48 in 48 - Free Websites for Charities

At Raffingers, we do more than just numbers and in most cases, we stand in as business advisors for our clients. In the past, and even more so now, we have an aim to ensure all charities and not-for-profits are running their organisation efficiently.

The recurring theme for most charities and not-for-profits is that the digital skill set within their organisation is quite low, there is a lack of understanding of new technology, lack of time available to understand these technologies, and lastly, there is a lack of funds.

A recent report from the Lloyds Bank UK Business Digital Index revealed that more than 100,000 charities lack basic digital skills, which is more than over half of registered charities. The report also revealed that 9,000 charities do not use the internet at all and that one out in three charities rate their digital capabilities as low. For charities to catch up, there definitely needs to be a ‘shake-up’ and shift in culture, whereby charities can embrace and adopt technology rather than believe it is something that is expensive, unattainable and inapplicable to them.

This is where Raffingers has put in the work to be able to ameliorate the situation, slowly but surely! We have been able to add value to charities and not-for-profits through our events, blog articles, in-depth newsletters and guides. For example, our company has recently published ‘Best in Class Technology for Charities’ which aims to keep charities up-to-date with technological advances. Within this guide we managed to cover different apps that charities and not-for-profits are able to use to improve all aspects of their organisation. These areas include finance, marketing, I.T, productivity and fundraising. With this guide, we made it a point to mostly include apps which were free (or heavily discounted), easy to use and accessible.

In the past we have also covered how charities can take advantage of Microsoft’s discount for Office 365, the possibility of contactless donations and solutions for when the GDPR was implemented. In our searches we also keep an eye out for initiatives that will be extremely useful for charities and not-for-profits such as grants, competitions, technological updates and consultations on how to improve the sector.

One initiative that stood out to us recently was '48 in 48', which is a programme to build 48 websites for 48 charities within 48 hours. ‘48 in 48’ have a great vision and believe that because charities spend their time doing good in the world, that they deserve to have websites that look good as well!

The initiative is based around a 48-hour hackathon-style event whereby 48 charities will have new, up-to-date websites that will be good for attracting young donors. In addition, the charities chosen will be able to take part in 10 weeks’ worth of training surrounding marketing, branding and impact training.

‘48 in 48’ is global and hold their London event on 2-4 November. Applications are open for 2018 and 2019. You can apply for the program here. To be eligible you have to be registered with the Charity Commission or be a registered CIC. Your charity must have an annual operating budget of £2,300,000 or less. You must also have one dedicated person that can spend at least 10 hours on the project (training). Your charity’s overall mission must also be non-political and non-religious.

If you have any questions about anything mentioned in the article, do not hesitate to contact me on suda.ratnam@raffingers.co.uk or 020 3146 1608. I am also on LinkedIn if you wish to connect.

Our Twitter page is full of useful hints and tips on how to manage your charity better as well as the latest updates on the sector.

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