The new Towards Maturity Benchmark study "Innovative Learning in the Charity Sector", which was recently launched, shines the spotlight on the impact and benefits that charitable organisations are realising from implementing learning technologies. The study, the third in a series commissioned by the Charity Learning Consortium, assesses progress over the last five years comparing the findings with other sectors with some interesting results.

Martin Baker, CEO at the Charity Learning Consortium comments, "Towards Maturity’s research reveals that charities using learning technologies report increased levels of satisfaction amongst customers, staff, and volunteers; reach more people with the learning that’s on offer, and see an increase in qualifications. Staff are also generally more engaged with learning, whilst charities increase their productivity and reduce their overall training costs. It’s a great example of just what can be achieved – by any sector - by the smart use of technology for learning."

For many in charitable organisations, the past twelve months has seen a focus on making the most of limited resources. The charity sector is investing an average of fourteen percent of their learning budget to technology-enabled learning. Whilst this is less than the twenty percent allocated within other sectors, the charity sector has high expectations about what it is looking to achieve.

The 2013-14 Towards Maturity benchmark gathered feedback from over 500 L&D leaders, 55 of whom came from the charity sector. This new study specifically focuses on the charity sector. It shows that they are more likely to report that their technology-enabled learning strategy is improving the induction process and increasing flexibility and access; increasing on-the-job productivity; and improving time to competency, whilst reducing costs and time away from the job.

Some 27% of all formal learning is now e-enabled in charitable organisations (up from 21% in 2011), with over half of charity respondents using eLearning for compliance-related training. Whilst the charity sector e-enable less of their internal systems and L&D skills training than most, they are more likely to use technology to help tackle all other skills, including the "soft" skills of leadership and management, team working, and communications.

In terms of bottom-line business benefit from using learning technologies, charities report

• 25% increase in the speed of rollout of new IT applications
• 14% increase in customer satisfaction
• 15% increase in the ability to change procedures or products
•  7% increase in productivity.

In terms of learner benefits from using learning technologies, charitable organisations report

• 10% improvement in reaching time to competency
• 16% increase in staff/volunteer satisfaction
•  9% increase in qualifications gained by learners
• 15% reduction in staff turnover.

It is clear that bottom-line value is being delivered without compromising efficiency. The benefits of using learning technologies in charities include

• 20% reduction in study time
• 20% reduction in delivery time
• 16% reduction in training costs
• 13% increase in volume of training delivered.

Laura Overton, MD of Towards Maturity and one of the report’s author says, "This report highlights how L&D leaders in the charity sector are really embracing the opportunity that a technology-enabled learning strategy can offer. Over the past five years, they have been actively using the Towards Maturity Benchmark to benchmark with each other and with peers in other sectors, and the insight this gives is paying dividends in the results they are achieving and the speed in which they are achieving them."

The bottom-line results that charity organisations are achieving are considerable, yet the sector is still looking to fully realise the entire range of benefits they seek. A perceived lack of skills amongst staff to manage their own learning is reported by 67% of participants.