Issue 19

Improving service delivery

Issue 19 Cover Image

The vision of your charity will not only help align staff and volunteers to your mission but will provide a direction in which your charity can grow and improve its services to the benefit of all of its stakeholders. The use of data, technology and digital services is enhancing the number of opportunities to scale and create efficiencies, but in order to realise the potential fully it requires a clear strategy, the right skills and people to be at the heart of changes.

This month explores improving service delivery, and it’s clear people need to be at the centre.

What’s in this issue:

• How a one-destination model for dementia support is helping improve the quality of life and wellbeing of people living with dementia.
• Data consultant Caroline Carruthers outlines the importance of improving data literacy amongst your people to better use data effectively.
• What challenges is the charity sector facing in its digital transformation?

One-destination model helping to improve dementia support

with Dementia Support

New research into Dementia Support’s full-service dementia hub, Sage House, has shown that having dementia support services under one roof increases the Quality of Life & Mental Wellbeing.

An integrated approach

The integrated approach to care allows people to access combined services delivered by experienced staff that previously were provided by the NHS or other providers, all under one roof. This is well aligned with the national agenda of “living well with dementia”.

Sage House offers a one-to-one advice “wayfinding” service, day breaks, activities, support groups, personal care, a technology zone and dementia-friendly spaces such as a hairdressing salon and café. They aim to continue to develop new services and resources, including co-locating the NHS Memory Assessment Service within their hubs to support the early diagnosis strategy.

Evaluating the impact

The academic study carried out by the University of Chichester has demonstrated, through qualitative research of people with dementia and carers’ experience, that the new one-destination model is proving to have a “profoundly positive impact on Quality of Life & Wellbeing”, particularly around areas of Environment, Wellbeing and Expertise.

100% of the 41 respondents agreed:

• That the integrated approach was helpful
• That they would recommend Sage House to family and friends
• That other people living with dementia would benefit from having access to Sage House.
• That other Care Providers would benefit from having access to Sage House.

Improving service delivery

Though Sage House has been operating for 5 years, the results of this research will help build evidence for the one-destination model to be replicated nationally and so improve the delivery of support to people with dementia. A 1st replicator is already in development in West Berkshire.

Other positive community effects include the reduced load on NHS and Social Services, benefiting the local health economy.

Sally Tabbner, Dementia Support (Charity) CEO, noted, “We see, hear and feel the difference we’re making for people at Sage House every single day, so to now have that reinforced by our customers and carers has been incredibly validating for the Dementia Support team. We want our customers & carers to live well with dementia — and we believe we’re on a road to evidencing that.”

Improving data strategy for charities

by Caroline Carruthers, Data Consultant at Carruthers & Jackson

The news that several charities in Ireland and the UK have had their data compromised following a ransomware attack on an IT supplier, should be a reminder of how incredibly valuable the data collected by charities is. The charity sector spans a vast number of areas, and thus data is collected about everything from crime to health to private, personal, sensitive information.

This data should never be taken for granted. In fact, it could be one of the charity sectors greatest assets, and if collected, stored, and used correctly, data can be a powerful tool for driving efficiency and social change. For example, data can be analysed to identify particularly at-risk or high-need beneficiaries or better understand charity contributors and employees to improve the efficiency of operations.

Currently, most charities aren’t using data to its full effect, largely because of a lack of data literacy, and an organisation wide data strategy. In this blog, I will highlight some of the areas currently limiting data strategies in the charity sector and share some suggested tips for how data strategy can be improved.

People powering data

A data strategy will only be successful if, its understood and implemented correctly by those using it every day. While tangible parts of a data operation are important to a charities success in improving its data maturity, success ultimately depends on so much more than what can be written on paper, and ensuring existing employees understand what data can do for them and their departments is critical.

The key to achieving this is by improving data literacy amongst all employees. Data literacy is the ability to create, read, write, and argue with data and, in an ideal world, all employees would have at least a foundational ability to do all four of these things. Shockingly, according to the recent Carruthers and Jackson Data Maturity Index, 64% of data leaders believe most or almost all employees in their organisation are currently not data literate.

This issue needs to be overcome to improve how data strategies are deployed which will require organisations to have the right facilities to train employees to become data literate, not only introducing staff to new terms and concepts but also reinforcing why data knowledge is critical to helping them improve their department’s operations. This should take place within the whole organisation, so not just data teams or Chief Data Officers (CDO) for whom it may seem most relevant, but also fundraising teams, to understand forecasts and planning, and those on the ground collecting people’s data to make sure it’s being recorded and stored correctly.

By emphasising the benefits of data and incorporating an organisation wide data strategy based around data literacy, charities can begin to overcome some of the common problems teams run into.

Improving the flow of data

Organisations make key business decisions based on what they know, and what they know is derived from analysing their data. Therefore, to enable the best decisions, data must be accurate, reliable, and most importantly, accessible.

Unfortunately, many charities and organisations, have data siloes in departments, which means a collection of data held by one group that is not easily or fully accessible by other groups in the same organisation. Data silos hamper charity organisations from being able to see the complete value of its information, as data becomes marooned rather than being shared across teams or departments where the information is needed.

