Digital in 2020: Creativity, resilience and fortitude leading to lasting change in the NFP Sector
They say maturity comes with experience - not age. When I began collaborating with the Access team on a new report to be created during the pandemic, I was intrigued to learn how Not For Profits viewed digital maturity at such a testing time. Why? Because during 2020 our experience overtook theory. Trying new things won over talking about trying new things. For many of us, it’s when the digital ‘rubber hit the road’ and that means more experience = more maturity.
Before I tell all, you should know that the State of Digital Maturity Report is available to download now, so grab yourself a copy. I’ll just boil the kettle whilst you download it… distraction [child asks to go on PlayStation]
distraction [another Amazon delivery]
distraction [cat wants feeding] – 2 Mins turn to 20.
Now, where were we? Oh yes – my thoughts on the report…
Eye of the storm
After a summer like no other, I’m sat with a copy of the report on my kitchen ‘work desk’ and finally able to share a perspective of the state of digital maturity, as viewed from inside the epicentre of the pandemic. It’s a compelling read, and not entirely what I expected. The first thing to mention is that – just like an unpredictable storm, people have been impacted in very different ways. This is something I will circle back to later in this article, but I wanted to mention it early on, in case you are suffering – as many of our Not For Profit friends still are.
Working theory
When working on the report there were two things I really wanted to know:
- Will the events of 2020 drive forward the digital agenda for NFPs, or force some to focus on damage limitation over innovation?
- How confident is the NFP sector with digital topics in 2020 – are they reluctant, intimidated, despondent even? Or do they feel empowered and confident?
The report provides evidence that NFPs are rising to meet the challenge of 2020, by investing in digital solutions and services during this unprecedented period. A larger than expected 41% (just over 2 in 5) identified that they are ‘investing now’ in new digital technologies, as recorded in the August 2020 survey.
The findings also highlighted that the vast majority of NFPs feel empowered enough to judge their own stage of digital maturity, with only 1% responding that they ‘don’t have enough information’ to judge their own state of digital maturity and only 1 in 14 of respondents saying that they felt in danger of falling behind. These are clear signs of a sector that has become confident and more comfortable with digital.
Five factors
Post-analysing the report findings I wanted to share five of the more compelling reasons why the Not for Profit sector has met the digital challenges of 2020 with such creativity, resilience and fortitude:
1. The imperative to transform was brought forward with COVID-19, some say - compressing 3 years of digital maturity into a 3-month window. As we all know, this wasn’t unique to the NFP sector – but ubiquitous across all sectors. This represented a near-sight, immovable object that needed dealing with – right in front of us, rather than later down the road.
2. Needing to work from home and facilitate remote meetings resulted in digital no longer being perceived solely as a ‘front of house’ discipline. This means that NFP trustees and boards are more cognisant of digital opportunity for their inhouse operations, likely due to their increased personal use of technology. This effect has removing barriers and has equated to permission for digital and I.T. teams, suppliers and software provides to work with less resistance.
3. Some big online brands and digital savvy businesses responded quickly to the crisis, given they are geared-up to communicate principally using digital channels. This ‘set the bar’ for what’s expected by NFP customers too, leading to a disparity of experience if NFPs were not able to respond as quickly. In such cases NFPs now appreciate that mature back-office digital operations are just as critical when compared with front-of-house digital communications and channels.
4. A crisis can unite people and we have seen this in 2020 as people demonstrated their support for each other in a series of positive public gestures. Greater value has been placed on volunteers and charitable causes, which means that NFPs should find the public more receptive and warm towards good causes as we move into 2021, given that we have shared common ground and have more of a mutual understanding of the value of life, our loved ones, and the time we spend together. This translates to a softening of language on Social Media, more openness and receptiveness to good causes across digital channels.
5. In 2020 we enjoy certain benefits that have been harder to obtain in the past. Access to digital education and learning was already vast pre-COVID-19, but the pandemic resulted in digital educators giving their time away to teach and train others at no or low cost. For this reason, it has never been easier to self-educate about digital topics, given the massive number of videos, articles, guides and strategies available online.
I had the pleasure of sitting on the Access All Areas panel during September, which you can watch on demand here: Digital change for Not For Profits. During the panel we covered a range of topics, including the disparity in experience depending on your NFP area during this pandemic. Health, foodbanks, homelessness and others have been inundated, whereas entertainment, culture and animal welfare have been severely impacted in different ways. Given this reality, it’s important to continue supporting everyone in the NFP sector in need of encouragement and practical support.
Helping hand
If you are struggling with digital, then help is on hand in the form of this free Digital Maturity Playbook. The four self-help discussion guides are supported by an article, to help you understand each of the topics and guide you on your path towards digital maturity. As part of the Access All Areas activity, a panel article was produced covering 10 things you can do right now to drive digital advantage, along with an additional digital maturity topic covering the importance of digital innovation during difficult times.
If all this ‘self-help’ is too overwhelming, then Access would be delighted to talk or put you in contact with people in their network who can support further.
I hope you enjoy the full report and take encouragement from it. I will be taking part in a live webinar with a Q+A on Thursday the 29th of October at 12pm to further discuss Digital Maturity and the results of the survey and report. (This webinar is now available on demand.)
