From Chaos to Clarity: Why 2025 Should Be Your Nonprofit's Year of Data
Be honest…
When the board asks how many community members your organization served last year, or how many people made donations, do different team members give different numbers?
Do you dread compiling your grant reporting because you know you'll spend days hunting down numbers, or re-inventing the wheel to create the same outputs you created last time?
Do you find you need to collect new data frequently in order to address new projects or needs as they come up?
Do you wish you could better demonstrate the difference your programs are making in the community?
If you answered yes to any of these, you’re certainly not alone! Unfortunately, if your data isn't comprehensive, accurate, organized, or accessible, the impacts ripple throughout the organization. You might experience frustration with data sources that are hard to access and interpret, or a general sense of distrust in your data. Your team may waste time hunting down information for reports. Staff might burn out from manual processes and regular fire drills. Most concerning, you might be missing opportunities to secure funding because you can't effectively demonstrate your impact, or struggle to pinpoint areas of strength and opportunity for your programs.
Sound familiar? It might be time to think about your organization’s data strategy.
What is a data strategy?
An intentional approach to data is about building a foundation that can unlock new possibilities for your organization's impact.
A data strategy is your organization's vision and plan for how data will help you achieve your mission. It defines how you'll collect, organize, store, and use data to make better decisions, demonstrate impact, and serve your community more effectively. Think of it as your master plan that answers key questions like:
What information do we really need to understand and improve our work?
How will we collect and store this information in a way that's sustainable and secure?
Who needs access to what data, and how will they use it?
How will we ensure our data is reliable and consistent?
What tools and processes will help us turn data into actionable insights?
When organizations align their data with their mission and build strong foundations, the transformation is powerful. Teams can surface valuable insights quickly, create meaningful and actionable reports efficiently, and streamline their operations.
The result? More data-driven decisions, improved program outcomes, greater credibility with stakeholders, and—perhaps most importantly—more time to focus on their mission.
Ready to tackle your data strategy in 2025?
Developing and implementing a data strategy can be daunting, but breaking it down into smaller pieces makes it much more manageable. Here’s an overview of an approach that can get you moving in the right direction:
Catalog Your Data Needs -
Think about all the places you use data today.
Consider the data that you already capture or would like to capture at the various stages of your program or fundraising lifecycle. Your measurement plan, theory of change, or logic model (more info here!) will be helpful resources here.
Think bigger - what are your organization’s goals? What data will you need to design new programs, measure results, or up-level fundraising efforts in the future?
Create a Data Inventory -
Create a list of all the data sources your organization currently has access to, and what they’re used for today. Include where they’re stored (CRM, spreadsheets, databases, paper files, etc.), how they’re collected, who the primary users are, who is responsible for maintaining them, and any known issues/limitations.
Identify Gaps -
Compare the outputs of the previous two steps and identify the gaps.
Make a plan -
Data Collection - Use your gap analysis to identify and prioritize your data collection efforts, and determine the best way to approach collection.
Data Management - Determine how to organize and store your data so it's accessible to the right people and structured in a way that makes it easy to use for reporting, analysis, and decision-making. This includes choosing appropriate tools (like CRMs, databases, or spreadsheets) and clearly assigning responsibilities for data maintenance and administration.
Data Usage - Think about how you'll turn data into meaningful insights. This means choosing the right analysis tools for your needs (from spreadsheets to more advanced visualization platforms), establishing efficient processes for routine reporting, and easy-to-use dashboards that keep key metrics at everyone's fingertips. Make sure your team has the training and documentation they need to use these resources effectively.
Remember - it’s all about progress, not perfection. If you’re not quite ready to jump in, that’s ok. Check this post for some bite-sized tips to get you started: Friday Afternoon Data Strategy: A Quick Wins Playbook.
