Technology

Technology has fundamentally changed our society.  These changes will in turn impact on voluntary organisations, and the services they provide. For example: 

• The ability to work from home is having an impact on footfall in our towns and city centres, which may impact on organisations with charity shops or other trading income. 
• We are increasingly moving towards a cashless society, with a range of impacts for vulnerable people that struggle to access banking services, as well as the ability for organisations to collect cash donations. 
• People are coming to expect an incredibly fast and efficient service from organisations, which may in turn impact on their expectations from voluntary organisations.  
• A global online world gives people access to information and support from organisations and peers across the world, which may impact on organisations providing these things locally. Organisations need to identify what is uniquely attractive and valuable about the support they provide in this broader landscape. 

• We live in a digital world, and not everyone has access to it. Information and essential services are increasingly accessed online. The voluntary sector has a key role in supporting people with digital access.  
• Our workforce plays a trusted role in supporting this digital access. To fulfil this role, we need to address the workforce digital skills gap. Digital literacy skills are key to understanding and navigating the increasing complexities of the digital world.   
• Some voluntary organisations face difficulties in accessing banking online 

• The rapid development of generative AI continues to drive media interest, but its potential for productivity gains remains unclear. During 2025, the AI Regulation Bill in Westminster may set some parameters around its use. In the meantime, many people and organisations are dipping their toes in the water. 
• Within the voluntary sector, some organisations are experimenting with using AI for content creation, including for funding applications.  Some are experiencing job applicants using AI to develop their applications.  While generative AI tools can help with the drafting process, issues around accuracy and reliability means these tools can’t replace professional expertise. Funders and recruiters are seeing applications written with AI which are generic and low in quality. 
• AI might also support voluntary organisations with content synthesis – acting as an ‘additional intern’ to help with research.   
• AI tools are developed and trained on large data sets, but like any data-based tool they are subject to bias and can perpetuate steroetypes and discrimination. It can be challenging to spot these shortcomings as AI vendors are not transparent about their model development and limitations. 

• Hybrid working is becoming embedded for office-based roles.  Some voluntary organisations are doing this really well, and anecdotal evidence suggests that this helps them to recruit. 
• However, hybrid workers have seen the level of meetings they attend increase by 50% since 2019. With 71% of meetings considered ‘pointless’ by attendees, the challenge of hybrid working remains finding approaches for effective collaboration that minimises the needs for meetings. 

• Social media and other outward-facing channels (including your website) can be windows to your organisation’s activities. For many organisations, alongside other marketing and comms channels, they can be vital for sharing your messages, marketing your activities, growing your reach and sharing your impact with your audiences. Social media in particular can be an opportunity to engage your audiences in conversation. We should be aware that organisations can face issues of trolling or negative feedback and PR on social media channels. 
• It can be difficult for voluntary organisations to cut through in the current social media landscape.  With many people and organisations having left Twitter/X, there is no obvious replacement (although some voluntary organisations are moving over to Bluesky, it will take some time to understand whether this platform establishes itself as an alternative to X).  There are challenges in making content stand out in an environment of information overload and constant content creation. 
• As large social media platforms abandon or scale back efforts to moderate or review content, the amount of misinformation and disinformation and harmful content on these platforms is growing. This could impact on the people and communities you work with. 

• The scale, range and sophistication of cyber threats continue to grow each year, while the majority of cyber attacks are still untargeted and opportunistic. A new UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will be introduced in 2025 to help secure our critical public services by mandating that they implement essential protective measures, which will potentially filter down to any supporting organisations.  
• Independent of the new bill, voluntary organisations should continue to take steps to protect themselves against common threats. Setting minimum security standards for your suppliers is important too as you likely rely on them to deliver key products and services.  
• Online (and offline) fraud remains prevalent at both an individual and organisational level, prioritise cyber risk to keep your people and data safe.  
• It is not a case of when a cyber incident will occur but rather when. Prepare for the inevitable, take steps now to consider how your organisation would respond.  
• Reliance on technology leaves all organisations open to supply chain shocks – for example chip manufacturers, or global IT outages such as the Crowdstrike incident or Meta outages 
• When the unexpected happens  - for example in a crisis or when messages need to be shared quickly with a large audience - social media and digital communications channels such as email and your website, can be an organisation’s first line of defence,