The document discusses the importance of data for nonprofits, highlighting that while 90% collect data, many do not effectively utilize it. It outlines various types of data, audiences, and methods for optimizing data use to create impact, emphasizing the need for organizations to understand their data audience and format. Additionally, it provides case studies demonstrating successful data communication strategies and advises on audience research to enhance data-driven decision-making.

1. DATA +
Connecting to Create Impact
AUDIENCE

3. Getty
Museum
Tram
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4. Types of Data
Data Audiences
Case Studies
9
5
4
Data Worksheet1

5. David Mascarina
Digital Communications Manager
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
@dgmascarina
Courtney Clark
Managing Director of User Experience
Forum One
@circlish
#18NTC

8. Data is the new oil.
It’s valuable, but if unrefined it cannot really
be used. It has to be changed into gas, plastic,
chemicals, etc to create a valuable entity that
drives profitable activity; so must data be
broken down, analyzed for it to have value.
Clive Humby, UK Mathematician

9. Da·ta (ˈdadə,ˈdādə/) n. facts and
statistics collected together for
reference and analysis
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10. GOOD
#18NTC
BAD UGLY
90% of nonprofits are
collecting data
49% don’t know ways
their org is collecting
13% never or rarely use
data.
Source: Everyaction • 2016 • The State of Nonprofit Data white paper

11. Types of Data
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12. What kind of data does
your organization collect?
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13. Data
Digital Analytics
Social Media Data
Email Engagement Data
Grant Data
Fundraising Data
Financial Data
Research Data
Volunteer Data
Attendance Data
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14. How do you use
your data?
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15. Data
Digital Analytics
Social Media Data
Email Engagement
Grant Data
Fundraising Data
Financial Data
Research Data
Volunteer Data
Attendance Data
Usage
Marketing
Recruiting
Budgeting
Reporting
Programming
Government Relations
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16. Data
Digital Analytics
Social Media Data
Email Engagement
Grant Data
Fundraising Data
Financial Data
Research Data
Volunteer Data
Attendance Data
Usage
Marketing
Recruiting
Budgeting
Reporting
Programming
Government Relations
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17. THINGS WE KNOW
You’ve got data.
You’re kinda using it.
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18. But what’s the
impact?
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19. Audiences
BY ROLE
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20. Who are your
data audiences?

21. Internal Audiences
- Board & Leadership
- C-suite
- Communications Team
- Program Team
- Development / Fundraising Team
- Operations Team
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22. External Audiences
- “General” public
- Peer Organizations
- Donors (Current and Potential)
- Partners
- Policymakers
- Researchers / Academia
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23. PRO TIP
Be honest. Maybe your
audience is the BOARD.
… and that’s OK!
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24. Audiences
BY DATA PERSONA
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25. Researchers, Academics,
Modelers
Data Researcher
Domain experts, Staffers for
decisionmakers
Data Analyst
Journalists, Bloggers
Advocates, Data geeks
Web/software developers,
Entrepreneurs
Data Promoter
Policy and decision makers,
NGO/nonprofits, Corporations
Data Actor
Interested Public, News
Consumers
Data Consumer
Data Personas

26. Communicating Data
for Impact
(website, white paper, case study)

27. Data Consumer
Interested individuals consume the data. If the data trigger
action, these individuals may move into a more active role.
They typically have little data and domain expertise.
Examples Interested Public
News Consumers
Data ● Specific data points
● Trends
● Developments
Format ● Infographics
● Declarative or narrative
visualizations
● Illustrative diagrams

28. Data Actor
Data actors act on and leverage the data to drive change.
They have significant clout, staff and domain knowledge,
but often only limited time.
Examples Policy and decision makers
NGO/nonprofits
Corporations
Data ● Curated datasets (ex. by
topic, country, region)
Format ● Press releases
● Reports or briefs
● Limited interactive
visualizations
● Search data tools

29. Data Promoter
Data promoters leverage data to create additional value.
They inform, educate or build businesses around data. Since
they are multiplying the audience with their work, they can
play a key role in other audiences and creating impact.
Examples Journalists, Bloggers
Advocates, Data geeks
Web/software developers,
Entrepreneurs
Data ● Comprehensive datasets
showing global trends, data
by topic, country.
Format ● Query tools
● Exploratory visualizations
● APIs

30. Analysts use data to create deeper understanding, while
informing data actors and consumers. They have a deep
domain knowledge, extensive data knowledge, and will
review and condense large amounts of data for a given topic.
Examples Domain experts
Staffers for decision makers
Data ● Comprehensive datasets
showing global trends,
data by topic, country.
Format ● Query tools
● Exploratory visualizations
Data Analyst

31. Data Researcher
Researchers work in the trenches to collect, analyze, and
synthesize data for the other audiences. They often perform
data collection and analysis themselves.
Examples Researchers, Academics,
Modelers
Data ● Full database
● Source data & methods
(input for dataset)
Format ● Query tools
● Exploratory visualizations
● Data catalogue
● Data repository

32. Researchers, Academics,
Modelers
Data Researcher
Domain experts, Staffers for
decisionmakers
Data Analyst
Journalists, Bloggers
Advocates, Data geeks
Web/software developers,
Entrepreneurs
Data Promoter
Policy and decision makers,
NGO/nonprofits, Corporations
Data Actor
Interested Public, News
Consumers
Data Consumer
Data Personas

