Blog. HA Embraces Digital Technology

Imagine a world where there is no internet, email, websites, social media, mobile apps or smartphones! Could you survive?!

Well this is how HA worked in 1999 when I first joined! However this didn’t stop HA being a successful charity and helping raise money to help our people in the hospitality industry.

Technology has revolutionised our lives over the last few years but it has also played an important part in how charities function in the 21st century. Here are a few examples:

Before email, we communicated with our supporters and beneficiaries by telephone and post. Now we can communicate instantly to them wherever they are, whether they are using a laptop, smartphone or tablet! This allows people with problems to contact us confidentially, when, where and how they want to.

We can now help our beneficiaries much quicker as we can receive and transfer money instantly using online banking. This has especially helped those who need our emergency help.

When we run events we now use portable payment machines so we no longer have to rely solely on cash or cheque donations. This means our supporters have more flexible ways of making donations and we receive the money more quickly so it can go to those in need much faster. Contactless payment is great it makes it easy for people to give.

We use our website to advertise our services and events while our beneficiaries use it to complete grant application forms (rather than relying on ‘snail mail’ back in the day!). We also receive donations via our website which is a very simple and quick process.

Social media allows us to communicate quickly and directly with our supporters to raise awareness about key events and HA news.

The use of fundraising web sites such as Virgin Money Giving and Just Giving has helped people raise money individually for us. As these sites also do Gift Aid this reduces the administrative overhead for charities.

Our successful EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) scheme uses the latest cloud technology platform to provide a range of vital services to hospitality industry employees.

Technology has made a massive difference to our daily lives, but it has also changed the way charities operate for the better! HA embraces digital technology. Our new blogs are a great example of our latest foray into tech!