Data and Program Evaluations for Nonprofit Fundraisers

Led by Paul Collier, Director, Corona Insights 

This session is new to the ILD schedule in its second year. We were pleased to offer it in the fall to help inform participant's Capstone project research plans. The cohort's familiarity with data and program evaluation varied from basic to more advanced with a few folks having a pretty deep background from work in marketing. Many have other staff in their organizations who focus on data and evaluation. 

Highlights

• Ethics and data collection: historically, data collection has focused on the interests and questions of more powerful groups. Data has the power to advance good or perpetuate harm. It is rarely neutral. 
• A simple process for designing your data collection process: 1. Begin intentionally 2. Draft questions 3. Order questions 4. Test 5. Provide context 
• When crafting questions, avoid Yes/No answers. Ask for specific stories and examples. Please the most critical questions to the beginning or middle.
• Visualizing your Data: There are many ways to do this but keep in mind that it doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes a simple text table is very effective. 
• Book recommendations: The Functional Art, by Alberto Cairo; Storytelling with Data, by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic; Envisioning Information, by Edward Tufte.