Design with Purpose: Using Data to Lay the Foundation for Program Success

Many nonprofits struggle to create initiatives that truly hit the mark. By leveraging data effectively in the process, nonprofits can avoid common pitfalls and gain a clear understanding of community needs, create evidence-based programs, and measure success over time. In this post, we'll explore how a data-driven approach can help your nonprofit lay the right foundation for designing programs that deliver real impact. 

Laying the Groundwork for Program Design

Ready to design a new program or make changes to an existing one?  Great - now take a big step back! It can be tempting to jump right into designing, but taking the time to understand the problem and clarify your goals will set you up for success in the long run.

Make sure you really, really understand the problem - Before jumping to solutions, it's essential to fully understand the need your program is meant to address.  You can review existing research, conduct interviews, focus groups, or surveys, or use other approaches, but resist the urge to make assumptions, and let the data shape your understanding.  

Some helpful questions to ask at this stage might be: 

• What factors contribute to the problem?  Which are within your organization’s control?  

• Who is impacted, and how big is the impacted group?  

• What challenges are there in addressing this problem, and what has or hasn’t worked before?  

Listen to those with lived experience - Want to design a program that’s truly valuable for your community? Don't forget to involve the people who are most affected by the issue. Listening to their stories and experiences will help you to:

• Challenge your assumptions, and surface issues you may not have considered

• Understand what’s working, and where there are gaps in current services

• Build trust within the community, and ensure your program is equitable and inclusive

Prioritize equity and inclusion - Disaggregated data can reveal whether some groups are underrepresented or experiencing different outcomes, potentially surfacing the need for more targeted programming or interventions.

Spotlight on the

Human Impacts Institute

Empowering Environmental Justice Organizations

One standout example of intentional program design is The Human Impacts Institute (HII).  HII’s work is both innovative and inspirational, building collaborations between artists and scientists, policymakers, activists, and educators and developing over 14,000 hours of creative climate programming for audiences across the globe.

To inform the launch of a new program aimed at supporting environmental justice organizations in leveraging arts and culture initiatives, HII started by understanding which approaches are used by organizations today, and what challenges they tend to experience.  

The HII team started by diving into existing literature on the topic.  To ground their findings in real-world experiences, Impactful Insights helped them to conduct in-depth interviews and surveys with environmental justice groups working in the field.  By engaging groups with lived experience in the area of driving environmental justice action within their communities, we were able to validate and expand on the literature as well as capture on-the-ground insights about which approaches are working and what obstacles these groups encounter.

The result? A more complete, evidence-based picture that informed the design of their new program and enabled them to better meet the needs of these organizations.

Best Practice: Combine research methods

A thorough understanding of the problem often comes from using a mix of research methods. This might involve:

• Reviewing existing research from experts in the field to give you a broad understanding of the issue and help you learn from what others have already studied.

• Taking a look at the numbers - using quantitative data can help to validate your findings, create a deeper understanding, and determine the scale of an issue. 

• Using qualitative approaches like interviews and surveys to provide depth and context to your findings, often helping to explain the WHY behind the numbers.

By combining approaches, you can create a more well-rounded understanding of the problem at hand.

Defining Success

Now that you understand the problem at hand, it’s time to define what success will look like for your program. This step is crucial, as it provides a clear direction for your design efforts and simplifies the process of creating a measurement plan for your program.

Set Clear Goals

Start by asking yourself: What will a successful program achieve? Are you aiming to increase access to resources? Improve participant outcomes?Drive policy changes?  The more clearly you define what success looks like, the easier it will be to design your program and measure the success of your efforts. Keep in mind that these can be a first draft - you’ll want to revisit and refine these as you continue the design process.

Best Practice: Use the SMART framework to set clear and actionable goals. 

Your goals should be: 

• Specific: Clearly articulate what you aim to achieve, using concrete numbers where possible.  Instead of a general statement like "improve community health," opt for a precise objective such as "increase access to healthy food for low-income families by 15%."

• Measurable: Quantify your goals with concrete metrics and indicators that allow you to track progress and evaluate outcomes.  Make sure goals are based on data you already have available, or have the ability to collect.

• Achievable: It’s good to have audacious goals, but do make sure that they’re within the realm of possibility and based on what you can do with your organization’s resources and capabilities.  The work you’ve done to understand and scope the problem will be useful here.

• Relevant: Align your goals with your organization's overarching mission and the specific needs you've identified through your research.

• Time-bound: Establish a clear (and achievable!) timeframe for reaching your goals, creating a sense of urgency and accountability.

Clearly defined goals not only provide a roadmap for your program but also create a shared understanding among your team, stakeholders, and funders. Make sure that everyone involved understands and agrees with the goals you’ve set. This collaborative approach promotes alignment and facilitates a smoother design and implementation process.

With the groundwork laid and your goals established, you're now in a good spot to embark on the design phase of your program!

Coming soon: Design with Purpose: A Data-Driven Guide to Building Effective Programs