More funding secured to expand Charity Digital Code of Practice
Melanie May | 20 June 2019 | News
The Charity Digital Code of Practice has secured a second year of funding.
The Code, which was created to provide charities with practical advice on using digital to increase their impact, sustainability and skills, launched in November 2018. It is voluntary and free to access for all charities with a version produced especially for small charities.
New funders Cisco and Charity IT Leaders have joined the Code’s founding funders Lloyds Banking Group and the Co-op Foundation, with support from the Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST) to pledge combined support of £140,000 to continue and expand on the resource.
The new funding will be used to expand and develop the existing code and support more charities to be increasingly resilient and responsive to the changes in the needs, behaviours and expectations of the communities they support.
Its next phase will include the implementation of user testing and feedback mechanisms to make it a more responsive resource, to increase awareness and adoption of The Code and work towards making it sustainable to help the long-term digital confidence of the charity sector.
So far, the Code’s site has had 7,530 unique users since its November launch, while 444 participants from 370 charities have downloaded World Vision UK’s free self-assessment tool, which is part of The Code’s suite of resources.
Jamie Ward-Smith, Chair of the Co-op Foundation: a founding funder of the Code that has invested £50,000 into the year two development said:
“The Charity Digital Code of Practice has been well received across the sector and we’re delighted that so many organisations have taken on the seven key principles to help improve their digital engagement and secure their futures.
“Funding for year two will build on this success, enabling charities to feedback further on improvements so the Code can be as relevant and responsive as possible.
“We look forward to working with our fellow funders and the Charity Digital Code Steering Group to build a resource that will help charities of all sizes embed effective stakeholder-led digital strategies and practices into all aspects of their work and culture.”
Kevin O’Brien, Digital Programme Board Chair, CLIC Sargent said:
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“We were early adopters of the Code and it has been extremely beneficial to CLIC Sargent’s work. It has given us assurance that we were on the right track, but it has also highlighted gaps in our digital practice. We now have a digital strategic plan that is built around The Code’s principles and we assess ourselves against its criteria. Since using The Code we have expanded our digital activity by recruiting a Board member with strong experience in digital, established a digital innovation forum and we now focus much more on data-led evaluation of our work.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.