Media Trust has announced plans for a digital skills training programme for UK charities and community organisations, enabled by a grant from Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org.
The programme has been developed following findings from the media communications charity’s own 2017 Charity Digital Skills Report. This found that for more than 70% of UK charities surveyed the lack of digital skills represents a challenge for their organisation to reach their target audience and get their ‘voice’ heard.
More than 40% of that survey’s respondents had less than £5,000 to spend annually on marketing and communications. This highlights the need for charities and particularly micro and small charitable organisations to unlock the potential of digital technologies and channels to drive ‘targeted engagement’ and ‘amplify their message’, the report’s authors said.
The aim of the new programme is to help charitable organisations access the digital skills training needed in order to reinforce their communications capacity at a time when many aspects of their work encounter digitalised environments.
The grant from Google.org, which is part of its $100m commitment to support non-profit organisations in EMEA that are focused on skills and economic opportunity, will allow Media Trust to deliver masterclasses in more than 12 locations around the UK. They include Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leicester and Liverpool.
Each event will offer local charities and community groups an opportunity to receive free training and mentoring from media partners and digital communications experts on their marketing and communications challenges. The local masterclasses will run from September 2018 to June 2019, and are free for charities and community organisations to attend.
Google will also provide free skills training, content and resources for the new Media Trust programme through its Google Digital Garage. The half-day masterclasses will cover a range of topics from ‘Social Media Strategy’ to ‘Building a Digital Marketing Plan’.
The sessions will provide practical advice to charitable organisations on how to use digital channels to communicate more effectively and efficiently. After the formal training sessions, charities will have access to a range of media partners and communications experts for advice and coaching customised to their specific needs. Google employees will also volunteer their time to this programme.
To support the programme, Media Trust will in addition be developing their digital resources hub, to provide charity professionals with access to online training resources from a range of commercial and charitable partners, so they can continue their communications and media learning beyond the practical masterclass sessions.
“More than 45% of charities don’t have a digital strategy, despite 73% believing that strengthening their digital skills would help their organisation grow, so it’s vital that charities are given the support they need to enhance their digital capabilities,” said Su-Mei Thompson, CEO at Media Trust. “This can often prove difficult for the majority of charities and community groups, when resources and budgets are at a premium.”
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