A new initiative has been launched to help charities close the digital divide.

The ‘Deloitte Digital Connect’ will be delivered in collaboration with CAST, a charity helping organisations use digital for social good. The programme will bring together up to 50 charities, including Deloitte’s '5 Million Futures' existing charity partners, and connect them with expertise, advice, and a network to support their digital development.

Deloitte UK senior partner and chief executive, Richard Houston, said: “New technologies are rapidly changing how charities need to operate and there’s a growing digital skills gap that threatens their future. The pandemic has inflicted huge disruption to fundraising and volunteering and through our 5 Million Futures strategy we want to share our knowledge and resources to ensure that no charity is left behind.”

Deloitte’s '5 Million Futures' team and CAST will be gathering information from all the charities to assess their digital needs and identify the most useful interventions to assist them.

The charities will also have access to a variety of mentors, workshops and one-to-one support from teams across Deloitte from tech and digital to law in addition to Deloitte’s offering of pro bono business support.

CAST director and co-founder, Dan Sutch, said: “The pandemic has shown how critical it is that charities have digital capabilities and capacity for service delivery, fundraising and how they operate. Over two-thirds of organisations see digital as a priority yet less than half, 42%, of charities have someone leading on digital as part of their role. Together with Deloitte, we are here to connect charities with expertise, advice and knowledge sharing – and to support charities to grow their influence and impact.”

Charities can sign up to hear more by emailing: deloittedigitalconnect@deloitte.co.uk.

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