From Stories to Evidence: How Mining Data Can Promote Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector

• Main Authors: Susan Phillips, Michael Lenczner
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Carleton University 2012-07-01
• Series: Technology Innovation Management Review
• Subjects: Ajah; charities; community sector; data mining; funding database; nonprofit; social innovation
• Online Access: http://timreview.ca/sites/default/files/article_PDF/LencznerPhillips_TIMReview_July2012_0.pdf

Being a director at a nonprofit organization often means making guesses instead of properly informed decisions. One source of the “information fog” is fragmented funding. Nonprofit organizations have multiple types of funders, most of whom are not their direct beneficiaries. Predicting funder behaviour is therefore more of an art than a science. Planning for the future, setting goals, and making decisions all suffer in the nonprofit sector because of a lack of timely and accurate information. This article examines the opportunities to use newly available digitized information to address this information deficit. It shows how the rich, variegated and fast-changing landscape of information available online can be collected, combined, and repurposed in order to deliver it in actionable forms to decision makers across the nonprofit sector. This information can significantly improve planning decisions and enhance the effectiveness of the sector. The article concludes that a cultural shift is required in order for the nonprofit sector to exploit the opportunities presented by digital information. Nonprofits and funders are enjoined to increase their numeracy and to find creative ways to use data as part of their evaluation, planning and decision making. Researchers need to be adventurous in their use of quantitative information and specifically should employ linked datasets in order to explore previously unanswerable research and policy questions. The producers of data need to collect and publish their information in ways that facilitate reuse. Finally, funders need to support a variety of projects that seek to exploit these new opportunities.