Event | The Magic of Next-Gen Solutions: Maximising AI & Microsoft Tools for Nonprofits with mhance - London

Taking the brakes off digital technology – how to make sure your organisation optimises your tech ROI

Digital technology is the driving force of any organisation, but there’s no point in having a 4l twin-turbo V8 engine if you put it in the chassis of a Fiat 500.

Or to put it another way, you won’t see the benefits of your investment in digital technology if you don’t create the right environment to enable it to realise its potential.

Tree Hall is CEO of Charity IT Leaders, a self-confessed tech-enthusiast (not tech professional) and having worked in the NFP sector for over 20 years, she has experienced many digital technology projects from the non-tech perspective. She’ll be exploring the barriers that prevent digital technology from delivering the outcomes charities and businesses are looking for and considering the ways in which organisations can optimise the likelihood of success.

Tree Hall – CEO at Charity IT Leaders and Founder & Speaker at NEUROnique

Tree joined Charity IT Leaders in March 2019 and was appointed as their first CEO in May 2020, bringing over 16 years’ experience of working in the charity and NFP sector as a fundraiser and marketer.  She is hugely proud of the work CITL does to support charities and NFPs to get the best outcomes from their investment in digital technology, to empower and enable current and emerging charity technology leaders, and increasingly, to advocate for and on behalf of the sector.

She is also openly autistic and ADHD (AuDHD) and is passionate about supporting neurodivergence and inclusion in employment and increasing opportunities and accessibility in the workplace. Both her children are neurodivergent, and she is committed to making the world a more welcoming, accessible place that enables them and their peers to achieve their full potential.

Mapping and understanding data – going beyond the CRM database to achieve fundraising success

James Kliffen has provided fundraising leadership for Comic Relief, British Red Cross, the Disasters Emergency Committee and Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders. Since 1988 he has been at the forefront of fundraising innovations, delivering “bottom line” growth in income whilst ensuring that strategies are both relevant and future proofed.

James will show that the greatest challenge and opportunity facing charities is understanding the data and information that they own, and that they can have access to. To truly control data, it is essential to map the architecture of a charity’s systems, extending out to every outsourced supplier and partner. This is a first step to the intelligent and creative use of information to achieve success, a step which enables the meaningful and safe use of AI and the ever-expanding range of new data tools.

In practice this can mean discovering that apparently failing fundraising methods are outstandingly successful. It makes the rapid development of new innovations possible, and it ensures the loyalty and lifetime value of individual supporter’s giving – by providing them with outstanding service and communications. Above all, it enables charities to keep pace with their supporters’ ever-changing lifestyles and preferences.

In 2025 this approach is exemplified by the Data Warehouse, which unlocks the power of data by providing real-time insight drawn from an expanding range of sources, at the heart of which sits today’s cloud CRMs. James will use his own experiences to make the case for the intelligent management of systems as the driver of success – both today and into the future.