Digital Candle is a free service for charities who want a one hour call with a digital expert. Charities can get advice on any aspect of digital or digital marketing, from digital strategy to Google Ads and from remote service delivery to social media.
Yup, it is totally free. All the experts give their time on a volunteer basis.
Will the expert try and sell me things?
No. They're giving one hour of free advice. Sometimes charities ask them to work on a paid basis after the call, and we're ok with that.
Digital marketing agency Platypus Digital started Candle, and it is now supported by Catalyst. It is jointly run by the two organisations. Read more about how the project started.
Catalyst had done research on how charities make a step change improvement in digital. One common theme is that an outside advisor makes a big difference. Candle is one approach to helping charities get external voices involved.
We've got over 500 experts who have been matched to more than 1,000 people asking digital questions.
We’ve got experts on almost all aspects of digital. And if we don’t have one, we’ll try to find someone. So go ahead and ask!
This happens occasionally. Experts might have signed up a long time ago and changed circumstances, or just be very busy now. Sometimes life gets in the way! Email us if this happens to you, and we’ll introduce you to another expert.
If you’d like a second opinion, submit your question again. Currently, we’ve got more experts than charities, so you’d actually be doing us a favour by requesting another expert conversation!
Can I ask more than one question?
Yes. If you've got a question on more than one topic, submit them separately so we can do two separate introductions.
Don’t worry! We find that volunteers with less digital experience are prized as advice givers, as they often are closer to speaking the charity's language. We always try to match you according to your experience.
Feel free to structure it however you think best. Our research shows that charities attempting to improve digital usage benefit from almost any form of outside advice, so you are unlikely to go far wrong.
We have created call guidance notes, if you’d like some ideas.
Some experts want to better understand a charity’s question before the call, so they can mull it over. If that is you, feel free to ask a few questions via email once you are introduced.
We have way more experts offering advice than charities asking for it. So some experts wait quite a while to be matched. Sorry about that! Do spread the word about Digital Candle to help that.
We’ve got many ideas about how Digital Candle could be made more useful.
For now, our immediate priority is to talk to people who used it (both as charities and experts), so we can understand the user experience. We’d love to hear any feedback, ideas or suggestions. Please email matt@digitalcandle.org.uk
Have you got a question that isn’t answered here? Email hello@digitalcandle.org.uk