Digital growth doesn't have to mean ecommerce revenue. For charities and not-for-profit organisations, the outcome might be more supporters, enquiries, programme participation, applications, members, event registrations, donations, service uptake — or simply a larger contactable audience. The underlying digital disciplines are much the same: understanding the audience, acquiring the right people, improving the journey, using CRM properly, measuring what works, and making sensible decisions about technology and investment.
Commercial digital disciplines, applied to mission-led outcomes.
Much of my background comes from commercially accountable digital and ecommerce environments, where acquisition cost, conversion, retention, customer value and return on investment have to stand up to scrutiny. Those disciplines can be just as useful in a not-for-profit environment — provided the organisation defines the right outcome, rather than treating revenue as the only measure of growth.
“Website traffic is increasing, but meaningful actions are not.”
“The CRM is mainly being used as a mailing list.”
“Marketing channels report activity, but it's hard to see organisational impact.”
“The digital roadmap has more priorities than the team can realistically deliver.”
“We know AI could help us, but we don't know where it will genuinely add value.”
“Different agencies or suppliers are optimising for different metrics.”
“Analytics exists, but leadership doesn't have a clear view of what's working.”
“The organisation has accumulated technology without a clear operating model.”
“There's no senior digital owner tying it all together.”
If any of this sounds familiar, that's usually where I come in.
Talk Through Your Digital ChallengeUnderstanding which channels are actually creating meaningful engagement rather than simply generating traffic.
More on Digital Acquisition & Engagement →Moving beyond a newsletter-led approach towards clearer journeys, segmentation, automation and ongoing engagement.
More on CRM & Lifecycle →Removing unnecessary friction between someone arriving on the website and completing the action that matters.
Building measurement around organisational outcomes rather than relying on surface-level traffic and channel metrics.
More on Analytics & Measurement →Assessing whether systems support the organisation's objectives, and helping prioritise where limited time and budget should go first.
Identifying practical uses of AI that can reduce workload, improve insight or strengthen delivery — without introducing technology for its own sake.
More on AI & Automation →Agencies and suppliers can be excellent at executing within their specialism, but charities and not-for-profits often need someone senior looking across the whole digital operation — prioritising where limited time, budget and internal capacity should go first. Sometimes that means a focused review or project. Sometimes it means working alongside the team for longer as fractional digital leadership. Either way, I'm not trying to sell you media spend, software licences or a development retainer, so my recommendations can focus on what I believe will genuinely make the biggest difference.
More on Fractional Ecommerce Leadership →20+ years running ecommerce, retail and digital growth from the inside — not just advising it from the outside.
Senior leadership experience across ecommerce, digital transformation, acquisition, CRM, technology and commercial trading.
Experience operating inside businesses, not just consulting from outside them.
As Head of Online at a national enterprise and business-support organisation, led a digital transformation that delivered record acquisition levels and rebuilt the infrastructure and tech stack behind it — an in-house role, working within the same budget and approval realities charities and not-for-profits recognise.
An initial conversation is not a sales pitch. The objective is to understand:
Not ready to book yet? Tell me a bit about your situation and I'll come back to you.
A few of the questions that come up most often in these conversations:
If digital feels fragmented, underused or harder to measure than it should, we can start with a conversation about where the biggest constraint is likely to sit.
