The Good Things Foundation is all about community engagement and digital inclusion.  They work to fix the digital divide – for good – and provide meaningful insights into the social issues of digital poverty and digital exclusion. Their work as become particularly important since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic:

“The coronavirus pandemic has exposed and exacerbated digital exclusion across the UK. Digital inclusion is no longer a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have and people still urgently need access, digital skills and support.”

For more information:

• The Digital Divide
• Insights
• Good Things Foundation Strategy 2022-2025

The Digital Nation 2023 infographic below helpfully gathers together and presents the stats and facts about digital exclusion in the UK:

Who are the Good Things Foundation and what do they do?

The Good Things Foundation is a charity that supports socially excluded people improving their lives through digital. 

The Good Things Foundation have also developed a service for digitally excluded people, which any local organisation in the UK can use to bridge the digital divide in their communities. The National Digital Inclusion Network helps local organisations set up digital inclusion hubs that deliver a range of free services that help people access or learn how to use the internet locally in their own communities.  They also have a map so people can see if there is a digital inclusion hub nearby.

Learn My Way helps people with little to no digital skills develop the skills necessary to gain confidence to use the internet and engage with digital technologies. This is a particularly useful resource for beginners, with bite-size topics on essential digital skills to help users achieve digital literacy. 

To help with widening access, the Good Things Foundation also has the National Device Bank where, instead of disposing of technology, companies can donate to help digitally excluded people get online. This also has the added benefit of reducing e-waste.