co-founder and director of CAST, said:

> “The digital revolution isn’t about apps and websites; it’s about a fundamental
> change in the way we find information, people and support. At the heart of great
> digital development is a shift to user-led, test-driven design, working closely
> with people and their communities to create effective and empowering services.
> We urgently need to engage community organisations to join this revolution, and
> harness the potential of digital technology to achieve their mission.”

 * **[360Giving receives Lottery funding boost](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/08/17/360giving-receives-lottery-funding-boost/)**(
   17 August 2016)
 * **[Reading Friends project receives £2.1 million Big Lottery Fund grant](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/09/20/reading-friends-project-receives-2-1m-big-lottery-fund-grant/)**(
   20 September 2016)
 * **[Lloyds Bank Foundation & The Big Lottery Fund announce funding pilot to help small charities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/22/lloyds-bank-foundation-big-lottery-fund-announce-funding-pilot-help-small-charities/)**(
   22 June 2017)

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