The State of Nonprofit Data report was released this week  (hat tip to Ted Fickes).   Idealware and NTEN prepared the report based on a  survey in April 2012 with nearly 400 nonprofit organizations about how they manage and use data.   The report found that nonprofits are either doing a lot with their metrics or not much at all.   These barriers that keep nonprofits from collecting data and identified in the report include:  data collection, expertise, time, and money.  These barriers are … [Read more...]

  Note from Beth: Last month during one of our book talks for "Measuring the Networked Nonprofit:  Using Data to Change the World, " at TechSoup Global, Rachel Weidinger from Upwell came up to say hello.   Rachel is a long-time "nptech" colleague who is now leading the team at Upwell who is trained to sift through the vast amounts of real-time online conversations and content online to support ocean conservation.    Their time is spent on three areas:  (1)  monitoring and analyzing online … [Read more...]

Last week KD Paine and I were in Washington, DC for a whirlwind of book discussions, parties, and workshops - together and individually - for the Measuring the Networked Nonprofit.   Global Giving generously hosted a book discussion with their staff and partners at their offices.    It was great to see Alison Carlman and Kevin Conroy from Global Giving and Meg Biallis who were participants in the testing group of 60 Packard grantees who tested the book frameworks and contributed to the insights … [Read more...]

Note from Beth: "Measuring the Networked Nonprofit" is getting a lot of good feedback as people read and apply the ideas in the book.  One of the key messages in the book is that nonprofits should not start with the tools and data, but start to clearly define success and their audience.    By doing so, they will understand the few data points and the tools needed to collect that data to figure out if they have been successful!   In the book, we avoid talking about specific tools because they … [Read more...]

Please join KD Paine and I for an NTEN webinar on October 30th at 11:00 am where will share  tips, stories, and lots of practical information about how your nonprofit can transform its culture to embrace the data, a  powerful simple framework, "The 7 Steps of Measurement," that will help your organization learn how to set measurable goals, come up with the perfect Key Performance Indicator, select the right measurement tools and metrics, and most importantly how to make sense of your data. … [Read more...]