Almost seven in ten charities are warning they are struggling to progress with digital and data improvements due to increasing concerns over lack of “finances, headspace and capacity”.

The warning has emerged in this year’s Charity Digital Skills report which has been tracking progress in the sector since 2017.

This found that squeezed organisational finances was the top ranked barrier to enacting digital improvements, cited by just under seven in ten.

Two thirds said lack of headspace and capacity was hindering efforts.

Finding funds to invest in infrastructure, systems and tools is the third most cited barrier, mentioned by three in five. This is up on the previous year, when finding funds was a barrier among half of recipients.

Meanwhile, just under half of charities warn that lack of digital skills among staff and volunteers is a barrier, up from just over two in five the previous year.

This indicates financial pressures are worsening as last year only around a quarter said the cost of living was affecting their progress digitally.

A greater proportion of smaller charities are being impacted due to lack of funding, with more than seven in ten saying this is affecting their digital progress, compared to just under two thirds of larger charities.

Large charities are more likely to cite lack of capacity as a barrier to digital progress.

Three in ten charities say they are “poor or not engaging with collecting, managing and using data” and a third say they are poor or not using data to inform their decision making.

Overall digital progress has been “static since 2023” the report has found as still only half of charities have a digital strategy in place. A similar proportion believe that using data to improve services or operations is a priority.

Just over a fifth say they are “excellent at cybersecurity”, like last year and three quarters say that they have increased their digital profile and reach.

Charity leaders

More than half of charities are calling for ]their CEOs to “provide a clear vision for digital”. This is like last year and the sixth consecutive year respondents have called for charity leaders to provide such a vision.

Just one in 16 say their chief executive has relevant digital skills and two in five are calling for CEOs to keep up to date with emerging trends and AI tools.

A third want CEOs to understand risks and opportunities for emerging technology, says the report, which has been published by Zoe Amar Digital.

“For the sixth year running, charities want their leaders to provide a vision of what digital can help them achieve,” states the report.

“We encourage CEOs to take the reins on defining what digital success looks like for their charities, and what they and their teams need to do to achieve it."

Social media

Despite “volatility on X”, which has seen some charities, such as transgender support organisation Mermaids, quit the social media platform, half of charities say they are continuing to use social media as they always have.

But only one in seven are taking action to protect staff using social media. The same proportion is spending more time monitoring social media for issues such as misinformation about the charity.

Just one in ten have developed crisis management plans.

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