The benefits of intelligent automation for charities
In the wake of a devastating two-year global pandemic and an ongoing cost of living crisis, the ability of charities to make a real difference to the lives of people and the world has rarely felt quite so vital. Yet unfortunately, according to an analysis of YouGov statistics by Pro Bono Economics, one in four existing donors are currently giving less, with respondents citing the cost of living crisis as the reason for this.
The result is that the people who typically benefit from donations may not be getting the support they need. It also means that the operational costs of charities – which are suffering from the cost of living crisis themselves – are under increased pressure. This makes the difficult decisions that charities make every day, as to how best to spend the money they have, even harder.
Generating more funding is always going to be the most desirable option, but with over 180,000 charities alone in England and Wales, competing for the goodwill of the public, this is not necessarily the best option.
An alternative is to find new ways to drive efficiencies. Many charities find themselves regularly tied up in dealing with low value/high volume activities, such as completing Gift Aid claims, onboarding new workers, and fulfilling Know Your Donor [KYD] protocols. These can take up a lot of their time and resources that could be better spent in other areas.
Indeed, figures published by The Week reveal that some of the largest and most well known charities in the UK may only be spending 26% of their annual income on charitable activities – i.e., the services that charities exist to provide – with a significant proportion of time and costs going towards administrative requirements.
Transforming a busy charity to become more efficient, especially when its resources are already limited might seem an impossibility, but advancements in technology are paving the way for them to do so.
Intelligent automation solutions
New intelligent automation solutions have become a popular method of delivering breakthroughs in productivity, agility and resilience for organisations across a range of industries. This technology helps create end-to-end business processes that can think, learn and adapt without human engagement – and they are transforming the world of work.
According to a study by global research firm Everest Group, companies which have invested in intelligent automation have generated a 2.3x return on investment, 3.7x cost savings, and a 62% overall improvement in operational metrics when compared to pre-automation figures.
With automation having proved so successful in other fields, there is no reason why charities should be any exception to the benefits that can be achieved through technology. What’s more, automation does not require organisations to undergo a complex and costly digital transformation process. Therefore it is considerably cheaper and easier to integrate, meaning less time is needed to implement solutions or train staff in their use.
As such, automation gives charities the opportunity to envisage a future that’s driven by technology, and in which they have more time and resources to focus on completing the tasks that matter the most.
Gift Aid claims
Gift Aid is one area of a charity’s work where automation can be hugely rewarding. Claiming Gift Aid can be an especially daunting task for charities, particularly if they are a small organisation. This is because it can be difficult to understand exactly what the rules of Gift Aid are, as well as how to claim, and which donations are eligible.
On top of this, claimants are required to fill out a special designed spreadsheet that is both clunky and difficult to navigate. As a result, making a claim can be a lengthy process, especially if there are lots of donations that need to be processed.
Introducing automation technologies to the process of making Gift Aid claims, therefore, can provide considerable time-saving benefits to charities, and enable them to gain access to important funds from HMRC far more efficiently.
Volunteer and employee onboarding
Another critical area for charities is their personnel. Bringing new employees into an organisation involves more than giving them a welcome pack and telling them where the fire exits are. It can be highly complex and time consuming affair and any bottlenecks or inconsistencies may result in poor training and a dissatisfied new starter!
Automation is capable of removing both the human burden and pressures involved in the onboarding process, while ensuring compliance with data protection laws. Records on both volunteers and regular employees can be updated consistently via a central HR system that securely stores all key workforce data, meaning HR teams can rest assured that they are compliant with relevant legislation.
In addition to this, right to work checks can also be carried out electronically where necessary, ensuring consistency throughout the recruitment process as well, and that the people who come to work for charities have been properly vetted.
Automation can also support charities which have large workforces, consisting of both volunteers and regular employees. As a result of this, the job of keeping all worker data secure and up to date can feel like an insurmountable challenge for charities’ HR teams.
Not only does ensuring that this data is safely kept and regularly updated help charities to organise their workforces, but it is also a legal requirement for them to do so. Failure to adhere could result in substantial fines being imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] if the charity is found to be in breach of data protection legislation.
The ICO is no longer reluctant to issue such fines to charities simply because of their charity status. For example, in 2021, the ICO fined transgender charity Mermaids £25,000 for failing to keep the personal data of its users secure.
Know Your Donor
It is not only their workers who charities must scrutinise, however. Charities must also put those who make donations under the microscope, in accordance with Know Your Donor. Essentially, this is the donor due diligence protocol that charities need to carry out to practically confirm the identity and credentials of the individuals or corporate entities wanting to donate.
Because charities must be able to clarify the decisions they make to stakeholders, it is critically important that they know who is donating before they accept donations. For charities which operate internationally, the task of vetting donors can be even more challenging, given that certain donors could be on sanction lists or embroiled in humanitarian or political controversy.
As such, accepting a donation from a donor with a chequered past could have an adverse effect on the charity’s reputation, leading to a whole host of unexpected problems.
With charity teams already working with considerably fewer resources, ensuring that KYD protocols are adhered to can be a particularly time consuming process. This is precisely why it is ripe for automation. By handing over the responsibilities of KYD to automation technologies, charities can free up workers to focus more time on their core work, instead of putting all their efforts into jumping through the necessary compliance hoops.
Not only does automating KYD protocols provide significant time-saving benefits to teams in this way, but it also offers them peace of mind that the backgrounds of donors have been thoroughly investigated, and the funds they are pledging have been honestly raised.
Empowering charity workers
At a time when donations are significantly harder to come by than in times gone by, technologies such as automation will become increasingly critical for the success of all modern charities and will play a pivotal role in boosting donations in years to come. Most importantly the process is simple and can be done with minimum interruption or cost.
By efficiently dealing with the mindless, boring tasks that can hamstring the work of charities, automation can empower charity workers to focus on the critical aspects of their job, therefore allowing them to do what they do best. Making a difference in the world.
