In 2019, Blackbaud prepared their “Status of UK Fundraising Report,” where they asked Britain-based charities about some of the challenges they anticipated facing in the philanthropy sector over the next three years. A third of the charitable organizations surveyed expressed concern over feeling like they did not have the right tools and technology to reach potential donors. 42% of charities surveyed indicated that their biggest future challenge would be recruiting and retaining high-quality employees, and almost half of the non-profits Blackbaud interviewed suggested that keeping pace with new technological innovations would be extremely challenging over the next few years.
While all of these concerns pose legitimate challenges to Britain’s top philanthropic organizations, there is one strategy that can solve all of these problems — digital transformation.
The Benefits of Digital Transformation
If you’re unfamiliar with digital transformation in the philanthropic space, digital transformation simply means finding ways to utilize technology in order to make an organization’s work-flow more efficient and effective. The reason why experts have called it “digital transformation” is that when businesses utilize these processes correctly, they have the ability to positively transform their company.
How Non-Profits Can Utilize Digital Transformation
Although digital transformation sounds elaborate, digital transformation initiatives are very easy to implement and can be very effective for British philanthropic organizations wanting to improve their digital presence moving forward.
Charities located in the United Kingdom will be pleased to know that digital transformation is great if a company wants to streamline their day-to-day business routines. Just as importantly, digital transformation enhances employee communication, as well as helps to attract young talent.
Obstacles and Challenges to Digital Transformation
While the benefits of digitally transforming a philanthropic organization can be tremendous, there are definitely challenges when any British non-profit attempts to change its digital systems.
One challenge United Kingdom-based philanthropic organizations will likely face is changing systems that have been in place for many years. For example, many charities utilize dated payment transaction platforms to obtain donations from supporters.
These charities have often used these now-obsolete software programs for over a decade, so it can be very difficult for these organizations to transform themselves digitally by installing new payment software on their website.