“Data is like garbage. You’d better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it.”

~ Mark Twain

Nonprofits in Mark Twain’s day had nowhere near the amount of data available to them that organizations do today, yet Twain’s thought is still relevant today. With so much information available, it’s relatively easy to collect a ton of data and have it pile up rather than use it to contribute to meaningful action.

Data science has advanced greatly, allowing nonprofits to harness it for good. However, using data to its fullest potential remains a challenge. Many nonprofits miss opportunities among their data and, instead, merely “collect” it.

If you’re ready to transform data management into meaningful action, the below tips are for you.

1. Personalize Your Interactions

Relationships are a core part of the success of any nonprofit. You need to build strong relationships with donors, stakeholders, and the community to attract the assistance and funding you need to meet your mission.

One thing data can help you to do better is personalize your interactions. You have access to a whole host of information about your donors and key stakeholders; you can use it for more impactful messaging.

For example, you might personalize messages based on the actions of donors, initiatives they have participated in, or even major events in their lives. Donor intelligence software can provide information such as real estate sales, inheritances, and affinity with a particular cause. You can find information on people’s interests and participation in various causes or activities. Any of this information can be a useful opener to a more personalized approach.

If you can personalize your interactions, they become much more meaningful and powerful messages. People tend to respond better when messages are relevant to them, and they can feel that your nonprofit is trying to get to know them better. 

2. Inform Your Strategic Plan

Data can also help inform your strategic plan.

For example, you may want to gather information on how your nonprofit is perceived through assessments or surveys. When you have a good idea of how your organization is perceived, you can use that information to help inform your long-term plans. In this particular example you may find that people have some misconceptions about your organization. A long-term vision should be to turn that perception around, drawing in more donors and volunteers.

Your strategic plan should be supported by your data collection. It should have your goals and action items to help you get there. Some examples of data that can inform your strategic plan include:

• Donor profiles.

• Information about potential untapped sources of funds.

• Information about how you are perceived vs. how you’d like to be perceived.

• Marketing campaign data. For example, what has been successful vs. unsuccessful?

• Market/economic information and trends.

• Data on the impact of your organization’s initiatives.

3. Identify Key Metrics

As a nonprofit leader it’s possible that you’ve been asked, “How do you measure the success of your organization?” That’s where “key metrics” come in. 

As we wrote about, an organization’s key metrics are three to five high-level measures that indicate your organization’s overall success. Examples of these metrics are:

• Tons of CO2 reduced

• Number of senior citizens participating

• Reduction in cancer rate

Some of your metrics may be “output” metrics like number of students served or number of legislators engaged. Other metrics may be “outcome” metrics like a percent increase in literacy or number of families that transition out of poverty. Whatever type of metric you use, they should provide an indicator of the overall success of your organization. 

The data that you collect across your organization can be used to help you identify what key metrics are the most relevant.

4. Continuously Improve Performance

Data helps nonprofits improve the monitoring and implementation of organizational efforts, helping drive a culture of constantly improving performance. Predictive analytics can help you accurately measure effectiveness so you can tailor future efforts.

For example, educational institutions can look at data on their student’s past performance or coursework, giving them a better idea of who may be in danger of dropping out before graduating.

Food banks can use predictive analytics to determine the need for food and how to find donors who could help meet that need. They can use this to stay on top of the need, so they don’t fall short at crucial times. All sorts of data can come into this equation; the state of the economy, downsizing at local companies, disaster events, and more.

The Nonprofit Council also states: “... it's important also to communicate what you are discovering and use those lessons to continuously improve performance."

"Whether your nonprofit engages in formal 'evaluation,' monitors progress towards specific goals, or uses feedback loops to learn what's working and what's not, each of these activities is a type of 'performance measurement.'"

5. Hone Your Marketing Campaigns

“Data are just summaries of thousands of stories—tell a few of those stories to help make the data meaningful.”

~ Dan Heath, bestselling author

This is a great point to wrap up our tips. Data is essential to determine meaningful action, but never forget the human element or the stories behind that data. In the case of nonprofit marketing, this is how you will create more impactful campaigns.

People connect with the human stories behind your data, for one thing. They want to know your overall results, along with the real tales of how you’ve made an impact.

You can also use data to better target your campaigns toward those most likely to respond to those stories. Data on people’s affinity with your cause and ability to donate will help you target those with a high likelihood of donating. This can be a cost savings for tight marketing budgets, getting better results through approaching fewer people.

Conclusion: Data Is Not Enough

Data is meaningless without taking action based on the knowledge you gain.

From a Mission Met perspective, simply having information is not enough. Without meaningful action, data is irrelevant. What actions will you take so your nonprofit can make the most impact?

A strategic plan is a way to link goals with long-term plans. Use the data you collect to determine where you are and where you want to be. The obstacles you face between those two should be your goals on a strategic plan.