My reflections on UKCharityCamp 2025

Aimed at the third sector space, UKCharityCamp bought together a diverse mix of charities and an even broader range of skills and expertise.

The approach: bring your own topic, share your knowledge and be open to learning.

Setting up the day

Once we had caffeinated and carb-loaded we got stuck into creating the day’s agenda. In unconference spirit, there was no pre-set programme – just a grid of rooms, timings, a mound of XL post-it notes and people ready to share their challenges, experiments, and successes.

Unsurprisingly, AI dominated the agenda. Other topics included digital inclusion, engaging Gen Z, how to operate in a more agile way, supporting beneficiaries and volunteers and a bit of future-gazing.

How the conversations unfolded

What struck me most was the openness. People shared their experiences, challenges, and successes freely. Tools like Airtable featured heavily in discussions, and you could see connections forming and ideas multiplying. The common goal? Achieving the best results for beneficiaries. Some themes from the day:

Digital inclusion

With over 8.5 million people in the UK lacking basic digital skills - and 1.6 million largely offline - digital inclusion was a big topic. Ideas ranged from using local spaces to build trust and get people online, to turning everyday interactions, such as banking, medical appointments and library visits, into opportunities for digital learning.

We also discussed the full journey of digital inclusion. Getting online is one part of the journey - making sure everyone can perceive and interact with digital content is just as important. Clear layouts, zoomable text, and tools like screen readers are essential for accessibility. By the end of the session, we realised we are all digital champions - most of us have helped someone get online or with a digital task.

Agentic AI

This was a huge topic. How people interact online is changing hugely and at pace, with a larger reliance on AI chats for sourcing information. Charities are considering how to provide secure, reliable, and trustworthy AI agents for beneficiaries. And this is multi-layered. From persona building, to defining where the information is pulled to making sure that the information databases are accurate and up to date. Testing came up a lot, not just the functional approach, but ensuring that agent consistently come back with safe and accurate information and that prompts cannot be manipulated.

Vibe coding

For smaller charities, vibe coding has made prototyping fast, affordable and accessible. It’s particularly useful for quickly presenting ideas to trustees and funders. However, questions remain about how secure, accessible, and robust these prototypes are.

Throughout the day, there was a common thread for AI. Before implementing AI - or any digital solution - foundations matter: secure, robust systems, resources, and processes must be in place first.

Final thoughts

UKCharityCamp was a day of thoughtful conversations and true collaboration. Everyone, regardless of charity size, role, or skill set, contributed to the energy and openness of the event. The generosity of participants and the dynamic nature of the conversations perfectly embodied the unconference spirit.

If you’re in or working with the third sector I'd highly recommend UKCharityCamp and look forward to next year's event.

About Zoonou

Zoonou is a UK-based digital QA company. We’re a B Corp and 100% employee owned. We partner with charities, non-profits and mission-driven teams to help build digital products that align with their mission and scale their impact.