Digital Leadership in Action: 5 Key Pillars for Charities Leading Change

Quick Summary:

Charities preparing for Q4 should focus on five digital pillars: 

1. Leadership & governance 
2. Strategy & roadmapping
3. Data, AI & digital fundraising
4. Digital inclusion & service innovation
5. Resilience & operational efficiency.

These steps strengthen strategy, boost fundraising, enhance services, and build long-term impact.

Introduction

For many charities, Q4 can feel like a sprint to the finish. Fundraising campaigns peak, service demand grows, and planning for the year ahead intensifies. In all of this, digital strategy can easily slip down the priority list.

The charities making the biggest impact have one thing in common: they’re embracing digital as a core part of their strategy. Done well, digital can help your organisation work smarter, raise more, and have greater impact, particularly when pressure is high.

This article looks at five charity digital strategy pillars every senior leader should consider as they prepare for Q4. These are practical steps grounded in sector best practice and what’s working for peers right now. Whether your charity is digitally mature or just getting started, these pillars will help shape a plan that’s focused, achievable and impactful.

1. How can charity leaders champion digital transformation?

Strong digital leadership doesn’t mean being the tech expert in the room. It means recognising digital as an enabler for everything your charity does, from fundraising to service delivery to internal collaboration, and making sure your board and senior team are confident leading in this space.

The updated Charity Digital Code of Practice (2025) puts leadership at the heart of digital success. It recommends that trustees and executives:

• Champion digital in organisational strategy and decision-making
• Build digital and AI literacy into board development and recruitment
• Set clear accountability for digital progress

Practical steps for building digital confidence at a senior level

To make digital leadership a reality, start with clear actions that increase confidence and accountability at trustee and executive level:

• Include digital and AI skills in your next board skills audit.
  Map out where digital expertise already exists and where skills gaps remain, then plan training or trustee recruitment accordingly.
• Consider forming a digital advisory group - a small, expert panel to support leadership decision-making.
  This could include external specialists who provide insight into emerging technologies and sector trends.
• Use the Charity Digital Code as a benchmark to assess where you are and where you want to be by year-end.
  Compare your organisation’s current digital maturity against best practice and set achievable, time-bound goals.

Leaders who visibly back digital initiatives send a powerful signal: this is not just an IT project, it’s how we deliver our mission.

2. Why should charities put digital at the heart of their strategy?

Many charities have a digital plan. Fewer have one that’s directly linked to their organisational strategy. Q4 is the perfect moment to review or refresh that connection.

Research from Voluntas shows that digital transformation is most effective when it starts with mission, not technology. Ask:

• How does digital help us reach and engage supporters?
• How does it improve our services or extend our reach?
• What efficiencies could it bring internally?

Aligning digital projects with organisational goals:

Digital should never feel like “extra work”. These steps help align projects with your mission and long-term goals:

• Map your current and planned digital initiatives to your overall organisational goals.
  Ensure every digital project directly supports one or more of your organisation’s strategic priorities, whether that’s fundraising, service delivery, operational efficiency, stakeholder engagement or wider impact goals.
• Prioritise projects that deliver tangible benefits quickly, such as testing AI-driven donor segmentation, or automating routine processes.
  Start with low-risk, high-impact pilots that free up staff time or generate measurable income growth.
• Create a clear digital roadmap for 2026, aligned with your impact goals and funding priorities.
  Outline key milestones, required resources and ownership for each digital initiative.

A joined-up approach keeps digital from becoming “another thing to do” and instead embeds it as a core enabler of your charity’s success.

3. How can charities use data and AI to transform fundraising?

Data has always been valuable, but how we use it is changing. With the rise of AI, charities can now analyse patterns, predict donor behaviour, and tailor engagement in ways that were previously out of reach.

A recent example from The Kids’ Cancer Project in Australia showed how AI-supported segmentation nearly doubled regular donations. Meanwhile, the Charity Digital Skills Report highlights a growing gap in AI knowledge across boards and leadership teams, signalling an urgent need for trustee AI readiness training.

Using data and AI to drive fundraising growth: 

From better donor segmentation to personalised campaigns, these actions will help you unlock data-driven fundraising opportunities: 

• Audit your donor data. Is it accurate, segmented and GDPR compliant?
  Check data quality, ensure permissions are up-to-date, and identify any gaps that prevent effective segmentation.
• Pilot one AI-enhanced fundraising initiative, such as predicting which supporters are most likely to become regular givers.
  Use the pilot to demonstrate potential ROI and build confidence internally for wider adoption.
• Draft or update your responsible AI policy so everyone is clear on principles and boundaries.
  Include guidance on transparency, data privacy, and ethical use of AI for donor engagement.

Data isn’t just about income. When used responsibly, it helps you build stronger supporter relationships and measure your true social impact.

4. Why is digital inclusion essential for charities?

Digital innovation can transform service delivery, but only if it’s accessible and inclusive. Around 8.5 million people in the UK still lack basic digital skills. For many people, online access is patchy, or simply doesn’t work for them.

Designing accessible and inclusive digital services:

Ensuring no one is left behind means reviewing and improving the accessibility of your digital channels and services:

• Audit your digital services and website for accessibility and usability. Can someone using assistive technology easily navigate your website? 
  Consider running an external accessibility check or involving people with lived experience. For inspiration, see how we’re leading the way in accessibility.
• Run a co-design session with a small group of service users to identify barriers and quick wins.
  This could be an online workshop or face-to-face session, focused on removing friction points in your digital services.
• Explore partnerships with digital inclusion networks such as Good Things Foundation to help bridge the UK’s digital divide.
  Collaboration can unlock access to devices, training and community resources for your beneficiaries.

Digital inclusion isn’t just good practice, it’s mission-critical. If services aren’t accessible, you risk excluding the very people you exist to help.

5. How can charities improve digital resilience and efficiency?

Cybersecurity and resilience aren’t the most glamorous topics, but they’re essential. According to Charity Digital and NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre), two-thirds of charities say a cyber attack could seriously disrupt their operations, yet only 61% have an incident response plan.

Building strong cybersecurity and operational resilience

Protecting your charity from disruption requires robust systems and processes. Start with these critical actions:

• Review your cybersecurity policies and incident response plan.
  Check that roles, responsibilities and contact protocols are up-to-date and well understood across the organisation.
• Train staff and volunteers on recognising phishing and other threats.
  Short, regular training sessions build a culture of awareness and reduce risk of human error.
• Identify where automation could save time and reduce human error, whether that’s finance, HR or supporter comms.
  Look for repetitive, manual tasks that could be safely automated to improve both resilience and efficiency.

Building resilience means you can focus on your mission, even when things don’t go to plan.

Bringing It All Together

Q4 is busy, but it’s also a chance to set the tone for the year ahead. By focusing on these five charity digital strategy pillars, you’ll:

• Strengthen leadership confidence in digital
• Align digital initiatives with strategic goals
• Harness data and AI to improve fundraising
• Deliver more inclusive services
• Increase resilience and operational efficiency

You don’t need to do everything at once. Pick one action from each pillar, pilot it before year-end, and take those learnings into 2026 planning.

Ready to take the next step?

We've developed two free, practical tools designed to help senior charity leaders strengthen their digital leadership and prepare for AI-powered change. Use them to benchmark your current approach, identify opportunities for improvement, and take confident next steps.