As part of your fundraising campaigns and online engagement, you likely collect many metrics and data points. But do you take the time to reflect on this data and use it to improve for next time? In this session, we’ll discuss metrics you can collect, share each other’s best practices for data collection processes, and demo dashboard tools that will help you see the big picture.
Prezented at Artez Interaction, September 26 2013, by Tierney Smith.
3. Is my org eligible?
a) Does your business
number end in
RR0001?
b) Do you have a
Letters Patent from
Industry Canada?
c) Are you incorporated
as a not-for-profit
corporation with your
province?
d) Are you a library?
You may be eligible to
get donations of…
DONATIONS PROGRAM
4. ABOUT ME
• Community Engagement Manager
• Online community & resources about nonprofit technology
For example… the nonprofit tech self-assesment:
https://www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/community/blog/are-your-technology-priorities-in-order-take-the-tech-self-
assessment
@tierneys
@techsoupcanada
facebook.com/techsoupcanada
techsoupcanada.ca/community/blog
youtube.com/techsoupcanada
slideshare.net/techsoupcanada
5. AGENDA
• A bit about metrics (what to
measure)
• A bit about data collection (how to
measure)
• A bit about dashboards (what to do
after measuring)
6.
7. HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS?
SEE
SAY
FEEL
DO
EngagementExposure Conversion
Credit: Fenton
http://www.fenton.com/resources/see-say-feel-
do/
8. WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLE METRICS?
SEE SAY FEEL DO
Credit: Fenton
http://www.fenton.com/resources/see-say-feel-
do/
• FB Page
Likes
• TW followers
• RSS or
email
subscriptions
--------------------
• YouTube
views
• Bit.ly clicks
• FB reach
• FB Content
Likes
• FB Shares
• Retweets
• Email
forwards
• Google +1s
• FB Shares
with message
• Retweet with
message
• FB or blog
comments
• Online
mentions
• Donations
• Advocacy
actions
• Event
attendance
• Membership
• Volunteerism
11. STEPS TO DATA HAPPINESS
1.Define your question
2.Choose metrics
3.Collect data
4.Share data
5.Use data
6.Tweak, learn, improve, repeat
12. … but are you
using it?
YOU PROBABLY ALREADY HAVE LOTS OF DATA…
Source: http://www.nten.org/research/2012-state-of-data
13. TIP: BUILD ON WHAT YOU HAVE
Look at the data you are already collecting:
• Social media stats
• Opens/clicks for email
• Donations
• Volunteer records
Etc.
Pull it all together & cross reference
14. TIP: CREATE NEW HABITS
Momsrising holds a weekly staff meeting nicknamed
“Metrics Monday.” Each program and campaign
staff person reviews their reports in preparation for a
group conversation about what actions to reinforce, how
refine messages, and other improvements. Says Kristin,
“Our dashboards have multiple views – a high level view
and the ability to drill down into specific campaigns – this
informs our discussion.”
Source: http://www.bethkanter.org/momsrising-key-results/
15. TIP: MAKE IT VISUAL
Source: http://dashboard.imamuseum.org/
18. 4 APPROACHES TO DASHBOARDS
Excel or PowerPoint1
2
3
4
Built-in dashboards (in your database/
CRM/donor management system)
Reporting/dashboard/business
intelligence tool
Custom built dashboards
19. EXCEL & POWERPOINT DASHBOARDS
PROS
• Familiar tools
• No IT expertise
needed
• Flexible, easy to
customize
• Helps you
experiment
CONS
• Less powerful than
other tools
• Usually involves
manual effort
• No real-time
feedback
1
23. BUILT-IN DASHBOARDS
PROS
• Pulls directly from
existing data
automatically
• Often update in
real time
• No new systems
required
CONS
• Requires a robust
dashboard feature
in your existing
system
• System may not
include all relevant
data
2
25. GOOGLE ANALYTICS2
More info: http://gettingattention.org/articles/625/evaluation/increase-nonprofit-marketing-impact-google-
analytics.html
http://googlefornonprofits.blogspot.ca/2013/07/how-to-keep-track-of-multiple-marketing.html
26. DASHBOARD TOOL
PROS
• Integrate multiple
data sources
• Not reliant on built-
in dashboard
functionality
• More features
available (e.g.
