ScotlandIS and Third Sector Lab working together to strengthen digital leadership across Scotland’s third sector

ScotlandIS is pleased to be engaging with Third Sector Lab, with an initial focus on supporting its Digital Trustees programme and helping connect more of Scotland’s technology community with charities and third sector organisations.

Digital is now fundamental to how organisations operate, from cyber security and data to AI, service delivery and organisational resilience. But having that expertise available operationally is only part of the picture. Increasingly, it also needs to be represented around the board table.

Third Sector Lab’s Digital Trustees programme helps charities understand the digital skills and experience their boards need and connects them with professionals from technology, data, design, cyber and AI who are interested in using their expertise as trustees or board advisers.

Through our working relationship, ScotlandIS will help raise awareness of the programme across our community, encourage more technology professionals to consider board and trustee opportunities, and create stronger connections between Scotland’s digital sector and the organisations delivering vital services across our communities.

For our members, it is a chance to use their experience in a different way, develop their own leadership and governance skills and make a tangible contribution to an organisation they care about.

For third sector organisations, it provides access to some of the expertise that will become increasingly important as technology, cyber resilience, data and AI play a greater role in organisational strategy and governance.

It’s also a great example of what can happen when we connect Scotland’s different ecosystems rather than working in isolation.

Nicola Taylor, COO at ScotlandIS, said: “Scotland has an incredible community of technology professionals with skills and experience that can make a real difference beyond the technology sector itself. The Digital Trustees programme creates a practical way for that expertise to reach charities and third sector organisations at board level.

“For us, this is about creating connections that deliver value on both sides. Third sector organisations gain access to digital knowledge and confidence, while our members have an opportunity to contribute, develop as leaders and understand a completely different sector.

“We’re really looking forward to working with Third Sector Lab and helping more people from across the ScotlandIS community get involved.”

Ross McCulloch, Founder of Third Sector Lab, said: “Charity boards are now having to make important decisions about cyber security, data, AI and digitally delivered services, whether or not they feel equipped to do so. Digital Trustees is not about bringing in one person to ‘fix the technology’. It is about helping boards ask better questions, understand risk and make digital part of their wider organisational strategy.

“Working with ScotlandIS gives us a brilliant opportunity to connect charities with a much wider pool of people who can bring that experience to the board table. It also gives technology professionals the chance to use their skills for social good, develop as leaders and contribute to causes they care about.

“This is exactly the kind of bridge we need between Scotland’s technology and third sector communities.”

If you are interested in getting involved in the programme or supporting it, please get in touch with Nicola Taylor (nicola.taylor@scotlandis.com) for a conversation.