What should you do about too much data?

For nonprofit organizations, data is coming in fast and hot from basically everywhere:

• Newsletter signups
• Event registrations and attendance
• Online donation forms
• Program sign-ups
• Website and communication analytics
• Case tracking
• Volunteer signups

...and probably more I’m not thinking of!

You may feellike you should be using everything you have – the more data, the better,right? – but where would you even start? Also, the idea of creating policiesfor each data source, or database, or data type, especially if this is not yourprimary job, may make you feel like hiding under your desk until the anxiety passes.

Don’t dothat – or do, whatever works for you.

But onceyou’re back, I have good news for you. You don’t need to use all of the datayou have. No one is going to call the data police, you will not go to datajail, you won’t be booed by data nerds hiding out in the parking lot. To dodata management effectively, the first step is to prioritize the data that willhelp you answer the most critical questions you have about your nonprofit’sprogress. And here’s how you can do it.  

Step #1:Prioritize

Before we even get near a computer, I encourage you to take some time to reflect on thisquestion: what do I want to know about my organization? If that question feels too big, you can break it up into smaller pieces:

• Whatdo I want to know about our programs?
• Whatdo I want to know about our donors?
• What do I want to know about our hiring and retention practices?
• What do I want to know about our DEI initiatives?

If you havea strategic plan, that might be a good place to start to help you find ideasfor questions. Also, you can (and should) include staff members and otherstakeholders in this process. You can send out a quick survey to ask people fortheir input.

Second, askyourself why these questions matter? In other words, how is answering yourquestion going to help you make decisions for your organization?For instance,if you want to know whether your program participation has increased over thepast two years, why does that particular metric matter? Maybe it’s for grantapplications, informing outreach work, whatever it is. And if the answer is,“Because we have to,” for funding or compliance, that’s a totally acceptableanswer!

Finally, start a list of what data you’ll need answer your questions. For instance, if youwant to know about participation trends, you might need participant counts fromthe last two years. Don’t worry about whether or not the data exists yet – thisis just to give you a general idea of what you’ll need going forward. Once youcomplete this process, you’ll have more clarity on what data is most importantto focus on first.

Part #2:Mapping (aka, where the hell is everything?)

Once youhave your questions and relevant data, you’ll need to figure out where itlives. So going back to the program participation question – where can you findthis information? This is where data mapping comes in. To start, put all ofyour data sources into a spreadsheet and document any concerns that you mighthave about the data, like:

• Outdated information
• Accuracy concerns
• Inconsistencies

I’m sayingspreadsheet because that’s how my mind works. But you can also create a mapthat visualizes where information is for easy reference. This is a great opportunityto connect with you staff members or volunteers who work closely with the datato get their perspectives on issues they see in the different data collectionand storage systems.  

Step #3 +4: Clean up and reporting

Once youprioritize your data and figure out where it is, you can do one of two things:

1.  If the data is messy/needs review, go do that (see this blog post about dealing with a messy database).
2.  Oncethe data looks good, or if it’s already in good shape, create reportingschedules to keep tabs/track progress on all those big questions you came upwith in step #1.

Yourreporting schedules should include:

• Frequency of reporting (monthly, quarterly, etc.)
• Who is responsible for running the report
• Who should receive the report
• How the findings in the report will be used to inform organizational decision-making.

Congratulations! By going through this process, you have done data management! How? You have now:

1. Figured out the most important data you’re collecting
2. Identified where this data is stored
3. Articulated a process for using the data
4. Established privacy processes by stating who has access to the information and how it will be shared

If this still feels a little overwhelming, especially if you’re a small or volunteer-run organization, please don’t panic. You can split this up however you want and do this at a pace that works for you. Maybe in Q1 you decide toonly focus on the data relevant to your programs, and then Q2 is for staffing and HR concerns. What matters is that you are taking the steps necessary to show initiative, demonstrate to funders and stakeholders that you care about doing the work the right way, and show the people you serve that the data you’re collecting you collect is being put to work in interest of achieving the mission.

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