Digital Fundamentals for Nonprofit Professionals
Short, practical lessons to help you build confidence and make smarter digital decisions, whatever your role.
Nonprofits are facing unprecedented digital challenges and opportunities. Whether you're a fundraiser, programme manager, communications lead, or nonprofit executive, this course will give you the confidence and practical skills to use digital tools effectively, improve supporter engagement, and future-proof your organisation.
Who is this course for?
- You work in a nonprofit, but digital isn’t your main role. Maybe you’re responsible for fundraising, comms, service delivery or ops, but digital keeps showing up in your work. This course will help you approach it with clarity and confidence.
- You want to improve how your organisation connects with donors, volunteers, or service users. You’re not looking for hype, you just want to use digital more effectively.
- You need flexible learning that fits your time and role. Whether you want to follow a full theme or dip into a single topic, you’ll find lessons that meet you where you are.
How it works
Instead of a linear course, you get unlimited access to a growing library of bite-sized lessons. Each one takes just a few minutes to complete and focuses on a specific challenge, question, or skill. Many lessons have video content to bring the topics to life. You'll also get practical, actionable tools that you can use straight away.
There’s no pressure to follow a fixed order. Just choose the topics most relevant to you, when you need them.
Course content
Here you can explore the themes and topics that are available in the course. Once you are a member of the course and are logged in, you can return here to access each course page.
Foundations: What digital really means for nonprofits
Start here if you want to understand what “digital” means in practice—not just in theory.
- What does “digital” actually mean in a nonprofit?
- Why digital isn’t about tech—it’s about people
- 3 myths that hold charities back from going digital
- What is digital maturity—and why does it matter?
- Digital transformation vs. digital progress: what’s the difference?
Strategy and decision-making
Build a clear, realistic plan for your digital work and avoid wasting time on the wrong projects.
- How to write a simple digital strategy in under an hour
- The 5 questions every digital plan should answer
- Aligning digital work with your mission (not just your inbox)
- The impact–effort matrix: a tool to focus your energy
- How to spot a digital project that’s doomed to fail
- The biggest digital waste? Projects without a problem
User journeys and better digital experiences
Design simpler, more effective online experiences for the people you want to reach—donors, volunteers, or service users.
- What is user-centred design and why should you care?
- Empathy in action: how to build digital tools with real people in mind
- How to map a digital journey (with just a pen and paper)
- Why your users hate your donation form—and how to fix it
- Spotting friction: what’s stopping people from taking action?
Building a digital-first culture
Make digital part of everyday work—not a special project for one team.
- Building a digital-first culture (without a tech team)
- Why your digital strategy will fail without your team on board
- Encouraging experimentation without fear of failure
- How to talk about digital in a team that doesn’t get it
- Why every role is a digital role now
- Confidence before capability: the real starting point
Tools, trends and tech choices
Make smarter decisions about which platforms, tools, and trends are worth your time—and which aren’t.
- Should you join that new platform? Ask these 3 questions first
- Why free tools aren’t really free
- Choosing the right tool: features, capacity, and fit
- Why your tech stack should be boring
- What AI can—and can’t—do for your charity
Leadership and governance
If you’re leading a team—or reporting to a board—these lessons will help you champion digital change with confidence.
- Getting your leadership team behind digital change
- How to make the case for digital to your board
- Digital as risk management: reframing the argument
- How to lead digital when you don’t come from digital
- What your trustees need to understand about digital (but don’t yet)
Skills, confidence and capability
Practical guidance on how to build skills across your team, spot potential, and create a culture of digital learning.
- Building digital confidence in non-digital teams
- What to look for when hiring for digital roles
- Updating job descriptions for the digital age
- How to spot digital potential in a non-digital CV
- Creating a learning culture without a training budget
- Rethinking appraisals: rewarding curiosity and learning
Ethics and safeguarding
Understand your role in protecting people and designing inclusive, responsible digital experiences.
- Digital ethics for non-digital roles
- How to spot red flags in digital safeguarding
- Designing for inclusion, not exclusion
- What accessibility really means—and why it’s your job
What you get
- Short, practical videos you can watch anytime, anywhere
- Downloadable templates and worksheets for real-world use
- Real examples from nonprofits, not tech companies
- New lessons added regularly—your membership keeps growing in value
An annual membership of Next for Nonprofits gives you unlimited access to the full website, including all of our course content. You will also receive a members-only newsletter. Annual memberships are usually £250, but they're currently discounted to £150 for early birds.