Practical digitalisation for NGOs - a training series for Centrum Obywatelskie Centrum C 10 & IPP
How to use AI, automation and public funds when an organisation has a small team and a lot of day-to-day matters? This training series was created precisely to translate digital tools into solutions useful in the everyday work of NGOs.
About the project
Centrum Obywatelskie Centrum C 10 (a public task financed from the funds of the City of Kraków) and the Instytut Polityk Publicznych support social organisations in developing competences, carrying out local initiatives and acting effectively for residents. Many of them work in small teams, where one person often combines several different roles.
As part of the cooperation, we prepared a series of online training sessions that showed how to use AI, automation, marketing and public funds in the everyday work of NGOs.
How do you talk about technology in the language of NGOs' real needs?
Social organisations often recognise the need for digitalisation, but they do not always have the time, budget and competences to translate it into concrete actions. The challenge was to create a programme that would at once show the possibilities of technology, not ignore organisational constraints, and give participants solutions they could implement after the training.
Skills fit for today's challenges
The pace of technological change is enormous today, and new tools quickly become part of everyday work. This training series showed participants how to consciously use AI, automation and public funds to communicate their initiatives better and develop them without losing sight of their social mission.
Limited organisational resources
NGOs often work in small teams, rely on volunteer work and cannot afford costly, lengthy implementations
Chaos in processes
Automation does not fix disorganized work - it can only replicate existing mistakes faster
Marketing on a low budget
Organisations need to reach the right people effectively without large marketing teams
Complexity of public funds
Grants and funding programmes require understanding the rules, eligibility and the later settlement of the project
From knowledge to concrete workflows
We prepared four complementary modules in which we combined the substantive basics with practical examples, tools and workshops.
Scope of the series
- AI in promoting social activities
Social marketing, communication strategy, AI tools, content creation, analytics and marketing workflows. - A digital assistant in the organisation
Using AI to work with the organisation's knowledge, research, information analysis and repetitive tasks. - Process automation in NGOs
Organizing processes before implementing tools, access management, document flow, donations and automations. - Funds for digitalisation
Funding sources, assessing the organisation's readiness, the logic of programmes and the risks related to preparing and settling a project.
Technologies used
We did not start with tools, but with the basics of digital hygiene: data security, access control and organising information within the organisation. Only on such a foundation can further improvements be implemented safely and consciously. During the training we demonstrated both simple automations using, for example, Google Workspace, Make and n8n, and more creative uses of tools such as Canva, CapCut or ElevenLabs. We also discussed Obsidian as an example of a lightweight knowledge base that helps keep an organisation's procedures, notes and experience in one place.
Project timeline
The series was designed to guide participants from organising the basics of digital work to consciously using a variety of tools. Each module combined substantive knowledge with examples and tools that can be related to the organisation's daily activities.
Identifying the organisation's needs
Topics were selected to match the real challenges of NGOs: financing activities, communication, working with documents and repetitive tasks
Designing the training programme
Four modules were arranged, combining the basics with the practical use of AI, automation, marketing and public funds
Preparing original materials
Presentations, workflows and scenarios were created to show the application of tools in the organisation's daily work
Delivering online sessions
Training sessions based on concrete examples were delivered, showing how to first organise a process and then choose the technology
Digitalisation embedded in the organisation's daily work
Expressions of interest
In total across the Facebook events
NGO development areas
Public funds, marketing with AI, a digital assistant and process automation
Training sessions delivered
Additional dates helped reach a wider group of organisations
Practical application scenarios
Examples relating to communication, research, documents, planning and other everyday NGO tasks
The responses collected after the training clearly showed that participants want to further develop their digital skills and use them in the everyday work of their organisations. Suggestions for further topics confirmed that this was not a one-off interesting subject, but an area NGOs want to return to.
Technology in the reality of NGOs
The series made it possible to ground the conversation about AI and automation in the realities of social organisations: limited resources, responsibility for data, the need to organise processes and the search for lasting sources of funding.
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