Of course, not everyone needs access to all the information in an organisation, and security measures such as user access management need to be kept in place to an extent. But, to stop siloed data becoming a wasted resource, the flow of data from one team to another needs to be improved to ensure that charities can make informed decisions which help innovation and growth.

So, how can charities hunt down data silos? While tech can do whatever you want it to if you put your mind to it, technology isn’t necessarily the ideal tool when dealing with data silos, as these are fundamentally people problems, which generally come about because some employees thought they were needed. Once data silos have been identified, the next steps are to remove them and prevent them from appearing again. The responsibility for this often lies with the CDO, who’s role it is to understand why data silos exist in the first place and to put something better in place.

For example, when I was working with Guide Dogs, they bought in DRM, dog relationship management, (a derivative of the CRM which Chief Information Officers often use) and using its Salesforce platform, Guide Dogs developed DRM to be a central dog database which brought together digital data, as well as a wealth of information spread across the organisation in order to overcome data siloed in departments and to move the data to a centralised position in the organisation.

Data is the foundation

Data is the foundation for charity organisations and removing data silos while improving organisation wide data literacy is critical to making better decisions faster, improving efficiency, refining decision accuracy, and limiting time spent searching for data and trying to understand if it’s trusted, accurate, and reliable. The solution is to implement a data culture, where data purpose, tools and methods are valued and understood by everyone across the whole organisation.

Other reads from around the web:

• CharityComms on getting great results from your service — by putting users at the heart of design
• Delivering tailored and automated support using connected apps — a Shared Digital Guide/Catalyst
• Improving services through better use of data tools — a Shared Digital Guide/Catalyst
• Charities turning to tech to help safeguard future, finds report — Fundraising UK

What challenges is the charity sector facing in its digital transformation? — Charity Digital Skills Report 2023

by Charities Network

The Charity Digital Skills Report assesses the UK charity sector’s digital landscape. This year’s report highlights a number of challenges in the sector.

A need for improved readiness, agility, design and skills

Firstly, while charities demonstrate a strong interest in digital technologies, such as AI, there is a pressing need for improved readiness, agility, design and skills to harness their transformative potential fully.

Zoe Amar, founder of Zoe Amar Digital, comments:

“The adoption curve of AI will change how donors and supporters interact with charities, and what they expect from its products and services. Charities will miss out on opportunities to meet these needs if they do not have the right people and the right skills to manage the challenges and embrace the opportunities.

Charities need leaders who can really think holistically and not view AI as a commoditised product that you drop into your organisation. You will need to look at risk management; your data policy and processes and governance, as well as making sure teams receive the training and skills to keep pace.

Many charities were caught on the backfoot when the pandemic hit, so to ensure this doesn’t happen again, they need to keep pace with emerging technology.“

Funding and time constraints

Secondly, funding and time constraints significantly hinder digital adoption in services and across operations. There is still a need for charity leaders to define and communicate a clear strategy for digital adoption as well as have the expertise needed on the board.

Jo Morfee, Producer, Catalyst, adds:

“There is a clear call out to funders to continue to support core digital costs and projects, and there’s evidence to suggest that more of the funded work should be made open and reusable, to benefit a wider range of organisations…

Another interesting data point is the sector’s adoption of emerging technologies. It seems that funding, skills and capacity are once again the main blockers to adoption of new technologies. As tech continues to evolve rapidly, it’s clear that there’s never been more of a case to work together across the sector more openly, support one another to evolve, share knowledge and resources and reuse tech wherever possible.”

Data skills gaps

Lastly, addressing data skills gaps, getting advice on choosing the right technologies and prioritising diversity and inclusion is vital for charities to maximise the benefits of digital transformation and effectively meet user needs.

Nissa Ramsay, founder of Think Social Tech, adds: “This year we have dedicated insights about digital skills for small charities, Wales, Scotland and those led by or supporting specific marginalised groups.

We can now see some important differences in digital skills and priorities. For example, we can see that black led charities are ambitious in their digital plans and committed to providing digital inclusion support. Yet higher proportions face challenges linked to the cost of living crisis and are struggling to find funds to invest in digital infrastructure. We hope the report encourages those providing funding and support to reflect on how this might be more equitable and inclusive, by focusing on digital needs.”

Key stats from the report

Here are a few points which stood out:

• 48% of charities consider using data to inform strategy and decision making as their biggest challenge.
• 4 out of 10 charities lack the time to focus on data, and operational challenges include collecting and analyzing the right data (39% each).
• Small charities struggle to find funding for devices, software, and infrastructure (54%).
• Only 48% of charities have a strategic approach to digital, lower than the previous year’s 56%.
• 47% of charities excel at safeguarding users digitally, a notable improvement from 18% in the previous year.
• 46% of charities currently deliver services in-house or via third-party platforms, a significant decrease from 73% in the previous year.

The importance of having clear objectives of what charities want to achieve by investing in digital skills is reflected in this report. There is also a need for advice and guidance in both training and upskilling on existing digital infrastructure as well as making the right choices for service users and in the context of your vision and mission.