2019
Catalyst is born
- A collective of passionate people and organisations, brought together by CAST (the Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology).
- Our mission: help charities harness digital, data, and design to better serve their communities.
- Funded by private and public foundations with government support, we launched after extensive co-design with charity sector stakeholders.
Initial focus areas
Practice, Sector Tech and Networks
Discovery research projects to identify sector needs and gaps
Three main focus areas:
- Boosting digital skills and practice
- Identifying tech tools tailored for charities
- Building collaborative networks
Creating and supporting prototype services
We quickly got hands-on, prototyping services like
- Design Hops (free digital design workshops) and
- supporting partner initiatives such as Digital Candle (free digital advice from experts).
March 2020:
Pivoted in the pandemic
- Switched to providing urgent hands-on support, e.g. fortnightly DigiShift Zoom calls, remote working guides and Dovetail, a directory of ‘tech for good’ agencies
- Matched nonprofits pivoting to online service delivery with digital help
- Partnered with funders to signpost and connect their grantees to relevant support
August 2020
Delegated grant funding
- Awarded grants + digital partner contracts through the £5m COVID-19 Digital Response Fund (via Lottery)
- 223 grants to a variety of nonprofits, supported by over 60 partners and a dedicated team of Connectors to support nonprofit-agency relationships
January 2021
Transition begins
- Research showed the need to be more network-led and less synonymous with CAST
- Recognised need for more diverse and equitable representation across Catalyst
- Decision to conduct a strategic review whilst continuing to deliver core services
- Captured in We’re Changing blog, April 2021
- Raised funding for continuation, momentum and transition of Catalyst
2021-2022
New team builds
- Recruited and onboarded new Producer team (Ellie, Jo, Siana) to lead Catalyst into its next phase
- Experiments in decentralised governance with 20 initiatives lead delivery partners, e.g. sociocratic circles, co-budgeting, consent decision-making
- Recruited Steering Group to hold and support the review process
- Commissioned research to inform review
2023
Strategic review and consultation
- 9-month strategic review programme completed
- Engagement with CAST Board re: transition
- Outlandish and Held Collective support with circle governance and diversity, equity and inclusion
- Partners co-govern and continue to deliver huge impact, reach and learnings
- Recruited Megan onto the producer team
- Refreshed model, vision & mission are shared with the network for feedback
2024
New entity, strategy and activities
- Continuation, pivoting, re-homing and composting of partner-led initiatives
- Setting up Catalyst as a CIC, including establishing a new governance model
- Recruiting a support team for the CIC and network
- Exploring what the new vision means to the network, including launching the Tech Justice Road Trip – convening justice-led partners Chayn, Camden Giving and Multitudes to experiment with new ways of sharing power, designing technology and funding change
- Finding partners to fund/resource the work
2025-2026
Degrowth, discovery, power sharing, composting
- Re-entering a period of discovery, prioritising deep relational work at the intersection of justice and technology
- Exploring strategic de-growth
- Completing and evaluating the Tech Justice Roadtrip – distributing ~£90,000 across 10 activities, including trauma‑informed feminist AI work, participatory grantmaking, community research, reflective spaces and storytelling
- Deciding to carefully wind down and close the CIC
- Collaborating with Weaving Liberation to support 10 tech justice projects through a final Kindling micro grants programme and retreat
- Working with partners to hand over key legacy assets, ensuring essential work is stewarded beyond the CIC.
Catalyst CIC closed in March 2026. Read our reflections on closure and what’s needed next for tech justice work to thrive.
