Why Charities Would Benefit from a Digital Transformation : Could Virtual Events be the Answer?

(Updated February 25th 2021)

​We have seen so many sectors branching out to introduce a digital transformation whilst the pandemic is in full swing. From farming, to beauty to the events industry, each sector is beginning to see the benefits of making the pivot to virtual events, and charity is one which we are beginning to see.

From research, it was found that 73% of adults within the UK are now signed up to a social media platform and on average a person touches their phone 2,617 times a day.  So, I think it's safe to say that digital transformations are not a risky move, but a clever one. Virtual events can offer many benefits including giving companies a global reach, and bespoke experiences for the attendee.

What are the current challenges for charities?

The term digital transformation sounds daunting, however in reality it just means re-thinking how your organisation uses technology to improve their current services or events. It has been found that more than 83 million attendees of events had to change their plans in 2020, so for companies to try to stay afloat they began to introduce virtual aspects to their services or events. 

• The charity sector is known for their fundraising events from sponsored marathons to an organised walk - all of which have had to be cancelled or rescheduled due to the lockdown restrictions.
• With the typical fundraising events being unable to take place, it has caused concern for many charities how they will still be able to engage their customers and continue to fundraise.
• It was found that eight out of 10 charities believe the coronavirus pandemic will negatively impact their ability to deliver on planned objectives in the next 12 months and so the sector needs to take initiative to find alternative ways to fundraise.
• In 2020, charities faced a £12.4bn shortfall in income last year due to the pandemic. This is why making a digital transformation is so important for this sector, to keep funds up.

What are charities getting wrong?

The main things we’re finding that the charity sector is getting wrong is choosing their event technology. 

• There’s over 300 event technology companies on the market so of course it can be overwhelming knowing which platform to decide upon and pay for. There’s many risks associated with choosing the wrong event technology including having to change platforms which results in paying more, the pure frustration but also the time. It can be so time consuming going on technology platform demos (trust me, we’ve been there!) So it's important to try to avoid wasting time by changing platforms and being certain the platform you choose from the beginning is the platform you’re happy with.
• At EventMind, we work on a fully unbiased and transparent basis so if you’re still concerned about knowing what platform is best for you then book a call here to discuss with our team how we can help you with our platform search and select service. We have also provided our audience with a variety of free content to help them with the decision, we recently spoke at IBTM discussing how you can save time and money on the technology process which you can watch here.
• Not only are the charity sector struggling to make correct event technology decisions, but another challenge they are facing is having enough internal resources to carry out their virtual events. To run a virtual event you need to ensure you have the correct internal resources to do so: this includes a marketing team, a logistics team and a tech team.
• One thing we’re finding lately is many organisations are just trying to just replicate their live event online - this doesn’t work. Engagement and experience is so different when online, so you need your team to fully grasp the idea of going online and have all bases covered. There is so much information out there for organisations to help them with their event delivery, but this is also something we can help with at EventMind.

We’re here to help!

We’re here to help! We hosted a roundtable event for the charity sector on Thursday 18th February at 11am GMT.  So many great conversations were had, and the full hour was packed with useful insights and information discussed between charity workers. It was so successful, we discussed the challenges that these workers are facing and we helped them with how to overcome these. We found the following points to be the top things that charities are wanting to know currently which we covered at the session:

• How you can utilise virtual events for fundraising
  
• How to know what event technology is best
  
• Where to find information to run successful virtual events
  
• How to engage audiences with virtual events
  

It was so successful, we’re organising another for those who couldn’t attend! On Thursday 11th March at 11.30am GMT this session is open for charity workers wanting to understand how to digitally transform. The EventMind team will be running this session, we are experts within the online field and we strive to make the online transition as easy and as successful as possible for organisers. This completely free event will be invite only for charities, please register your interest by emailing Rhian - rhian@eventmindpro.com 

​EventMind does not endorse any particular virtual event platform or software. We review the platforms available on the market monthly (through a combination of client feedback, test events and demos). If you're looking to make online events simple, or want trusted and unbiased advice, then contact the team today by emailing team@eventmindpro.com or calling 0330 133 3485. We are always keen to get guest contributors on our blog, if you'd like to write a blog on our site and be fully credited, please email rhian@eventmindpro.com