COVID-19: Iskin have smoothed the transition to e-learning for hundreds of organisations
E-learning for Charities
Here we look at the benefits of e-learning for charities, with online training
solutions that make content more adaptable and more accessible to
charity staff and volunteers in order to fix skill gaps and help charities save
money on training.
Training and development can present many challenges for the charity sector for a number of reasons, which also makes it the perfect sector to benefit from an
effective e-learning strategy.
The reality of carrying out valuable and rewarding work within the framework of
tight, funding-dependent budgets means training can understandably be put on the backburner.
"The availability of social functionality (such as Forums, Chat and Wiki) within
Moodle allows the organisation to generate feedback, discussions and for use internally for its mandatory training requirements." Princess Alice Hospice
With so many different training needs to address and a universal lack of time amongst charity staff, as well as the need to ensure organisations are meeting compliance regulations, those in charge of L&D certainly have their hands full.
E-learning can seamlessly improve or even replace the existing training methods for most charities and quickly become a key part of their training processes.
"Good support..., helpful finance staff re upgrades, renewals and invoicing, useful training on new features, regular newsletters/ emails for keeping up to date..."
Training challenges for charities:
Skill gaps
One of the major issues facing charities is the prevalence of skill gaps amongst their staff and volunteers. A lack of proper training in key areas can have numerous impacts on organisations, particularly increased workloads. This in turn leads to slower completion, less capacity to accept new work and no room to develop existing services.
Varied training needs
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The common skill gaps in smaller charities include things like marketing, impact reporting and fundraising, while for larger charities it can be things like project management and IT skills. Add in the need to meet regulations through compliance training, or even onboarding and CPD, and it’s clear the sector requires a variety of training.
Lack of funding
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Funding is a challenge common to all charities. Ensuring donations remain stable, as well as trying to increase them, is incredibly difficult. The pressure to do more with less is constant and cost-cutting is a relentless necessity. The costs associated with off-site training can quickly add up, making traditional training an expensive venture.
Lack of time
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Many charities often struggle with under-staffing, while existing staff can lack the right training. This means workloads are large and time is scarce. It’s easy to see training as a disruption, taking staff away from key tasks for large portions of time, though its importance shouldn’t be underestimated and e-learning can help minimise disruption.
Train to retain
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As charities are often unable to offer salaries comparable to those at for-profit, private sector organisations, recruiting top talent can be difficult. Retaining staff can also be a challenge, though many charity workers choose to work in the sector in order to make a difference. Training can be a great way to help retain top performers.
Geographical challenges
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Large charities in particular often have staff and volunteers located all across the country, making coordinating and organising training very difficult. Bringing staff all together in one location is expensive, while having disparate training across various locations can lead to a lack of consistency in staff skills and new knowledge.
Why an e-learning strategy is essential in charities:
It’s clear then that those in charge of L&D in the charities sector have their hands full. Tight budgets to address skill gaps makes training charity staff and volunteers challenging. The training needs can be incredibly varied, and some staff simply don’t have the time to be away from their posts. Here are just some of the benefits of an effective e-learning strategy:
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Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
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You can make use of an LMS to not only administrate and distribute formal training online, but also to report on results and, if necessary, prove that compliance regulations are being met. A charity LMS could bridge many of the skill gaps facing charities and their staff. Two leading LMSs are Totara Learn and Moodle.
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Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs)
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When it comes to informal and social learning, LXPs are king. They offer the concept of ‘learning on the job’ and collaborating to help others learn in social settings. LXPs like Totara Engage allow employees to create their own content ‘playlists’ and share useful knowledge and training with others.
Performance Management Platforms
It’s also worth mentioning Performance Management Platforms which, while not learning platforms, are useful should you need to monitor and improve staff performance. They can help identify skill gaps to address using LMSs or LXPs.
What different types of e-learning platform are there?
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E-learning can seamlessly replace existing methods and quickly become a key part of their training. Charities can deliver online training using either a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Learning Experience Platform (LXP).
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Here’s a mini-primer to each:
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Read a charity success story
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After 11 years of running their training offline, the charity
recognised a strong requirement for their courses to be made
available online. Moodle LMS met the all the requirements for
Princess Alice Hospice, and the open source solution
has enabled them to save money and invest available funds on
vital training and branding requirements.
We also work with other charity clients including: The Salvation Army, Midland Air Ambulance Charity, Scope and Coeliac UK.
Why Iskin Group?
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Iskin Group is one of the UK’s leading e-learning service providers.
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Since 2004 we’ve helped countless organisations to achieve their training objectives, including many charities across the UK. Get in touch today to see how we could help transform training for you.