{"id":445,"date":"2026-10-20T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cardonet.co.uk\/insights\/?p=445"},"modified":"2026-10-08T12:22:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:22:54","slug":"it-strategy-cost-membership-bodies-trustees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cardonet.co.uk\/insights\/it-strategy-cost-membership-bodies-trustees\/","title":{"rendered":"IT strategy for membership bodies: five questions for trustees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trustees answer to members for the promises a membership body makes, and technology carries nearly all of them. Five questions connect each promise to the cost line that pays for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When technology reaches a board agenda, it usually arrives as a figure, such as a renewal quote, a supplier invoice or a budget line with a proposed increase. The discussion tends to focus on that figure, because every trustee can question a number: has it gone up, and could a cheaper supplier do the same job?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both are fair questions, although neither shows what the money pays for. Behind the figure may sit the register that proves a member’s credential, the renewal process that collects subscriptions, the login that opens the member library or the mailing list that carries the body’s voice. Each is a promise the body made to the people who pay to belong to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What your members were promised<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A membership body makes a small number of promises. A professional body promises a credential that employers accept and a register that proves it, while a trade association promises a voice with government and a view of its market. For a learned society, the promise is access to research and to the people doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of those now runs through a system. The credential depends on accurate records, the register on a public page that stays online, the voice on a mailing list that reaches the right members and access on a login that works first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four moments in membership<\/a>\u00a0carry most of what a member experiences: joining, the first login, reaching a benefit and finding community. If a member cannot log in on the morning a renewal window closes, the body has broken a promise, and that member will remember it when the next invoice arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the cost line gets the attention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BHP’s summary of the Charity Digital Skills Report 2026<\/a>, which draws on responses from 807 charities, reports that squeezed finances are the biggest barrier to digital transformation, affecting 63% of charities. The same summary finds that almost half lack a trustee with relevant digital expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under that pressure, and without a trustee who knows the systems, a board receives technology in the one form it can read, which is money. Its options then narrow to approving the figure or trimming it, and trimming tends to look like the careful choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the promise drops out of the board pack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The executive team shapes this without intending to. A finance director prepares the board pack in the language of budgets, a chief executive turns a supplier conversation into a recommendation, and the risk register reduces a system to a name and a rating. By the time the item reaches trustees, the member promise behind it is rarely mentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where accountability sits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Charity Governance Code, a voluntary good-practice framework for charities in England and Wales, was revised in late 2025.\u00a0Trowers & Hamlins’ summary of the revision<\/a>\u00a0says the board is responsible for looking after the charity’s resources and identifying risks to its aims. It adds that the new edition suggests charities hold a policy on the use of technology and AI tools. Many membership bodies have other legal structures with duties of their own, although their boards carry the same practical responsibility to members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government data shows how thinly responsibility for cyber security is held. In the\u00a0Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025\/2026<\/a>, 30% of UK charities had board members or trustees explicitly responsible for cyber security, a share that has held steady for three years. The proportion of charities calling cyber security a high priority for senior management fell from 68% to 60% in a year, driven by low-income charities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Five questions for each promise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Take one promise at a time, such as renewal or the register, and put these five questions to your executive team. None needs technical vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n