Question 1

What are the benefits of using CITA?

Accepted Answer

By registering with CITA you will have access to the following benefits:
A pool of independent, professional IT staff who will work with you to help you harness the full potential of technology to meet your aims
A help desk to support you if you have any questions or need clarification
The CITA Community – a networking community across social media platforms that will help you better understand how to improve your use of information technology
Occasional receptions and social gatherings to network and build relationships with other charities, volunteers, partners and CITA staff members.
A range of technology services and solutions from our partners which have been validated by CITA and are provided at discounted rates.

Question 2

Can you help me understand how I can get better technology or use my current technology better?

Accepted Answer

CITA has an expansive bank of volunteer IT professionals with wide and varied skills and experiences. Through the registration process, CITA will carefully match your needs to the right volunteer – an appropriate independent IT professional who can help you understand how to get better technology and/or use your current technology better.

Question 3

Can you help me with a specific project that we are having trouble with?

Accepted Answer

Most probably – we can.

CITA has worked with charities that have needed help with issues such as cloud migration, GDPR or Office 365,  right through to delivering or project managing important integration projects. Areas that are common in terms of help and support include:

Cloud migration
CRM (including SalesForce.com) consultancy
Digital policy / GDPR adherence
Document / records / case management
E-mail setup and management
IT software or hardware selection and deployment
Migration to new PCs and file sharing
Office 365 deployment
Web analytics / support

Question 4

What skills can you provide?

Accepted Answer

The skills will depend upon the need and may be specific to a defined software or technology type. Typically, the sort of skills most often required include:

Consultancy
Cloud strategy knowledge
Coding skills
Data management
Data security
Integration skills / migration knowledge
Project management
Web skills / analytics

Question 5

What does it cost?

Accepted Answer

CITA registration is completely free. Depending on the service required and annual income of your charity the following fees will apply:

For charities with an Income under £50k
Review - £75
Advisory - £100
Delivery - £125

For charities with an Income over £50k
Review - £150
Advisory - £200
Delivery - £250

The above  scalable fee model allows CITA to ensure that regardless of annual income or size, all charities are able to afford CITA services.

CITA has access to discretionary funding and can award ‘bursaries’ to part-fund the administration fee where circumstances are appropriate. Please make sure that you mention the need for a bursary (and the rationale) when you register for a service.

Of course, we welcome any additional contributions that charities are able to make, which will allow us to ensure more organisations can benefit from lower costs all round.

Question 6

Will we have to pay?

Accepted Answer

There is a small charge made to charities to cover CITA’s administration costs. This charge is made on a project by project basis and is the only cost.

There is no charge until made until you agree to commence a project.

The volunteers registered with CITA provide their services on a pro bono basis, i.e. free of charge.

Question 7

When do we pay?

Accepted Answer

The administration fee is invoiced when your CITA project commences.

Question 8

Can we have a refund?

Accepted Answer

Please contact CITA admin team to discuss however as the cost is only charged when the project commences and the fee is too cover the admin to this point it is unlikely without just cause we will be able to refund a fee .

Question 9

If I decline the volunteer will I need to pay again?

Accepted Answer

No. If you feel the volunteer that CITA matches you with is not appropriate to meet your needs, (which is a rare occurrence) you must inform CITA as soon as possible. We will then match you with an alternative volunteer at no extra cost.

Question 10

How do I build a business case to show a return on investment?

Accepted Answer

Most charities approach CITA because they do not have enough or appropriate IT skills, experience or knowledge inhouse. By engaging CITA they immediately mitigate the cost of either hiring such resource or having to buy the skills in via a consultancy contract.

CITA volunteers provide their services on a pro bono basis, i.e. free of charge.

Some charities will also look at the outcome of a project to support a business case – often CITA volunteers are party to buying decisions and their expertise can help to ensure that the procurement process drives a better total cost than otherwise.

If the business case is challenging, remember that CITA does have access to discretionary funding and can award ‘bursaries’ to part fund the Administration Fee where circumstances are appropriate.

Question 11

What is the process to engage a CITA volunteer?

Accepted Answer

hen you register to apply for a CITA Service (CITA Review, CITA Advisory or CITA Delivery) you will outline your needs in detail. CITA will use this as a basis of matching you against a list of potential volunteers. Where a volunteer is available and able to support you, they will contact you for an initial call.

Question 12

Can you guarantee you will find us a volunteer?

Accepted Answer

CITA is confident that you will find a volunteer. We have matched CITA volunteers with over 2400 charities and only a handful of times have we been unable to match a charity’s need with the right volunteer.

Whilst “IT” encompasses a wide range of technologies, services, capabilities and skills, we find that most charities have common core problems that can be resolved through the capabilities of one of almost 900 volunteers.

Question 13

How long will it take to find us a volunteer?

Accepted Answer

For most charities CITA can match a volunteer within a week, but for some it can take longer. It will often depend on the complexity of your project, the estimated timescales and duration of the volunteer effort, and your geographic location.

We believe that providing the right volunteer is more important than rushing into an assignment – so if you have very tight, unmovable timescales, please let us know – we wouldn’t want to be part of your problem!

Question 14

Can I meet/talk to the volunteer before I decide if I want to approve them?

Accepted Answer

After the match has been made, as part of the assignment process, an introductory call takes place. This will usually be initiated by the volunteer.

Question 15

What happens if the volunteer doesn’t complete the service?

