The right data can help nonprofits in two major ways. It can assist with funding by illustrating to people how much help is needed, and it can support developing more effective strategies for achieving goals. “At SumAll.org, we’re working on making enterprise-scale problem-solving accessible to nonprofits. When a solution is easy to use and flexible, it can have transformational power,” says Stefan Heeke, SumAll.org executive director.
Though nonprofits want data, they don’t always have the ability to get it. “When we start a project to help a nonprofit, we sometimes see a data-collection issue, and not collecting data can have implications on funding. Funders are the biggest group demanding data from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and even government,” says Heeke. At the same time, funders aren’t always keen on the idea of their donations going towards analytics tools. “There’s a huge opportunity to use enterprise-level tools for social impact and finding ways to make this technology accessible to the non-profit community is critical.”
“It’s really about the quality of data and the ability to make the data visible and useful to a wide audience. People forget that good ideas come from people on the ground, and not necessarily from the analyst in an office,” says Heeke.
Learn how SumAll.org is using TIBCO Spotfire to help nonprofits further their cause and make a difference.
