Blog
Welcome to the Third Sector Lab blog, where you can find out about our past and present projects, experiences and ideas. Here at Third Sector Lab we believe in making digital more accessible for all. Read on for top training tips, helpful guides, and more!
We love to feature the voices of our readers! If you’ve got relevant experiences you’d like to share on our blog, please contact hello@thirdsectorlab.co.uk.
What are the humans for?
By Ross McCulloch
Designing work when AI can do more of it By Ross McCulloch, Third Sector Lab I read a piece by Anna Aston recently, When Machines Do the Thinking, What is Left for Us?, and it has been rattling around my head ever since. It asks a question I think most organisations are avoiding, mostly because the…
How charities are using Microsoft Copilot to solve real problems
By Ross McCulloch
In 2024, the UK Department for Business and Trade gave 1,000 staff access to Microsoft 365 Copilot and ran one of the more substantial independent evaluations of the tool. The headline result looked promising: 72% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied, and most reported some time savings. But the evaluation found no evidence that…
How Charities Are Using Claude to Solve Real Problems
By Ross McCulloch
A 2026 study of 346 nonprofits by Virtuous and Fundraising.AI found that 92% had adopted AI in some form, but only 7% said it had meaningfully expanded what their teams could accomplish. Closer to home, the 2026 Charity Digital Skills Report – based on 807 UK organisations – found much the same shape: 79% of…
Digital Trustees – September 2026 Cohort – Fully-funded places for The National Lottery Community Fund grant-holders.
By Ross McCulloch
Secure a fully funded place on the Digital Trustees June 2026 Cohort and get practical support to strengthen your board with digital, data or design expertise. Across two focused sessions, up to 30 organisations will work with the Third Sector Lab team to understand what digital skills their board needs, build confidence around digital governance,…
What charity digital leaders can learn from WWF’s approach to AI
By Ross McCulloch
When most charities talk about artificial intelligence, the conversation quickly lands on ChatGPT. We talk about drafting funding applications, summarising meeting notes, creating social media posts or building an internal chatbot. These are all reasonable places to experiment. They can save time and help people get started with a blank page. But they represent only…
Digital Trustees – June 2026 Cohort – Fully-funded places for The Robertson Trust and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation grant-holders.
By Kerry
Secure a fully funded place on the Digital Trustees June 2026 Cohort and get practical support to strengthen your board with digital, data or design expertise. Across two focused sessions, up to 30 organisations will work with the Third Sector Lab team to understand what digital skills their board needs, build confidence around digital governance,…
Aila’s Award-Winning Digital Journey – A Guest Post
By Kailen Budge
This guest blog post was written by Nicole Don. The Vision: Breaking the Silence for Women While public perception often frames gambling as a male-dominated issue, 2021 statistics from the Scottish Health Survey reveal a different reality: women are only 5% less likely to participate in gambling than men. Despite this, a dedicated, gendered…
Beyond the Build: How Co-Design Created a Safe Haven for Women Affected by Gambling Harm
By Kailen Budge
In the third sector’s digital landscape of 2026, “best practice” is no longer defined just by how a website looks, but by how it feels to the person using it. At Third Sector Lab, we recently had the privilege of leading the co-design and development of AILA Scotland—a digital space commissioned by Simon Community Scotland…
Bringing “New Blood” to Project Ability Ltd
By Kailen Budge
Bridging the digital skills gap through expert matchmaking. Project Ability Ltd, a Glasgow-based charity delivering visual arts for people with disabilities, recently embarked on a mission to refresh its board with five new members. Their goal was clear: they needed professional digital marketing expertise and a fresh perspective from younger applicants – what they termed…
How The Poverty Alliance Took a National Stand – And How Smart Social Media Helped Carry the Message
By Kailen Budge
When The Poverty Alliance launched Scotland Demands Better, the idea was incredibly clear: demand better jobs, better investment in essentials, and better social security. The simplicity of the demands belied the complexity of the environment they had to live in. Poverty is not an abstract issue in Scotland; it’s lived in lunchboxes, payslips, travel cards…