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This guide provides an overview of the online working activities carried out by UK charitable organisations, and addresses a range of privacy and data protection issues they are likely to encounter. It includes checklists, practical advice and resources to help understand and manage online activity. This guide provides introductory level detail and links to other […]

We’ve talked about how to keep your team working and connected. And we’re writing a guide to delivering services digitally. But, in this time of Covid, when you’ve less face-to-face time with your beneficiaries, how do you find out what they need from your organisation? It turns out there’s several ways of doing this by […]

You can learn to write readable content. Yes, you. Even if you don’t have ‘writer’ in your job title. And even if you’re used to more formal types of writing that use the technical language of your charity’s field – for example, reports and funding bids.  “Help people on their own terms. Use words they […]

This is a follow up to Website Crit #2: Reach Volunteering Website. It critiques the library part of their website. We’ve made our experts’ feedback open so you and others can learn from it. Thanks to Reach Volunteering for putting their library forward for this critique. What is Reach Volunteering’s volunteer project library?  Reach Volunteering […]

The Dementia UK site offers information and support for people affected by dementia. Shivy reviewed the usability and experience of three aspects of the site: Navigation  Homepage Helpline page We’ve made that feedback open so you and others can learn from it. Part 1. Navigation review Dementia UK weren’t sure if their site navigation was […]

Your website is more than a window into your charity. It’s a tool for identity, service delivery, and organisational growth. It’s even a tool for income generation if you choose it. Most importantly it’s a place for your users to get information that is relevant for them. “If your users don’t feel that your website’s […]

“I recommend you do user testing, because you are not the user of your website” – Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group – the pioneers of website research If you believe your website needs redesigning, or if you’re mid-way through designing a new one then you should test its usability with your users. Testing your website […]

November last year, I experienced a productivity miracle.  I found a way to build websites four times quicker. Literally. A website that would have taken a month now took a week. And the quality improved too. The HTML (code) was cleaner. It didn’t feel like we were accumulating technical debt.  Now, I’ve spent the last […]

You’re trying to choose a new digital tool. Perhaps an app for communicating with your users, a platform for a new website, or even a tool for organising tasks with your team.  Perhaps you think you need to build something new, but you haven’t stopped to consider what already exists. Something you could re-use, and […]

Last we talked about what working in the open is and why we think it’s important for charity digital projects. Working in the open sounds great and everything, but how do you actually do it? Are there rules to follow or specific people you should share to? And how can you work this out without […]

The Open Working Line-up (OWL) is a team of people helping Catalyst-funded charities work in the open and reuse existing tools and technologies.   Working in the open is as simple as sharing your work with others – inside or outside your organisation – and using work that’s been done by others to help you with […]

The Catalyst Discovery programme: 103 charities, simultaneously guided by 11 agencies through the early stages of a digital project.  It sounds quite experimental. It was. We’ve never taken so many charities through such an intense process. Nor have we done it so quickly (four weeks). There were positives and negatives. Today we’re sharing the positives. […]