A second year of funding has been agreed for the Charity Digital Code of Practice, following research that found charities still have a ‘long way to go’ in progressing digitally.

The Code, which was created to provide charities with practical advice on using digital to increase impact, sustainability and skills, was launched in November 2018 following a consultation and input from across the sector.

Cisco and Charity IT Leaders have joined the Code’s founding funders Lloyds Banking Group and the Co-op Foundation, with support from the Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST), to pledge combined support of £140,000 to continue and expand on the resource to help charities improve their digital activity, connect with their online audiences and secure their own futures.

The new funding will be used to expand and develop the existing code and support more charities to be increasingly resilient and responsive to the changes in the needs, behaviours and expectations of the communities they support.

Last week, the Charity Digital Skills Report 2019 showed many charities are lagging behind when it comes to digitisation, with over half revealing they do not have a digital strategy.

However, charities acknowledged the increasing importance of digital and 43 per cent claimed to be using the Code to help them improve in this area.

The Co-op Foundation, a founding funder of the Charity Digital Code, has invested £50,000 into the year two development. It’s chair, Jamie Ward-Smith, said: “The Charity Digital Code of Practice has been well received across the sector and we’re delighted that so many organisations have taken on the seven key principles to help improve their digital engagement and secure their futures.

“Funding for year two will build on this success, enabling charities to feedback further on improvements so the Code can be as relevant and responsive as possible.

“We look forward to working with our fellow funders and the Charity Digital Code Steering Group to build a resource that will help charities of all sizes embed effective stakeholder-led digital strategies and practices into all aspects of their work and culture.”

Charities can access The Charity Digital Code of Practice code by visiting charitydigitalcode.org and join the conversation about the Code by using the hashtag #CharityDigitalCode

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