2021 Shortlist | 15 Square
15 Square
Shortlist – Transforming With Digital
About the Charity
15 Square provides foreskin health information and advice to intact men and provides information for men who have been circumcised and for parents or carers. The charity teaches about conservative techniques to help avoid unnecessary circumcision and helps assist men who have been harmed. It does this by advising on medical issues such as phimosis, working with professional bodies to provide information for the formulation of clinical guidelines and policies, promoting research into the effects of circumcision, supporting parents in an effort to promote informed consent, funding student medical placements and more. The charity is currently working to create Relationship and Sex Education resources to help young people learn how to care for their bodies and advocate for their own needs.
Charity number: 1072831 | 15square.org.uk
Health Services | England – West Midlands | 0-3 paid staff | 1-3 volunteers
What the Board Achieved
The charity’s ability to deliver its services was immediately affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but at the same time the board identified an opportunity to increase the charity’s digital impact and acted quickly to seize it.
A primary concern was finding a way to continue supporting vulnerable service users experiencing psychological effects from circumcision and relying on 15 Square for support. Before the first national lockdown in March 2020, the charity held in-person group meetings where service users could access a supportive network, expert advice, and resources to help them learn and understand their experiences or health conditions. Moving the meetings onto a virtual platform took time to research and implement, but ultimately allowed the charity to continue providing this critical resource and even helped fast-track participation from some service users who became comfortable sharing their stories with the support group more quickly than sometimes happens during the in-person group meetings.
But the digital response was not limited to utilising Zoom for support groups. 15 Square invested in finding the talent and expertise it needed to help the board evaluate and plan for a digital transformation of the charity’s service delivery. It took advantage of a virtual internship scheme that Keele University launched at the start of the pandemic, applying for and receiving two interns, and recruited a marketing manager to ensure a high-degree of professionalism in implementing their plan. Employing all the expertise and skills at its disposal, rebranded the charity, relaunched support groups on Zoom, made resources accessible in digital formats, created social media profiles, and launched a YouTube series to share personal testimonials aimed at increasing awareness, building solidarity and promoting education around circumcision. By the end of 2020, the charity reported an increase in enquiries and requests for support, membership has doubled, and website traffic has improved – all of which has helped the charity raise its public profile, reach and support more service users, raise more capital and strengthen relationships with community partners like Keele University. The board has also used the experience and the success of the digital transformation to inform and transform its own governance practices and policies.
What Inspired Our Judges
Judges felt this was a charity that, although small in size, punched above its weight – not only in terms of the impact that it has had on very vulnerable service users, but also in terms of developing an understanding of the issues more broadly across the medical profession and universities. Judges were impressed by the energy with which 15 Square had embraced a variety of digital delivery methods to support its services users and expand its reach. Judges also commended the board’s transparency, which enabled staff and users to understand and engage with the digitisation process.
