Over 600 charities responded to this year’s Charity Digital Skills Report. The headline is that it has been “a year when tech use across the sector has evolved, yet overall digital progress remains static”. Leadership teams are listening. 80% of charities now view digital as an organisational priority. However, moving this priority into execution is a…
Welcome to the Smartdesc June newsletter. This month, we share a new video on how WaterAid tackled their IT resource challenges with a co-managed approach. We also feature a webinar with Charity IT Leaders, exciting events, free Microsoft Cloud Security assessments, and more. Free charity IT resources We are excited to release our video case…
With the flurry of recent news on cyber attacks, we provide a short summary of the big stories, and what areas charities can look at to address similar threats. Recent news stories Synnovis CEO confirms ransomware attack at London hospitals Reports suggest this was a traditional ransomware attack on a key supplier, Synnovis, within the…
One Platform, One Partnership: furthering your mission through technology Smartdesc, TES, and Microsoft Tech for Social Impact are teaming up to deliver an exciting 1-day event on how you can utilise Microsoft technology to achieve a complete, powerful toolkit for all your charity’s systems and processes. Join us on 26 September at Microsoft London as…
Welcome to the Smartdesc May newsletter. In case you missed it in April’s edition, we have released our annual Charity Technology Leaders Report – click here to download. This month, we share our upcoming Charity Summer Social, advice on email best practice, cyber security and data protection training, our new Copilot briefing sessions, and more.…
Email communication, while convenient, often becomes the Achilles’ heel of data privacy. The misuse of ‘Carbon Copy’ (CC) and ‘Blind Carbon Copy’ (BCC) features in emails is a common cause of unintended data breaches. So, should we use CC, BCC, or neither? Let’s explore further. The Pitfalls of CC and BCC CC is a way to…
Welcome to the Smartdesc April newsletter. This month, we are thrilled to present our 2024 Charity Technology Leaders Report, providing valuable IT insights in the nonprofit sector. Additionally, don’t miss out on the exciting events we have lined up with Microsoft and ServiceNow. Free charity IT resources Our 2024 Charity Technology Leaders Report is live!…
We are excited to publish our Charity Technology Leaders Report 2024. From January to March 2024, we conducted our second annual survey of charity technology leaders to understand the sector’s priorities, risks, challenges and opportunities around IT. The report summarises the key findings for charity IT leaders, draws out the main themes and trends, and…
As of February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require bulk senders (e.g. marketing mass emails using tools like Mailchimp) to have a DMARC policy in their website domain. Emails must pass DMARC alignment and meet various standards. This change is aimed at improving email security and reducing spam, as per this guide. For charities, this means…
*Please note: we have reached full capacity for this event* Would you like to improve your understanding of charity data protection? Join us at Microsoft London for our roundtable – Data Protection for Charities – Demystified – on Thursday 19 September 2024 at 10am. We provide a relaxed, safe space for questions, discussion, and to…
