Have you ever felt like getting out of the rat race and using your valuable technology skills for a better purpose? Or perhaps government bureaucracy or the demands of politicians makes you a frustrated public sector IT manager?

And have you ever wondered if your job might be much more satisfying if it was spent helping others?

IT managers working for charities face a unique set of challenges: scarce resources, tight budgets, and most likely lower pay than their commercial counterparts. Yet many IT professionals choose to switch to the third sector.

Computing hosted a roundtable of IT experts from the voluntary sector to discuss the role of technology in charities and the benefits of working in such an environment. Their experience demonstrates the challenges and benefits of working in charity IT.

Our expert panellists were:
William Hoyle, chief executive of Charity Technology Trust
Peggy Saint-Auret, head of resources at Global Action Plan
Mark Bishop, head of corporate partnerships at Leonard Cheshire Disability
Richard Wheatley, head of IS at the NSPCC.

What are the biggest challenges you have in managing IT provision in a charity?
WH: The biggest challenge we have is helping organisations get access to the skills they need to deploy technology in a way that improves the delivery of their mission. Many charities do not have the necessary IT skills in house.

PS: We are a multi-site organisation and it is important for us to ensure good access to IT resources for all employees, especially those who are on the go and who advise clients on their sites.

MB: The challenge for us is aligning IT to the core purpose of the organisation. We are looking to ensure IT better supports 8,000 staff up and down the land working with disabled people. We also want to use technology to help disabled people have greater independence and choice in their lives through assistive technologies. The final thing is to use IT more to change attitudes, using things such as social media sites to campaign online.

RW: We are looking much more now to work with volunteers and use mobile working outside of our main offices. If you add to that the requirement for access to the information the volunteers need, that is a major challenge for us as a charity.

What emerging technologies and trends will bring the greatest benefits to charities in the next few years?
WH: The development of social media is very interesting. This could be a powerful tool for charities to use to change opinion and harness an individual’s networks. But it presents charities with a challenge in managing their brands.
Social networking sites allow users to portray an organisation in the way they want to, and that can work for good and bad. Learning how to take advantage of social tools, but recognising that the challenges will be an interesting experience for charities in the coming years.

RW: Looking at how we can disseminate information to as many people as possible is essential for NSPCC and social media is a way to do that. Another area is shared services, which the NSPCC has already been involved in but for smaller charities this is definitely coming.

WH: There is a growth in charities looking at these sort of outsourced services, which is often driven by regulations that make some technology costly and time consuming.

PS: Social networking will be a big trend for charities in the future, but you need to focus on what benefits you expect.
There is an image issue here. You are trying to spread your message and reach more people, but you are at risk of diluting that message by being just one more user among many without any particular identity or brand.
You have to maintain your presence on the web. But if it is properly thought through it provides great opportunities for charities.

MB: Social media also creates opportunities for disabled people to get involved in campaigning. It gives them a face on
Facebook, for example. Technology can close the gap between the people we seek to support, and the people we need to help us support them.