Beyond compliance: how did The Salvation Army help people care about data?
Getting people excited about data protection elearning isn’t easy, especially when it’s a mix of full-time and part-time staff, as well as officers who want to focus on their important mission. That is why The Salvation Army UK & Ireland Territory (UKIT) partnered with Dynamic to refresh and reimagine it’s mandatory course—driving completion, compliance and care.
Together, we achieved:
We created:
What was the challenge?
Significantly, The Salvation Army UKIT has circa 20,000 soldiers, 3,400 employees and over 2,000 officers across over 600 corps,* providing valuable services and support to communities up and down each country. Since it’s an operation of this scale, it comes with a whole lot of data!
Additionally, their existing off-the-shelf data protection elearning course was outmoded, time-consuming and lacked organisational context or case studies, leaving their audience disengaged and uninspired and their completion rate stuck at around 80% for a number of years. So, working to a tight timescale of 6-8 weeks, we helped them not only to drive completion, but start the conversation about how data is treated across their organisation. We aimed to:
Increase
... the compliance/completion rate from 80% to 90% within a 6-month period following roll-out.
Reduce
... the total training hours associated with data protection training (also helping to boost completion).
Change
... mindsets and transform the way data protection—and personal responsibilities—are viewed.
Together, we needed to not only design a course that met compliance and regulatory standards, but helped people to think about the data they come into contact with every single day.
So how did we solve it?
While working collaboratively, we redesigned the course from the ground up. Moreover, we created an altogether more targeted, relevant core and spoke programme consisting of a single 20-25-minute data protection elearning module, 6 toolkit-style microlearning modules covering key topics including data breaches and privacy notices—all with a healthy splash of animated video and motion graphics throughout. This was all designed to drive engagement and encourage completion.
Responsive, for good reason
Including going through the UI with fine attention detail and focussing on human-centred design, we left no stone unturned in the aim of increasing the completion rate. That of course, included making the materials totally device responsive. This helped make the course as accessible for as many people as possible and meant they could undertake the course at their own convenience.
Creating the hook
Particularly given the challenges with the previous version of the course (time and context), we knew that simply designing a better course wasn’t going to be enough. Indeed, to achieve the project aims, we needed to win over the audience, helping them to see that the new course was worth their time and attention. Not only that, we needed to position this as more than just another data protection elearning module.
Marketing thinking, compelling content
So, using marketing thinking, we identified a compelling hook for the course, connecting the value of data protection and the improved offering not only to compliance but to The Salvation Army’s core values and culture. Salvation Army people are people who care.
Mission, vision and values
Therefore, by framing data protection as yet another way to care about other people and their basic human rights, we made the training personally relevant and mission-driven. From the way we talked about the course, to the way we delivered the learning, the objective was to create a sense of share purpose and accountability. This would, in turn, lay the groundwork for lasting behavioural change.
"Cannot recommend enough"
"I cannot recommend Dynamic’s elearning modules enough! As someone who has worked with several providers across the years, I can confidently say that Dynamic stands out in terms of their responsiveness, designs, value for money, and their overall quality of work. Their modules are not only visually appealing but also contain some great regional 'human' voiceovers which are much preferrable to the AI voices found on some courses now.
"Excellent"
“Dynamic were able to take our top-line brief and, at short notice, work with us to launch a suite of data protection elearning modules that were better tailored to the working environment at The Salvation Army and relevant to all our staff. We wanted to focus on simple, practical messaging that was devoid of jargon. Dynamic picked up on that and helped us shape effective scripts. They also quickly got to grips with the values and mission of The Salvation Army. Every deadline was met and no request for help was turned down. The end-to-end service was—and continues to be—excellent.
Compelling data protection elearning that engages the audience
For a data protection elearning course with such an ambitious compliance target, we created an in-depth engagement and communications strategy. Specifically, our aim was—using various touch points, formats and channels—to communicate the benefits and purpose of the new course. This included an engaging teaser video, as below:
What was the impact?
In conclusion, at the end of the 6-months we’d achieved a compliance rate of more than 90% and rising. On top of this, the exceptionally low number of learners who started but didn’t finish the course (2%), demonstrates that the new course was easier to use, more engaging and concise enough to encourage completion in a single sitting. Furthermore, completion spiked in line with agreed communications touch points, evidencing a successful implementation of our strategy, even with slight setbacks in this area.
Hence, by making the data protection course more targeted, we didn’t just drive up the completion rates, we also saved The Salvation Army UKIT around 5,500 hours of training time—equivalent to the workload of a full-time employee for 3 years—so their people can spend more time on mission and service, not just compliance.
This impact alone delivered a return on their investment of more than 295% (based on the wage of an average, full-time employee).
An audience, engaged & equipped
94% of users saw a direct connection between what they learned and their role at The Salvation Army, praising the course for its relevance.
98% said they’d use what they’ve learned in their daily work.
89% said the contextual examples were useful and practical, helping them to build confidence and embed learning.
Finally, the Data Protection team reported a 173% increase in reported personal data breaches and a 50% increase in reported data incidents following roll-out of the training. While not all of this increase can be attributed to the course, it indicates that people across the organisation are more aware of how to identify and respond to potential issues.
Overall, we believe that this isn’t a sign of increased incidents, but, as a direct result of undergoing this latest data protection elearning, a sure indication of a workforce that knows what to look for—and, importantly, how to act.
The quotes and stats included in this section are real user feedback and data. They’re taken from the more than 3,500 people who evaluated the course—a response rate of 66%.
* Figures kindly provided by Andy Heath, taken from the Salvation Army Yearbook, 2025.
"Exceptional work"
Working with Dynamic was a breeze. They were easy to communicate with and were always open to incorporating new ideas and suggestions. I was very impressed by their innovative designs and the level of professionalism they brought to our first project. Dynamic also took the time to get to know us and our brand through some thorough research. They were a pleasure to work with and I cannot wait to collaborate with them again in the future. Thank you, Dynamic, for your exceptional work!"
"Overwhelmingly positive"
Uptake has been excellent. In the first five months, we've seen a certification rate of 85% on our main module, with user feedback overwhelmingly positive. We've started to roll-out targeted training around specific topics, supported by subject-specific modules. The impact of this has been notable in several areas; for example, we've seen a 30% increase in the reporting of low-risk incidents involving personal data, compared to this time last year.”
Nominated at this year's Learning Technologies Awards
The whole team at Dynamic is proud that our partnership with The Salvation Army has not only resulted in far greater protection of people’s data, but also that our hard work together has been recognised with a nomination at this year’s Learning Technologies Awards.
"Dynamic was set with an ambitious hard stop deadline to deliver a new training solution and marketing materials with in a six-week window. Undoubtedly, The Salvation Army were extremely proactive and on board with the development process from the outset, reviewing scripts and design assets in a very timely manner, providing useful feedback when we needed it to enable multiple design and development activities to continue un-interrupted. Straightaway, feedback was always clear and unambiguous, which also enabled swift progression and tasks to be worked on simultaneously. Subsequently, all this helped to create a comprehensive programme, with teaser videos delivered first and launched to the community to build early engagement. To conclude, the team were fantastic to work with and made our job a lot easier."
What’s next?
Through a successful partnership, we created a highly engaging, more concise data protection elearning course that’s had a clear impact for The Salvation Army UKIT and their people.
And we’re not done yet. Since roll-out of this course, we’ve kicked off several other projects with them, looking for ways to start great conversations in other areas and consistently improve their learning offering.
This first project has been a catalyst for change within the organisation, not only shifting how people approach data but helping others to see the value of training as a tool for real impact.
