CharityComms 2023 Digital Conference

AI: Taking the human element out of the equation to enhance charitable impact

Have you been experimenting with AI but haven’t yet convinced your wider charity to adopt it? Or perhaps you don’t know where to start and you’re worrying about the ethical implications? Or maybe you’d like to learn more about AI’s potential to increase your charity’s impact? Then this talk was for you! Mark talked us through the different uses of AI and Machine Learning including: ChatGPT, Large Language Modelling tools, and more. He also painted a picture of what the future of these technologies might look like.  

Using a clear and simple strategy, the comms team at Mind recently relaunched its TikTok channel to help them reach more young people. But not everyone liked the strategy because it meant behaving like Gen Z. On the channel they spoke honestly about mental health, their content was raw and unpolished and they used humour even when talking about difficult topics. In this talk, you heard how they used a laser-focused strategy to get senior stakeholders on board, dealt with internal criticism (and confusion) and delivered a channel that’s really hitting the mark for young people.

Charities generate a lot of data, which is sometimes not shared internally or not communicated in ways that are useful or engaging. In this five-minute provocation, Jordan kickstarted our peer-to-peer discussions and challenged us to think about how we could be sharing rich and useful insights with colleagues.

This talk highlighted the importance of taking user-centred and equitable design approaches to engage and connect with new or traditionally marginalised communities. It explored the opportunities and challenges of working in this way, lessons around implementing this cross-organisationally, how this approach can impact design choices and how you can begin to drive inclusive change. This talk included practical examples of equitable design, insights learnt through working equitably, and how you can be more user-led.

Florian shared more onion’s strategy and planning model, used across dozens of successful digital campaigning and fundraising projects. The model brings together two concepts – ‘supporter lifecycle’ and ‘shop window’ planning. Together these provide a strong framework for setting clear objectives, measuring success and making strategic decisions while transparently balancing competing priorities. Florian also shared how this model can help assess and plan capacity and create delivery plans which are easy to understand and use.

This year, Google Analytics 4 officially replaced Universal Analytics, but many charities are not sure if they are using it correctly. In his talk, Jason offered some simple take-away actions that would help your charity hit the ground running. This talk is suitable for non-advanced users.

Quarina shed light on strategies that can foster effective charity leadership, highlighting the importance of nurturing diverse talent. Addressing unique challenges and opportunities, Quarina explored mentorship, skill development, and inclusive policies that amplify ethnically diverse leaders’ voices. By bridging the leadership gap, organisations can thrive with enriched perspectives, igniting innovation and ensuring a representative future in the fast-evolving digital landscape.

In this talk, Rebecca examined recent developments affecting the social media landscape, from Threads to X. She shared exclusive findings from StrawberrySocial’s charity client research and provided the best practice recommendations to help charities navigate a path to success on social in 2024. Rebecca explained why focusing on authenticity, online safety and engagement are the most important elements for charities to consider. Rebecca also shared examples, actionable tips and resources.

In this session, Christian kick-started our peer-to-peer discussions with a short provocation encouraging us to think about how AI could change the way we work, our roles more generally, and how it might affect the charity job market.

With eight out of ten charities looking to improve their website next year, are you confident in what you need to do? The average cost and time-investment for a new website is substantial, so you need to get it right. Fresh Egg explored how to validate whether you can improve or need to launch a new website. They shared how to best make this decision, using a combination of research techniques, and what the path beyond this then looks like.

Charity comms teams are dependent on social media for reach, engagement and fundraising. But Big Tech can also be a barrier to achieving our charitable objectives – and AI has the potential to turbocharge their deeply harmful business model. Charlotte and Natasha examined the ways in which Big Tech is holding back effective climate and social justice action, and discussed what actions we can take, given our dependency on these platforms.

Have you ever wondered how and why to include diaspora communities in your communications?

We shared our learnings about the British Red Cross’s efforts to include diaspora voices in our work. We shared exclusive findings regarding how we trialled different ways to collect diaspora insights, how we applied these insights, the barriers we’ve faced when engaging diaspora audiences, the co-production methods we used and our tips for engaging with diaspora audiences.