Accepted Answer

In the event that circumstances change and the volunteer is unable to complete the service, CITA will work with you to find a suitable replacement. For larger projects (often provided through CITA Advisory or Delivery Services), volunteers would normally document stage reports as part of best practice management and these interim reports will be available to any replacement. CITA trusts that the calibre of our volunteers and their professional approach would mean that an effective handover would be ensured.

Question 16

What happens if our needs change part way through the assignment?

Accepted Answer

This will depend on the significance of change. We recognise that project needs sometimes alter and that strong project management practices will help to anticipate and accommodate change. In our experience, most change has been accommodated by the same volunteer.

If the change is such that the volunteer no longer has the capability or capacity to complete the project, however then you will need to agree with CITA whether the changes are such that it is in effect a new assignment or if it is a continuation.

Question 17

What training will I receive?

Accepted Answer

CITA will carefully match you to charities that have expressed a requirement for the specific skills and experiences that you will have told us about, so training should not be required.

Whilst CITA is unable to provide training, we do offer guidelines, built from other volunteers’ experiences which share best practice in terms of approach, behaviour and traps to avoid!

Question 18

Do I have to fulfil a certain number of assignments each year?

Accepted Answer

There is no requirement to undertake a minimum number of activities – and no ceiling on how many!

Question 19

What if my circumstances change and I can’t commit myself to supporting CITA?

Accepted Answer

CITA recognises that careers in IT can ebb and flow and that a volunteer’s availability will vary accordingly. If you find that you cannot commit to supporting CITA, you can either alter your preferences to opt out of further contact or decline any invitations to engage with future assignments, until you are ready to volunteer again.

Question 20

What if I don’t want to work with a charity / on a project I am engaged with?

Accepted Answer

Please let CITA know via the Help Desk as soon as possible and we will arrange for an alternative volunteer to take over the project. We ask that you help and support the new volunteer in terms of making the handover as seamless as possible.

Question 21

What if my skills don’t match the needs of the charity?

Accepted Answer

If this is the case, please let CITA know via the Help Desk as soon as possible and we will arrange for an alternative volunteer to take over the project. As above, we ask that you help and support the new volunteer in terms of making the handover as seamless as possible.

We would like to understand how the mismatch happened – did the charity’s needs change or were they misinterpreted? Or is our data on your current skills out of date?

Question 22

Will I get paid?

Accepted Answer

No. All volunteers are expected to work pro bono (i.e. free of charge). Where there are travel and subsistence costs, these may be recoverable from the charity – but you would need to agree this in advance, directly with the charity.

CITA does make a nominal charge to some charities (above a certain income threshold) to recover our administration costs.

Question 23

Can I promote my own business as a volunteer?

Accepted Answer

No. CITA volunteers are totally independent and not tied to any manufacturers, products or services.. You should not use your position whilst volunteering to promote any self-interest.

Question 24

What checks are made when I register?

Accepted Answer

CITA will endeavour to check that all CITA volunteers are professional, trustworthy, have the required skill levels and appropriate experience. We check these values in several ways – through reviewing LinkedIn and other social media channels and, on occasion, requesting references.

Question 25

How much does it cost to become a partner?

Accepted Answer

The cost will depend on a number of factors: the type of Partnership programme that you engage in; the number of charity assignments you wish to support; the detail and frequency of information you require from CITA; and the benevolence of your organisation!

Question 26

What does the partnership fee cover?

Accepted Answer

The partnership fee covers the costs CITA has in terms of administering the assignment process by matching volunteers with charities; ensuring that the assignment proceeds smoothly and that feedback is received at conclusion. These funds mean that more charities can receive nil cost, rather than low cost, IT support.

These assignments may be undertaken by your staff, if you are part of the CSR Partnership Scheme, or by independent IT professionals that are part of the CITA volunteer group. The work undertaken on behalf of charities by all CITA volunteers is pro bono.

Question 27

Why should we participate in the CSR Partnership Scheme rather than just encouraging our employees to sign up to CITA without our corporate involvement?

Accepted Answer

The CSR Partnership Scheme allows the organisation to signal financial support for employee volunteering, and CITA will provide you with an annual summary of your assignments to support your CSR reporting needs.

Question 28

Why should we support CITA when the pro-bono volunteer work for charities competes with our own paid-for services?

Accepted Answer

Yes, they can compete, but more frequently CITA volunteers are providing services that the charity would otherwise not undertake. CITA volunteers most often advise on change projects – they rarely substitute for the provision of commercial services.

Question 29

What is the effort required to administer the CSR Partnership Scheme?

Accepted Answer

Once on-board, there is no administration requirement on your side. CITA will provide periodic reports and send you invoices in relation to volunteer projects started. We might nudge you with an employee communication suggestion from time to time, but that’s at your discretion.

Question 30

Under the CSR Partnership Scheme why are the number of assignments restricted?

Accepted Answer

Included in the CSR Partnership Scheme fee is an element by which CITA recovers its administration costs of managing the agreed number of assignments, and the costs of managing the partner relationship. Where you exceed the number of assignments agreed, an additional fee is applied to recover the incremental administration costs.

Question 31

As a CITA supporter, how can I recommend CITA?

Accepted Answer

There are many ways that you can help to promote CITA – from referring charities to our website, through to promoting our services in your office, on your website.

Please contact us to discuss how we can offer each other mutual support.

Question 32

As a CITA supporter, am I able to register for CITA’s pro bono services?

Accepted Answer

If you are a registered charity – yes. Find out how to register as a CITA charity and to understand how we can help.

FAQs for Charities

Frequently asked questions