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Digital Inclusion , Empowering Futures , Research

Digital Inclusion Works Better When a Place Works Together: A Look at Good Things’ Evidence

New positioning paper

Digital inclusion works better when a place works together

Our new positioning paper shows how the Stage Index supports a place-based approach.

We’ve written a short positioning paper for councils and local partners, and we wanted to introduce it here.

It builds on recent research from Good Things Foundation, Strengthening a place-based approach to digital inclusion, which makes a simple but important point: tackling digital exclusion in a place works best when local partners act as one coordinated system, not as a scatter of separate projects. That means a shared vision, shared leadership, a shared way of reaching the people who are excluded, and a shared way of measuring whether things are actually improving.

Where our toolkit fits

Our paper looks honestly at where the IFB Gaming Stage Index helps with that, and where it doesn’t. We’re clear about one thing up front: the Stage Index is not a partnership tool, and it doesn’t replace Good Things Foundation’s. The two do different jobs, and they work well side by side.

  • Good Things Foundation’s tool helps a place understand how well its partners are working together.
  • Our Stage Index gives those same partners a shared, resident-level evidence base to work together around.
  • Together, they help a place see who is excluded, agree what to do, and prove that it is making a difference.

The paper maps the Stage Index against the four areas the research highlights, and is honest about which ones a measurement tool can genuinely support and which depend on leadership and funding that no tool can supply. If you work in a council or a local partnership, we think it’s a useful, practical read.

How to get the paper

The full positioning paper is available on request, we’re happy to send it over.

Head to our contact page and, in the message field, just mention you’d like the place-based positioning paper.

We’ll get it straight back to you, and we’re always glad to talk about how it might apply to your area.

Contact us

Digital Inclusion

How councils can use IFB’s digital inclusion toolkit

For local government

How councils can use our digital inclusion toolkit

Practical tools to understand, measure, and act on digital exclusion in your area.

If you work in a council, you already know digital inclusion matters. The harder question is usually: where do we even start, and how do we show it is working? That is the gap our toolkit was built to fill.

The problem most councils run into

Plenty of good work happens across a borough, in libraries, community centres, and local groups. But it is often scattered, hard to see, and even harder to measure. Most digital inclusion gets counted in things handed out: devices given, SIM cards distributed. Those numbers matter, but they do not tell you whether anyone is actually more included as a result.

That is the real challenge. Not a lack of effort, but a lack of a shared way to understand who is excluded, why, and whether things are improving. Without that, it is tough to plan, tough to join things up, and tough to make the case for funding.

How a council can use the toolkit

Our toolkit is free to start with, needs no login, and is built to be useful straight away. Here are the main ways councils are putting it to work.

1

Check where your council stands

There is a version of our Stage Index built specifically for councils, weighted around the things you actually deal with, like governance and strategy. It gives you a clear, scored picture of how mature your digital inclusion approach is, and where the gaps are.

2

Understand your residents

The quick Digital Inclusion Check and the fuller Stage Index help you see who is excluded in your area and why. That gives you real community insight, the kind that is genuinely hard to get, and exactly what you need for planning and funding bids.

3

Give your teams a shared language

Our From Devices to Impact toolkit gives frontline staff, libraries, and community partners one common framework and a set of real-life personas. Suddenly everyone means the same thing by “digital inclusion,” which makes joining things up far easier.

4

Join up local delivery

Our Data Waypoint model helps you map and connect the places already doing this work on the ground, turning scattered activity into a visible, coordinated network across the borough.

5

Show that it is working

Because the tools measure where people are and whether they are moving forward, not just what was handed out, you get evidence you can actually use in strategies, reports, and funding applications.

Free to start, more when you need it. The core tools are open for any council to use right now. When you want more, borough-wide rollout, tailored benchmarking, joined-up resident data, and support, that is where we work with you directly as a partner. We will always be clear about what is free and what is a commissioned piece of work.

Why work with us

We are a community organisation, not a big consultancy, so we get the realities of delivering this work on the ground. We care about people being genuinely included, not just counted. And we have done the groundwork councils ask about, clear privacy and data handling, an accessibility commitment, and tools designed around real residents rather than abstract user groups.

Let’s talk about your borough

Whether you want to start with the free tools or explore a fuller partnership, we would love to hear what you are working on and where we can help.

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