How low cost digital tools helped Dads Rock

Ahead of the SCVO 3rdsectordigicamp event on 2 November, Thomas Lynch from Dads Rock looks at how charities can benefit from flexible technology.  ‘It takes a village to raise a child'. I believe this proverb is true of a leader's relationship to their organisation. They want to nurture them, grow them and ensure they're the best they can be. Dads Rock has been fortunate to be part of the One Digital programme. It’s been a real eye opener to hear from other third sector organisations about the challenges they face, their structures and plans for their online future. The experience sparked debate within Dads Rock about our online presence. As a relatively young charity, one of our first actions was to set up social media accounts. This made sense because we used them personally, had little money and hoped to find a quick way to engage with people.

Great social media engagement works because it involves people speaking to each other

In the third sector it's important to keep up with technology and be increasingly flexible. We should research what’s available and relevant to us, both to manage our internal affairs and to communicate with the people that use our services. When it comes to social media, I believe you need to have a clear policy, but you should also encourage free thought and try new ideas. Too often I have seen organisations be overly concerned and controlling. Great social media engagement works because it involves people speaking to each other, not repeating a mantra or company mission statement. I’ve also seen an over reliance and huge amount of time and money spent on bespoke IT systems, the kind that need a lot of resource to maintain. Making use of cheap and easy-to-use tools like WhatsApp to communicate, is a good alternative. By using something off the shelf, you might find that your employees and service users already know more about the system than you do, and as a result they're more likely to engage. From discussions we had during One Digital workshops it was clear that not everyone is making use of cloud storage. There are concerns about moving data online, which I was surprised by Dads Rock has always used cloud storage, again mostly due to money, but also through an ambition to be nimble and constrain how much data we hold and need. It can also bring more transparency to the data we hold and make use of, and removes hierarchies of control. Without making use of online technology Dads Rock would not have gained the reach we have. It would have been far harder to speak to the people we have been able to. It’s also about sharing. I am proud of what Dads Rock does and want to display funny, cool or inspiring images and content. The great thing about being connected to other organisations is that we can learn from, influence, and at times (in a friendly way) challenge each other.