Room 1: Strategy

How to Design and Deliver a Digital Skills Programme
Speaker: Kim Lewry, The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Hear about how Kim conducted a skills audit and used this data to develop and deliver and Essential Digital Skills Programme for all staff in the organisation. The programme was based around Microsoft 365 apps – the tools they already had access to but were not utilising to their full potential. Kim also developed and rolled out a Digital Accelerator Programme – an application based programme of six modules focused on more advanced digital skills such as prompt engineering and service design. The motivator behind these programmes was to drive change from within. By giving staff the skills, and more importantly, confidence they needed in the post-covid digital workplace we find ourselves in they could be more efficient and collaborative.

How To Empower Your Team With Digital Skills
Speaker: Tori Ellaway, CAST
With the rise of AI and other rapidly evolving digital tools, mastering digital skills has become all the more indispensable for charities striving to fulfil their important missions. More than half of charities rate themselves as poor at digital fundraising, and recent FutureDotNow research reveals that 54% of the UK workforce lacks essential digital skills. It’s clear we have significant work ahead.
Join us at CAST for an insightful webinar where we’ll unveil our collaborative journey in developing a comprehensive digital skills framework. Partnering with The Scout Association and 13 diverse charities, we’ve created a tool to empower staff and volunteers with the digital skills they need, starting from the essential to the more advanced. Many of the tools and resources in the framework are vital elements of any digital fundraiser’s toolkit.
During this session, we’ll share our development process, highlight the challenges encountered, and, most importantly, outline the top strategies these organisations are using to foster a culture of continuous digital learning.

How To Create, Optimise and Promote Your Next Charity Campaign To Make the Most Impact
Speaker: Oliver Beldham, JustGiving
Looking for a tool to create team spirit for your next event or inspire people to come together for an appeal? JustGiving Campaign Pages have so many benefits for both you and your supporters. In this session JustGiving will share:
– When to use Campaign Pages and how to create one in just a few minutes
– Tools and resources to make your page engaging and impactful
– Examples from other charities’ successful campaigns to take inspiration from
– Best practice tips to promote your campaign and reach more people
– How to easily track progress and report on your campaign
Leave the session with fundraising food for thought and practical tips to take your campaigns to the next level.

Room 2: Skills

Running From a Standing Start: Launching and Growing Your First Digital Fundraising Campaign
Speaker: Muna Hussen, Raisely
It can be daunting to launch your first digital fundraising campaign. It can be even scarier to grow a campaign that may have been successful or one with trials. In this session, Muna will take you through some step by step guidances of launching and growing your first campaign. You’ll look at a variety of different campaigns, from donation forms, to appeals to peer to peer. You’ll learn what makes a great converting donor journey as well as how to add a little magic to your digital campaigns.

Testing Fast and Cheap – How To Build Learning and Innovations Into Your Fundraising Campaigns
Speaker: Kamie Kilty, Social Sync
In this session we will cover a variety of ways that you can build learning and optimisations into your campaigns to drive better results.

Key Data Skills for Charity Impact
Speaker: Dulcie Vousden, DataKind UK
Join DataKind UK to explore new ways to get to grips with your data in order to better understand your audiences, evaluate what’s really working, and engage your team. Learn how to ask the right questions of the data you collect, ways to share and translate your outcomes that are accessible for your whole organisation, and the next steps to take to build your team’s data skills.
DataKind UK has over ten years of experience supporting third sector organisations of all shapes and sizes to make best use of their data in order to draw out insights, overcome sticking points, and work through operational challenges to better achieve their purpose. Join their Head of Data Science Dulcie Vousden and be inspired and energised by practical approaches to using your data.

EDI and Digital Skills – What Everyone Needs To Know
Speaker: Tree Hall, NEUROnique
In an increasingly digital world, digital technology can play a vital role in empowering individuals to thrive, promoting positive change and supporting a more equitable workplace. Digital literacy can create opportunities, enhance accessibility and amplify marginalised voices. But this can only happen when inclusivity is at the heart of digital design, and when everyone understands the barriers that neurodivergent and disabled communities face, and embraces the need to put inclusion and belonging at the heart of EDI strategies. Join Tree Hall as she uses her lived experience as a late-diagnosed AuDHD (autistic & ADHD) adult to bring to life the need for inclusive digital design, the positive impact it has, and as she shares some of her own digital strategies and tools for thriving at work.

Developing Great Community Management Skills
Speaker: Nana Crawford, Marie Curie
Don’t overlook the power of a strong community. Learn what skills you need and why setting boundaries is important for you and your team.

Room 3: People

Make Your Life Easier Using AI
Speaker: Nick Scott
How can generative AI tools like ChatGPT help charity workers do more of the work they love – and less of the work they find a chore? In this session, Nick Scott, a leading consultant on AI adoption for the non-profit sector, will share strategies and tips for working with AI every day to make your lives easier. Nick has introduced tens of thousands of people in the non-profit sector to the potential of generative AI through webinars for a diverse range of clients and regular posts and content on LinkedIn covering AI developments, opportunities, and challenges for the sector. He is passionate about helping non-profits navigate the complex world of AI and digital in simple, engaging, and strategic ways. In this session, we’ll review some of the generative AI tools that are freely available, investigate the capabilities they have to offer (writing, listening, reading, thinking, connecting, and seeing), and demonstrate practical examples of how fundraisers can use them quickly and easily – whatever their level of digital skills. We’ll also cover how to safely, responsibly, and ethically use generative AI.

Delegate Bag Sessions:

Paid Social & Ads Skills for Fundraisers
Speaker: Alice Rath, Zoe Amar Digital
Does your organisation need to be running paid ads? This session will be focused on the WHY of paid media – why run paid media campaigns and the benefits can it have. We’ll cover in detail the key components you need to consider when launching a paid media campaign, and the essential skills you need for running an brilliant campaign.