RSPCA: Doing Digital via Donations - Ctrl Alt Lead podcast

No room for fat cats in this budget

Digital transformation is difficult for any organisation. For charities, there's an additional challenge: every pound spent on technology is a pound supporters intended to be spent directly on the cause.

That tension sits at the heart of the RSPCA's technology strategy, according to Emily Tierney, chief operating officer, and Jake Brown, head of digital experience and engagement, who joined me on the first episode Ctrl Alt Lead’s new season to discuss the charity's digital ambitions.

While most of us know the RSPCA as the UK’s largest animal welfare charity, it also operates a sprawling digital estate that supports fundraising, animal welfare services, volunteer programmes and public education. But, unlike for-profit organisations, the charity has to balance investment against its dependence on donations.

Emily said, “We can't outspend the private sector - we can't just rely on there being indefinite and reliable income - so we have to try and outthink [our challenges].”

Following that philosophy, the RSPCA has moved away from a fragmented technology estate built across years of organic growth. Now, rather than adding new products for every new requirement, the charity is rationalising systems, investing selectively in platforms that directly support its mission, and developing more capability in-house

Jake explained that all technology decisions are now governed by core principles, including putting users first, favouring reuse over new platforms, adopting modern API-first architecture and making long-term investments that reduce technical debt.

The approach is already delivering results. The RSPCA’s websites attracted more than 25 million visitors in 2025, while a redesign of its incident-triage processes helped frontline teams reach 24% more animals experiencing cruelty or neglect

The episode also explores the RSPCA's adoption of AI, efforts to improve data governance across a 200-year-old organisation, and the challenge of aligning teams behind a single mission.

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