Unlocking the power of tech in the charity sector
By Ashwin Tirodkar, Rainmaker Mentor
On 30th January 2018 the Rainmaker #CharityAccelerator journey culminated with an inspiring and energising Demo Day hosted at the iconic BT Tower, 158 meters above London.
Over the last 6 months I had the privilege of witnessing their journey through
the intense curriculum and mentor driven programme. I was honoured to welcome some of them to pitch on stage, and host an enlightening panel discussion on the hot topic of unlocking the power of tech.
We had a diverse panel of four charities from the ten that have participated in the accelerator cohort — Just:Transcription, Karma Nirvana, MAC UK, and Carefreebreaks. MAC UK is 10 years old and Karma Nirvana is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary! Just: Transcription and Carefreebreaks are both new, having been established in the last 18 months.
How important is tech for a nonprofit?
Both Just:Transcription and Carefreebreaks are essentially technology powered organisations, so they clearly must have a tech strategy from day one. Many new charities however, provide direct services to their beneficiaries and hence may not need to have a tech strategy in place at the get go. When they decide to scale however, they may find it imperative to look at tech solutions.
Karma Nirvana for example, a national charity set up to support victims of forced marriage and honour based abuse, has a helpline that is getting an increasing volume of calls over the last year. Expanding the hours of operation of the helpline is limited by the need to have staff in the office in Leeds. They’re looking at implementing a tech solution whereby trained operators will be able to login to their system from home and staff the helpline remotely. This would have the added benefit of allowing former beneficiaries to rebuild their lives by gainful employment with the charity.
They are also exploring together with their Rainmaker Mentor, digital solutions to reclaim the meaning of the word “honour” and find ways to inspire change through stories that showcase survivors of honour-based violence and forced marriage.
How can one effectively manage the cultural shift needed to develop a tech strategy?
MAC UK’s CEO, Sinem Cakir, was clear that for an 10-year old mental health charity, change is not easy to navigate. However, she made sure the whole team was involved in the strategic shift. She wanted to get everyone on board so they understood the new direction and bought into it. This facilitated quicker adoption.
Besides having the funds and management time to shift strategy, resistance to change is probably the biggest impediment to developing a digital strategy. Just: Transcription has this issue on the client side. Their main client is the court system.
Their voice transcription product challenges the status quo in the justice department. Working to get those external stakeholders on board is a priority for their success.
Carefreebreaks has built a digital platform for unpaid carers to book much needed short respite breaks.
One of their barriers to adoption is simply a lack of knowledge and experience amongst their beneficiaries. Many elderly carers do not know how to use computers, or that services like this are actually available to them online.
Charlie and James, cofounders of Carefreebreaks, see this as an opportunity rather than an impediment. Their remit also includes education of their beneficiaries.
So is technology a panacea to what ails the third sector — reduced funding, increased competition, increased demand for services? If not a cure-all then definitely a necessary factor in building operational sustainability, scaling services, and amplifying impact.
About the charities
Carefreebreaks’s mission is to improve the wellbeing of unpaid carers by enabling them to take short breaks in accommodation donated free of charge. For someone who rarely, if ever, takes time off, it can be a life-changing experience.
Just:Transcription is a social enterprise that exists to make miscarriages of justice a thing of the past. They are working on a speech-to- text transcriptions service, leading people through an easy-to- use process from the moment they need a transcript, to holding it in their hand.
Karma Nirvana is a national charity supporting victims and survivors of forced marriage and honour-based abuse. They operate a free national helpline that receives over 800 calls per month, offer face to face emotional and practical support, and provide training and resources to statutory agencies that have a duty to protect victims.
MAC-UK exists to transform mental health services for excluded young people. Health and social inequalities and systems barriers perpetuate cycles of distress and exclusion. They believe the best solution for excluded young people experiencing poor mental health is to ensure support is available when and where they needed, through trusted and lasting relationships.
