Nonprofits' experiences of data culture
Each month our Nonprofit Datafolk Club workshops provide a virtual space for nonprofit people to get together and talk about data-related topics.
In March this year, we gathered to talk about data culture. Participants were asked a number of questions about this broad-ranging topic. Here is a summary of what they said:
What makes for a good data culture in your experience and opinion?
Leadership
One of the most common answers to this question was the importance of senior leadership buy-in and translating their vision to people on the ground.
Training
Training was another frequent feature, with themes like avoiding assumptions about prior knowledge and keeping staff engaged being highlighted.
Systems
Participants also talked about needing to have easy, reliable systems with good guardrails and discussed whether systems are key to data culture or respond to it.
Openness
Other answers included a willingness to learn, meeting people where they are, being mindful of people’s different roles, and the importance of recognising neurodiversity.
Skills
Finally, people talked about data audits and allies, utilising staff with data skills to help build data culture, and encouraging an ‘amnesty’ to move forward without fear of admitting knowledge gaps.
What is the data culture like in your organisation?
Fragmented
Fragmentation, disconnect, and silos were raised as key challenges.
Fearful
Other topics included data quality and collection, fear of data and spreadsheets, governance, and security.
Inefficient
People also discussed technological barriers, a lack of automation and efficiency, challenges caused by staff who are not directly employed.
Lacking focus on the people it serves
Finally, people talked about the importance of humanising data, and wider issues with being evidence-driven and using insights effectively.
What do organisations struggle with when it comes to culture around data?
Resources
A lack of time, capacity, resources, and skills were notable features of this conversation. Disparate data systems, duplication, staff turnover, nervousness around data, entrenched patterns of behaviour, and a lack of data ownership were also mentioned.
Prioritisation
Other struggles included separating organisational culture from data culture, service delivery being prioritised over data, people not appreciating the value of data, and ending up in a firefighting scenario.
One participant said:
“Sometimes the biggest challenge is not to disempower people”
Do you have any great examples / best practice ideas you'd like to share when it comes to building data culture?
Finding out where you’re at
Several participants stressed that getting to know staff, having open conversations, nurturing growth, and making the most of existing skills and knowledge are great ways of building data culture.
Working together
Alongside this, people spoke of developing better integration between disparate teams, sharing information, case studies, resources, and insights more widely, encouraging curiosity, and making numbers fun.
Checking in on progress
There was also an emphasis on asking questions, sense-checking, and using effective retrospective evaluations to drive improvements and change.
Engagement
Ways of improving data culture included nurturing a willingness to change and promoting “psychological safety” in the context of questioning data and using it as evidence. Another person suggested gamifying data to increase staff engagement with debrief sessions.
Join the Nonprofit Datafolk Club
If you found this resource interesting, or if you have any curiosity in nonprofit data more generally, please come and join us at our next workshop. Each month has a different topic, and you will be able to find the details on our events page. Previous topics have included:
