Concern takes digital-first approach in bid to boost fundraising activities

Irish charity teams up with tech company Expleo to increase digital engagement

Pictured announcing Expleo’s digital transformation project with Concern Worldwide are Richard Dixon, director of public affairs at Concern Worldwide, and and Melanie Byrne, director of business analysis at Expleo Ireland
Pictured announcing Expleo’s digital transformation project with Concern Worldwide are Richard Dixon, director of public affairs at Concern Worldwide, and and Melanie Byrne, director of business analysis at Expleo Ireland

Technology company Expleo has teamed up with Concern Worldwide to help transform the charity's fundraising activities as it moves towards being a digital-first charity.

Expleo was brought on board to help develop an integrated digital platform for fundraising. As part of the project, Expleo provided a range of consultancy services, analysing the charity’s current fundraising activities to discover where things could be made more efficient and identifying new opportunities for Concern.

The new customer relationship management system will be used in Concern’s country, regional, county and town offices. The platform will also help Concern to allocate grant funding to the locations most in need.

The humanitarian aid group, which raises more than €190 million every year including €40 million from thousands of donations and fundraising activities, is expected to increase donation revenues and improve donor engagement thanks to the project.

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Empower communities

"We are increasingly using digital technology to support our programmes overseas," said Concern's Richard Dixon. "It is hugely important to our ability to donate online quickly in times of emergencies. We can also transfer money to people in need, which is helping us to empower communities."

Concern Worldwide employs 3,300 staff in 25 countries around the world, with its funding used to reach 24 million people globally.

“We have a commitment to being a digital-first charity. As part of this, we were making much-needed investments in our grant management and fundraising programmes,” Mr Dixon said.

“When we unpacked everything we do, we had more than 200 data-driven processes. Expleo mapped these so we could capture, monitor and evaluate everything to prepare us for the next stage as the more efficient we are, the more work we can do.”

Expleo was set up in 2017, when the outsourced research and development arm of Assystem became the independent company Assystem Technologies.

In 2018, this company acquired SQS to form a single organisation, later joined by management consultants Moorhouse and then Stirling Dynamics, a marine and aerospace specialist.

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist