How to build a future-focused data strategy that creates long-term fundraising growth

“Every company has data in its future, and every company will eventually be in the data business.”
- Tom Davenport, Speaker, Author and Advisor

The case for a data-driven culture

72% of organizations report that they have yet to forge a data culture. That’s a costly mistake in a time when the future is so uncertain for many organizations.

IBM estimates that bad data costs the U.S. economy $3.1 trillion a year. That adds up to 15-25% of revenue for most companies.

Why waste money on bad data when you could be using it to feed families, shelter animals or transform lives?

Organizations who embrace a data culture and invest in their data strategy see higher volumes of sustainable growth. Organizations who don’t will be left behind.

Which future would you prefer?

What you’ll find in this eBook

Building the foundation for an effective data strategy takes time and effort. But organizations who take control of their data receive the insights needed to make data-driven decisions. In this eBook, we’ll discuss:

• How to assess your organization’s data maturity
• The importance of data governance
• What it takes to build an effective data strategy

Assessing your current maturity level

Data-driven organizations are more mature, more stable and more successful than their competitors. If you’re ready to join the ranks of data-driven nonprofits, you must first begin with an honest assessment of your current reality.

Having a true pulse of where you’re at now will help you map out the steps needed for improvement.

Start by asking yourself this question: How are decisions made in your organization?

Be honest.

The reality is, 60% of nonprofit professionals do not make data-driven decisions.

Then, perform a few follow-up questions to better assess your program:

• Is there a team dedicated to analytics within your organization?
• Do you have the technology available to help you maintain, manage and gain information from your data?
• Do you trust your data?
• How far can you bring analytics? Can you tell what’s happening? Why it is happening? Can you prescribe and predict?

Don’t worry if you find yourself answering no to many—or all—of these questions. As you saw from the statistic above, you’re not alone.

Now that you have a handle on where you stand, we can move into the exciting stuff: planning for the future.

Defining your data governance rules

This is an essential first step as you begin to lay the groundwork for becoming a data-driven organization. What is data governance, exactly?

Simply put, data governance is a combination of the people, policies and platforms involved in your data processes.

Why is it important?

Data governance helps you determine who gets to manage your data, how they will do it and where it will be housed. Once you have these basic decisions made, it will serve as the framework for everything else.

Clearly defining these policies and practices will minimize confusion and risk while also ensuring that your data is clean and accurate when it comes time for strategic decision-making.

Building a data governance guidebook

Because data governance usually involves quite a bit of information, we always recommend housing this in one central location, like a guidebook. Your data governance guidebook should include (but is not limited to):

As you build your data governance guidebook, keep in mind that this will be the go-to resource for any and all things data-related. Not only will this tool be useful for people inside your organization, but it can also be a great resource to share with agency partners and service providers who may be helping you track or manage your data.

We feel this step is so important to getting started that we created a whole separate checklist that you can find in our toolkit.

Once you have your data governance policies in place, you can start to lay the remaining building blocks for data-driven success.

Defining data success

Data success can be a pretty broad term. In this case, it means having trusted data available when you need it.

This is what many classify as real-time data. However, we like to call this right-time data.

Although having real-time data at your fingertips sound shiny and exciting, the reality is that it involves a constant stream of information and continuous monitoring. Real-time data doesn’t always provide the insights needed to make strategic decisions.

This is where right-time data comes into play. This means having data that you trust available to you when it’s needed to support strategic decisions—customized ask arrays, personalization and more.

The building blocks for long-term success

We’ve already discussed the foundation—data governance. But there are eight other pieces that play key roles in this structure. Let’s dive in:

1. Team

Every major organizational shift requires buy-in from the top. Without it, the rest of your organization will have a hard time staying motivated.

2. Culture

What’s the current culture around data in your organization? Any major change will require a much larger cultural shift. A data-centric culture shift should include:

• Democratizing access
• Understanding the context around times and processes
• Building up data literacy among members
• Making data the core part of all decision-making

3. Road Map

Develop a road map that outlines what your data-driven future will look like and how you plan to get there. Milestones should include exploration, transformation and the steps required to develop a data-driven culture and environment.

4. Data Literacy

Data literacy is the ability to read, write and communicate data in context. This includes an understanding of data sources and constructs, the analytical methods and techniques applied, and the ability to describe the use case, the application and the resulting value.

Having data-literate team members is an essential piece to any successful data-driven culture. This knowledge will empower them to make decisions backed by analytical insights, ultimately driving overall success.

5. Tools and Processes

As you would probably imagine, this involves all the platforms, tools and processes needed to help you achieve data success. This includes data integration, data matching, data hygiene, access, reporting, analytics and business intelligence.

6. Prioritization

Like any other major project, you must understand what is important to overall success and prioritize those pieces first. Don’t try to do it all at once. Even small steps down the path to change will add up to giant leaps in the long run.

Continue to evaluate as you go along and adjust your priorities when needed.

7. Strategic Direction

Outline the strategic direction for this organizational shift with distinctive goals and outcomes. Define the uses, availability and access for your data.

8. Measurement

Any initiative without goals is difficult to accomplish. Make sure you’ve carefully outlined the goals you are hoping to achieve during this process. Measure your progress continually and review and update any goals as needed.

Mapping out your plan

We just threw a lot of information at you. Are you ready to dive in head-first and embrace a data strategy? As you map out your plan, ask yourself these questions:

• What tools/infrastructure do you have in place now for data?
• What is your organization’s data process currently? Do you have one? What needs to change?
• What is the culture around data in your organization like? Would it support change and evolution? Should it?
• What two changes would make the most impact? Select one that is short term (e.g., tools/processes) and one that is long term (e.g., education).

Once you begin to outline your plan of attack, you will be on your way to making strong, data-driven decisions that will provide sustainable growth for your nonprofit organization.

Have questions? Need help getting started? Contact RKD Insights today to learn more.