33. Audience Size
Ability to Drive
Change
Attention Data Skills Topic Expertise Example Format
Data Consumer Large Low Low Low Low Infographic
Data Actor Small High Low Medium Medium Briefing
Data Promoter Medium Medium/High Medium/High Varies* Varies*
Query tools, exploratory
visualizations, API
Data Analyst Medium Medium High High High Detailed topical visualization
Data Researcher Small Medium High High High
Exploratory visualization with
all data available
* Varies: data promoters can have very different data skills (senior newspaper editor vs. data blogger) and topic expertise (industry
specific writer vs. disrupting entrepreneur / developer).
Data Audiences

34. Starting Your
Data Project
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35. Identify From the Start
Data Audience Action
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36. Data for Action
Data
What data would you like to share?
Where is it housed? Who manages it? How often is it updated?
Impact
How will you know if you’re successful?
What will change after your audiences see this data?
Audience
Who needs to see this data?
Who wants this info?
Action
How will people use this data?
What do you want people to do with this data?
Format
What depth of data do your audiences want?
(ex. raw data for analysis, infographic overview)
Channel
How will you deliver this data? (ex. website,
email newsletter, webinar, social media, etc)
Learn more at www.communicatingdata.org
Communicating data and maximizing impact are about supplying the right audience with the right amount of
data in the right format. Know your intent. Know your audience. Know the desired action. Let’s get started!

37. Researchers, Academics,
Modelers
Data Researcher
Domain experts, Staffers for
decisionmakers
Data Analyst
Journalists, Bloggers
Advocates, Data geeks
Web/software developers,
Entrepreneurs
Data Promoter
Policy and decision makers,
NGO/nonprofits, Corporations
Data Actor
Interested Public, News
Consumers
Data Consumer
Data Personas

38. Case Studies
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39. SHOFCO
Shining
Hope for
Communities
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40. SHOFCO
Data Audiences
● Funders and Supporters
● Media
● Internal Operations
● Researchers
Impact
● Optimize operations
● Improved services
● Disease prevention
● Measure program success

41. Format & Application
● SHOFCO Membership Card
● Access to education,
healthcare, water, social
support
● Measure, evaluation and learn
Channel
Salesforce CRM
SHOFCO

42. County
Health
Rankings &
Roadmaps
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43. County Health
Rankings
Data Audience
● Community Members
● Public Health Officials
● Business Leaders
● Government
● Nonprofits
Impact
● Healthier communities!

44. Format
● Visualizations
● Data tables
● Reports
● Spreadsheets
Channels
● Website
● Webinar, Conferences
● Press
County Health
Rankings

45. The
Refugee
Project
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46. The Refugee
Project
Audience
● Funders and Supporters
● General public
● Media
● Academics
Impact
● Awareness
● Support
● Inform

47. Format & Application
● UNHCR Refugee Data
+ UN Population Data
● Updated Annually
● Database > Map
Channel
● Website
● Interactive Visualization

48. Nation’s
Report
Card
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49. Nation’s Report
Card
Audience
● Parents, Teachers
● Principals, Administrators
● Policymakers
● Researchers
Impact
● Create programs
(ex. Detroit Reading Corps)
● Inform Education Policy
● Update Budgets
● Increase Scores!

50. Format
● Interactive Visualizations
● Reports
● Spreadsheets
Channels
● Website
● Social Media
● Webinar, Conferences
● Press
Nation’s
Report Card

51. Your Data!
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52. Identify From the Start
Data Audience Action
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53. Data for Action
Data
What data would you like to share?
Where is it housed? Who manages it? How often is it updated?
Impact
How will you know if you’re successful?
What will change after your audiences see this data?
Audience
Who needs to see this data?
Who wants this info?
Action
How will people use this data?
What do you want people to do with this data?
Format
What depth of data do your audiences want?
(ex. raw data for analysis, infographic overview)
Channel
How will you deliver this data? (ex. website,
email newsletter, webinar, social media, etc)
Learn more at www.communicatingdata.org
Communicating data and maximizing impact are about supplying the right audience with the right amount of
data in the right format. Know your intent. Know your audience. Know the desired action. Let’s get started!

54. Researchers, Academics,
Modelers
Data Researcher
Domain experts, Staffers for
decisionmakers
Data Analyst
Journalists, Bloggers
Advocates, Data geeks
Web/software developers,
Entrepreneurs
Data Promoter
Policy and decision makers,
NGO/nonprofits, Corporations
Data Actor
Interested Public, News
Consumers
Data Consumer
Data Personas

55. Audience
Research
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56. When was the last time you
did audience research?
Are you working from
assumptions?
When and how will they use
your data?
1
2
3

57. Form Audience
Hypothesis
Conduct Research
(survey, interview)
Test Assumptions
and Reflect
How to Identify Audiences

58. PRO TIP
Some audience research
is better than no
audience research.
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59. Resources
#18NTC http://po.st/18NTCdataimpact

60. Communicating Data
for Impact
(website, white paper, case study)

61. PRO TIP
Install Google Analytics!!
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62. Presenting Your Data
- Google Docs, Excel, Powerpoint
- Google Analytics / Data Studio
- Email (MailChimp, Pardot)
- Event / Ticketing
- Fundraising (Blackbaud, Raiser’s Edge)
- Tableau
- Salesforce
- Custom
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63. Questions &
Answers
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64. David Mascarina
Digital Communications Manager
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
@dgmascarina
Courtney Clark
Managing Director of User Experience
Forum One
@circlish
#18NTC