text: Media Trust and Google offer free digital training for charities | Third Sector
  21 June 2018 by David Hobbs
  The philanthropic arm of the media giant, Google.org, has donated more than £300,000 to the programme
  Media Trust has launched a new training programme to develop digital skills among charities and community organisations after receiving a grant from Google.org.
  The philanthropic arm of Google has donated $400,000 (£302,000) to the programme, which is scheduled to run towards the end of 2019. In addition, Google staff will provide pro-bono support through mentoring and training.
  The aim of the programme is to help organisations access the digital training they need in order to strengthen their communications capabilities. It was created in response to the trust's survey of charities in 2017, which found that a lack of digital skills was preventing more than 70 per cent of charities from reaching their target audiences. This was particularly the case among smaller charities: more than 40 per cent of the survey's respondents had less than £5,000 to spend on marketing and communications annually.
  Media Trust will deliver free half-day masterclasses in more than a dozen locations around the UK, including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leicester and Liverpool, between September 2018 and June 2019. Each event will offer local organisations the opportunity to receive free training and mentoring from media partners and digital communications experts. The sessions will be supported by Google Digital Garage and cover a range of topics, from social media strategies to building digital marketing plans.
  The trust will also develop its digital resources hub to provide charity professionals with access to online training resources from a range of commercial and charitable partners, so they can continue their learning beyond the practical sessions.
  The chief executive of Media Trust, Su-Mei Thompson, said: "It is vital that charities are given the support they need to enhance their digital capabilities or they risk being left behind. As our own research shows, this can often prove difficult for most charities and local community groups when resources and budgets are at a premium.
  "This is why we are really excited about our new digital skills training programme, which will allow charities and community organisations to harness the power of digital to have a stronger voice."