Purpose before platform: Smith Family chief’s digital advice for NFPs

Taylor was a headline speaker at the opening panel of the Infoxchange Technology for Social Justice conference in Melbourne, moderated by the Institute of Community Directors Australia.

He said data, digitisation, digital inclusion and AI were central to The Smith Family’s strategy to improve educational equity for the young, but innovations must maintain a strong sense of humanity.

“We are finding ways to invest in those opportunities as best we can but also be very focused on the first principle of do no harm,” Taylor told the panel.

The Smith Family is using using bots to improve fundraising, trialling artificial intelligence tutoring for hundreds of students, and employing data to better measure its impact.

“We see incredible opportunities with AI from an efficiency perspective, but the filter on efficiency is always effectiveness,” said Taylor.

Innovation needs good risk management, ethical frameworks

In a follow-up interview with Community Directors Intelligence on the sidelines of the conference, Taylor said “digital inclusion is absolutely paramount” for purpose-driven organisations.

Taylor also highlighted the risks that accompany increased digital capability. The Smith Family survived a serious data breach in 2022 in which attackers attempted to steal funds.

The incident prompted a root and branch review of its digital governance and data security.

“With these incredible resources, we have tremendous opportunities to shape how we work, but we're learning a lot more about the risk that that creates as well.”

Any organisation embarking on a digital transformation must ensure that people – including staff and beneficiaries – were at the heart of changes to systems and processes.

“We're fortifying our work, we're investing in systems and processes, but also building capability of our people, because they enable this work (and) can also open the door to risk as well. Strategy and risk have to guide the technology.”

Taylor said one growing vulnerability stemmed from incompatible software systems.

“One of the areas that's I think has become more acute for a lot of organisations is the risks that's created when our systems don't work with each other, and people work outside of systems in downloading data to do their work. They're just trying to get on with their work, but of course we know the risks that that creates.”

He urged leaders to extend staff capabilities “beyond passive learning”.

“We’ve got to close the loop and discover what are they actually learning and how is this changing their practice, because they can play such an important role in ensuring that we don’t elevate the risk in our organisations.”

Focus on the end goal, not just the tech

Taylor said The Smith Family’s digital strategy was focused on “the opportunities we want to create, and the problems we want to solve”. “It's not an end in itself.”

He warned NFP leaders not to lose sight of their mission and values in the pursuit of new tech, and that leaders must lead conversations about the opportunities and digital governance needs of their organisations.

Those conversations should be based on strong principles of equity, human interaction, the environment, and the risks, as well as the opportunities.

Despite the caveats, Taylor is optimistic about AI’s potential to support the work of charities and not-for-profits.

“We can deploy more resources to our work with people, which is tremendous, but also extend the reach of our work.”

That potential for artificial intelligence to supercharge the sector would rely on increased financial support by funders, including philanthropy and government.

“This is a new expense and it’s a significant expense. We’ve got to be thinking about ‘how do we appropriately invest in this type of work’?”

National approach needed to steer tech to greater inclusion

Taylor backed the sector-driven NFP Sector Development Blueprint, which recommends increased investment and strategic support for the sector’s digital transformation and outcomes measurement, as well as increased support for innovation.

“I think everything that I would have wanted to see is featured in that report, which is terrific.”

Taylor said the Blueprint also aligned with the federal Data and Digital Strategy, but called for a sharper focus on inclusion at the Commonwealth and state levels.

He cited The Smith Family’s support for the creation of a National Device Bank, which aims to redistribute 100,000 used phones, laptops and tablets to bridge the digital divide.

Taylor said that need was clear from his organisation’s own initiatives.

“In our work at The Smith Family, 30 per cent of the 71,000 students that we support in our Learning for Life programme don’t have a digitally connected laptop at home.”

He said inclusion must be central to any national strategy.

“AI is a tremendous opportunity to accelerate a lot of things,” says Taylor. “But if we don’t have people included, we’re going to just grow the gap in outcomes for Australian citizens.”

Taylor believed it would be up to the NFP sector to press for equity in technology.

“I think there’s a huge opportunity to really shape those principles, for our organisations to advocate and influence corporations and the principles they use and in turn governance, so we don’t see some of the risks play out,” he said.

More information

The Smith Family submission to the Bridging the Digital Divide consultation (October 2024)

Artificial intelligence: ICDA guidance, governance frameworks, policies