<   Back to Blog

Digital Trustees – September 2026 Cohort – Fully-funded places for The National Lottery Community Fund grant-holders.

Ross McCulloch

Ross McCulloch

22 July 2026 | Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Screenshot 2026-07-22 103429

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, and connect with skilled tech professionals who are ready to serve as trustees or board advisers.

We have supported hundreds of charities, social enterprises, CICs and community groups to find the right digital, data or design expert for their board.

Applications close Friday 21 August 2026.

We have 30 fully-funded places available – successful applicants will be informed by 24 Aug 2026.

Cohort sessions will take place on:

  • 15 Sept 2026 10am – 12pm
  • 22 Sept 2026 10am – 12pm

What the cohort includes:

Practical board-level learning
Understand why digital belongs on every board agenda, and how to make it part of your organisation’s culture, strategy and decision-making.

Digital maturity tools
Benchmark where your organisation is now, identify gaps, and get a clearer picture of the skills and confidence your board needs.

Support to shape the right role
Define what kind of digital trustee or board adviser would add most value — whether your priority is data, design, cyber security, AI, digital inclusion, systems, service design or digital transformation.

Tailored matchmaking to skilled Digital Trustees
Connect with experienced digital, data and design professionals who are interested in supporting a charity board.

Access to the Digital Trustees community
Join an online community offering peer support, practical resources and shared learning from other charities and trustees.

Follow-up guidance
Get support after the match to help your new trustee settle in, understand the organisation and make a useful contribution early on.

Fully-funded places are available to grant-holders of The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland.


Apply to Become a Digital Trustee Here

More from our blog

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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,…
Read more
Certificate of award for Aila by Simon Community Scotland

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…
Read more

<   Back to Blog