compared to a
spreadsheet)
CONS
• A new system to
acquire and learn
• May require IT
assistance, or at
least some tech
savvy
3
27. DASHBOARD TOOLS
Features to consider:
• Data sources
• Drill-down-ability
• Ease of updating
• Data analysis capabilities
3
More info: https://www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/community/blog/jane-vs-tierney/dashboard-
challenge
http://www.dashboardinsight.com/articles/digital-dashboards/fundamentals/7-small-business-
dashboard-design-dos-and-donts.aspx
28. ZOHO REPORTS3
More info: https://www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/community/blog/jane-vs-tierney/zoho-reports-
30. CUSTOM DASHBOARDS
PROS
• Exactly customized
for you, maximum
flexibility
• Integrate multiple
data sources
CONS
• Custom
development (IT)
required
• Need capacity to
maintain it
4
31. EXAMPLE: ONE ACRE FUND4
Source: http://www.oneacrefund.org/results/dashboard/
33. GOOD DATA VISUALIZATION PRACTICES
Source: http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/community/blog/data-visualization-
foundations
34. FURTHER READING
• Getting started with Data-Driven Decision making (NTEN
workbook)
http://www.nten.org/research/2013-data-workbook-download
• Jane vs. Tierney: Dashboard Tools for Nonprofits
https://www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/community/blog/jane-vs-tierney/dashboard-
challenge
• Data visualization for dummies: how your nonprofit can tell
powerful stories with data
http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/community/blog/data-visualization-foundations
• Understanding Software for Program Evaluation (report by
Idealware)
http://www.idealware.org/reports/understanding-software-program-evaluation
Editor's Notes
Getting to know audience:-size of organization?-have you personally been involved in a website redesign before?-do you own a tablet or smartphone?Note: we’re assuming you know something about redesigning websites in general. All that stuff still applies. We’ll be focusing on the mobile aspects today.
What metrics should you use?Here’s one framework I liked. There are others out there if this doesn’t work for you.SEE: people see your stuff. Only useful to help you get the other metrics. 2 types of SEE metrics: followers and viewsSAY: people repeat your message. Shows that they have some interest in itFEEL: people comment on your message. Shows even more interest/buy-in, gives you even more insight into what people think.DO: what you want at the end of the day, what everything else is leading towards. Actual actionsMake sure your metrics have leadership buy-in – don’t want to go to the trouble of measuring it if you don’t have agreement that what you’re measuring is useful.
Note that not all metrics are created equal. For example, there are different types of SEE metrics in my opinion. Some are more general (followers) – you really don’t know if they are getting the message, it’s very vague and not too useful.Some actually indicate that someone did something specific to see your content – it’s still “see”, they haven’t DONE anything, but it shows more engagement. E.g. email opens, bit.ly click, etc.
You don’t have to do everything at once, or in the right order. Once you get started then you’ll start asking more questions, which will help give you direction.ALWAYS LINK BACK TO IMPACT!!
The next step is to collect dataYou probably already track a lot of data but don’t use it. This is the case for most nonprofitsOf course whether you have the RIGHT data, and whether it’s shared with the RIGHT people, is another question
The best way to make progress is to force yourself to look at your metrics regularly
More complex example. Developed in Drupal? (confirm)
There are ways to reduce the manual aspect with Excel e.g. automatic import from other files
Old school NTEN, that is!
Note that many tools are quite expensive – we will focus on ones that are low cost, but if you have thousands of dollars or more to spend then there are certainly lots of options!These features also apply to all types of dashboards in some way, but this is the area where you’d most likely be evaluating multiple tools which is why we’re discussing it here.
Live demo?
Integrates with lots of other accounts, like Google Analytics, Mailchimp, etc.You can link it to a Google Spreadsheet to display data, as long as your data is in columns
This is a very simple example. It’s basically a web page, so easy to create and update. It’s really more like the PowerPoint example we saw before than the other dashboard we’ll look at.
More complex example. Developed in Drupal? (confirm)
Resources:http://conviosummit2011.com/?wpfb_dl=480 (make sure this is the right link, it is a report)