Your digital goody bag…
Virtual Members’ Meeting

Case Study: Turning Our eLearning Around
Alan Jerram, Abri 

In this session, Alan shared how Abri redesigned content around accessibility standards, ensuring learning is inclusive for colleagues with a wide range of needs. The presentation explored practical improvements to eLearning design, including navigation, language, colour contrast, multimedia, assessments, and accessibility testing.

Key takeaway: Accessibility is an ongoing journey and “progress is more important than perfection”.

Case Study: Investing in Leadership Excellence
Sarah Benson and Philip Mardlin, Victim Support

This session explored how Victim Support have developed a new leadership programme to strengthen leadership capability across the organisation. Built around staff feedback and organisational needs, the programme combines workshops, coaching, mentoring, action learning, and peer support to help managers build confidence in key areas such as communication, inclusive leadership, and managing challenging conversations. 

Key takeaway: Strong leadership development is most effective when it combines practical learning, reflection, coaching, and peer support over time. 

The Skills Levy Shift: Updates & Ideas for Charities
Steven Lipscombe, Ixion, Shaw Trust

This session provided an update on the transition from the Apprenticeship Levy to the new Growth and Skills Levy, highlighting key policy changes and what they mean for charities. Steven outlined new funding rules, apprenticeship units, incentives for hiring young people, and the shift in focus towards early careers and priority skills. The session also explored practical strategies for both levy-paying and non-levy organisations to maximise available funding, plan workforce development, and make better use of apprenticeship opportunities to address skills gaps and support future workforce needs.

Key takeaway: Organisations need to take a proactive and strategic approach to workforce planning to ensure they maximise available funding and avoid losing valuable development opportunities.

Strengthening Creativity in Times of Change
Megan Sutton, QA

This session explored the role of creative thinking in helping organisations navigate change, uncertainty, and increasing pressures. Drawing on trends from the charity sector and wider workforce research, Megan highlighted how creativity is not simply about innovation, but about finding new approaches when traditional solutions are no longer effective. Through interactive discussion, attendees reflected on the challenges of limited time, funding pressures, AI, and growing workloads, and considered how organisations can move from simply reacting to change to proactively seeking opportunities, questioning assumptions, and encouraging experimentation.

Key takeaway: In times of change, creative thinking is less about generating big ideas and more about creating space to challenge existing ways of working and explore new possibilities.
 

The Heart-Centred AI Leadership Solution
Fran Borg-Wheeler and Adrian Taylor, Heart-Centred Leaders

Drawing on sector research, participant polls, and leadership experience, Fran and Adrian explored common barriers to AI adoption, including time, confidence, governance concerns, and change fatigue. The session emphasised that successful AI implementation is as much about people, culture, leadership, and learning as it is about technology, encouraging organisations to adopt AI strategically while keeping human values and wellbeing at the centre.

Key takeaway: AI should be viewed not as a replacement for people, but as a tool that can create the time and space needed for charity professionals to focus on the uniquely human work of leadership, connection, creativity, and impact.