When was the last time you reflected on how your organization collects, manages, evaluates and reports on data? Data management and impact reporting tend to be overlooked due to competing priorities, limited resources and lack of internal expertise and time. As nonprofit organizations, it’s important to step back, take stock and revisit your relationship with data.
How Do You Do Data?
Nonprofits are accustomed to tracking data that focuses on three main things: donor demographics, giving trends and program statistics. We often fall back on traditional methodologies for collecting and managing data such as using scorecards, surveys, focus groups, interviews, databases and spreadsheets to store and analyze the data. We then tell stories using newsletters, targeted emails, stewardship reports and case studies to demonstrate success. Clearly, collecting and managing data is just the tip of the iceberg. Ensuring that you have a viable plan and diverse methodologies for translating and sharing that data with key constituents – donors, partners, volunteers, employees and community – is critical to ensuring your impact is tied back to your mission.
You Want to Stand Out
A 2019 Imagine Canada report on measurement and evaluation practices in Canada’s charitable sector, “The State of Evaluation,” shows that 96% of charities evaluate their work in some way. According to Imagine Canada, there are an estimated 170,000+ registered charities and nonprofits in Canada, with Canadians giving $14B+ to registered charities. That is a staggering number of organizations doing important work in our sector and competing for much-needed donor support. For your charity to stand out, a critical and often overlooked element is having a solid data management and evaluation process in place to serve as a reminder to your donors (and potential donors!) of the impact of their support.
Whether you are hoping to build upon your existing data management and reporting processes, or creating a plan to establish one, the benefits are tangible. While data management is not always easy, demanding human resources, expertise or funds, it lends valuable credibility to your organization’s work and builds a culture of open, transparent communication with your constituents. It can also serve to further demonstrate:
- alignment with your mission and strategic priorities
- reinforce your unique value proposition
- strengthen your brand
- highlight achievements and key milestones
- identify successes and challenges
- return on investment and impact for current and future donors
Regardless of how advanced or basic your organization manages these elements, it’s a good idea to review, take stock and determine if it is meeting the needs of your organization and your donors. It doesn’t have to be a painful experience! Start with a few guiding questions:
Is Your Current Data Collection Plan Relevant?
Does your current plan meet the needs of your charity, your funders, partners? Is it serving the same purpose as was originally intended? Often called a “data audit,” a review of your organization’s data collection is critical:
- How do you collect both quantitative and qualitative data from surveys, interviews and donor profiles?
- How can the data be used to better your organization?
- Are you collecting the right data to meet your organization’s objectives and fundraising goals?
- Identify areas for improvement to devise a data collection strategy.
What Methods Are You Using to Collect Data?
What data are you measuring and why is it important? How are you going about it? Can it be tracked in a different way? Is it valid? Review your data management plan annually and adjust as needed. In an upcoming blog post, we’ll outline our top strategies for keeping your data clean to serve you better for successful fundraising.
Who is Represented in Your Data?
Whose voices are represented? Whose are not – and why? Is the data being collected and used in an equitable manner? The Ontario Nonprofit Network’s new report on data strategies for nonprofits defines data equity as principles and practices to guide data work through a lens of diversity, justice, equity and inclusivity, and includes:
- Decisions on who collects data, what parameters are used, how the data is reviewed or analyzed and how it informs decision-making processes; which are all subject to human bias and histories of systematic oppression.
- Frameworks that help organizational or network data strategies can be more nuanced and grounded in community knowledge, which are especially important to understand and tackle broader systemic issues, such as poverty.
What Resources Do You Have?
What resources are available to carry out the work of data management and evaluation? Who is translating the data and how? Seek understanding on how data can evolve from collection to reporting and beyond. If you’ve done a data audit, identify how data collection, management and reporting can be done more efficiently.
In an increasingly data-driven world, it’s important to get to know your organization’s relationship with data. It will help identify trends among donors, track changes and respond to opportunities for growth. Dedicate time to evaluate your data management practices and how you evaluate your impact to ensure you are fulfilling your mission. Sometimes taking that much–needed pause to reflect can lead to fresh perspectives and new ways of doing things that can make a big difference.
Effective data collection can help you build better relationships, communicate your impact on community, and drive marketing and boost donations. At The Dennis Group, our collective expertise helps clients achieve their goals through collaborative and purposeful dialogue that supports their mission and vision. We can work with you to research and prepare your database, ensuring that your data is accessible and accurate to help you reach your goals. Our services include strategic planning, communications, fundraising and campaign management, research and database management and much more. To learn more about how The Dennis Group works with clients in furthering their impact and mission, send us a message to book a free consultation.
Contributed by Stacey Baker, Associate Consultant
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