How do you make decisions about where to work? Where to eat? Who to form relationships with?
At every moment, no matter how mundane, we’re making choices based on the evidence we have on hand. From packing an umbrella in the morning depending on the precipitation forecast to deciding how long to brush your teeth based on dental science, your brain is constantly calculating data to create your future.
In business, it’s no different. Investors seek out a company’s balance sheets and cash flow statements to find out where they should direct resources for optimal ROI. For social good organizations, donors, grant makers, and volunteers are the chief stakeholders, and they’re similarly calculating how to get involved based on the evidence you’ve provided.
This raises an important question: Are you telling supporters everything they need to know about your organization’s impact?
As chief product officer for Bonterra, I’m charged with leading a team that develops tools to help society do more good. Our mission to increase charitable giving in the U.S. from 2.5% to 3% of the GDP by 2033 would amplify the impact of vital nonprofits across America. But it will not happen without quantitative storytelling. And we need to rely on data to get there.
Data is people, progress, and the map
Data is more than numbers and statistics. It’s calculable, yes. But it’s also personal. When I think about how organizations optimally demonstrate success, I think about our clients like Project Quest in San Antonio and Capital IDEA in Austin. These teams utilize data to tell their stories, map their missions, determine their goals, explain their operational plans, and, finally, show proof of how they are delivering intended results.
Eva Rios-Lleverino, deputy executive director at Capital IDEA, shared amazing student success stories from their program with me. In one instance, a single mother of three went from making $9 an hour in a food services job to pursuing a career as a Registered Nurse and earning $32 an hour. By having meaningful data tied to inspirational success stories, Capital IDEA can clearly articulate how participants progress from a job to a career to better support themselves and their families.
That’s incredible, quantifiable data. But it’s also qualitative. And Capital IDEA captured it. For the client, it meant the ability to support her three children, afford after-school care, and provide employer healthcare for the entire family. She did that work. For Capital IDEA — which assisted her along the way — it meant a tangible proof point they could use when sharing her success and reporting impact to investors, donors, and volunteers.
For social good organizations, data is their greatest asset next to their people. It’s the evidence that they’re making a difference. It’s the map that tells them where to go. It’s the pitch to supporters that they are a worthwhile investment.
With Bonterra’s help, nonprofit organizations can report and track each metric. Whether it’s a numerical proof point about increased salary for an individual or more complex markers of progress like whether a child is kindergarten-ready, our software solutions and people partner with NPOs to best track and report on their needs, goals, and success.
3 keys to a solid quantitative storytelling strategy
Much like Capital IDEA, our client Project Quest’s storytelling success didn’t just happen. Like all things involving data, there’s a formula. The most innovative organizations demonstrate a level of readiness to use data for storytelling and impact reporting. You can determine your organization’s level of readiness by assessing three markers for impact maturity. Your organization should have:
1. Established KPIs that inform data collection and metrics
Qualitative storytelling is important, and so is relationship-building. But the truth is that no one — whether in the for-profit or nonprofit ecosystem — invests without concrete, tangible metrics. Every organization needs to have a customized strategy and easy access to pertinent data.
Begin by establishing your key performance indicators (KPIs), if you haven’t already. Start by answering the following questions:
- What do your donors care about?
- What progress (outputs and outcome) do they want to see?
- Are you able to able to show your KPIs on demand? This will demonstrate progress to your stakeholders and deliver insights on next steps.
- Are they easily accessible, frequently updated, and helping inform your decision-making as an organization?
Once you’ve identified your KPIs and how they’re being measured, you can use them to inform your data collection and reporting, as well as your AI tools and algorithms. In turn, this will positively impact your organization’s efforts to obtain and sustain funding.
2. AI technology that accelerates impact, streamlines reporting, and frees up time
Even if your organization is early on in its use of AI and automation, it’s critical to have a strategy built around the adoption of these tools. Technology in the for-profit space has become the great equalizer, allowing smaller companies to compete with much larger, more established companies. AI and automation are partnering with people to accelerate efficiency by reducing mundane tasks, allowing staff to focus on more meaningful work.
This shift is even more important in the social good ecosystem. AI and automation will not replace people, but rather empower people. When caseworkers, staff, and program directors are equipped with smart tech, they’re able to make more informed decisions based on real-time data; and they understand what’s working — and what’s not — down to a granular level.
Let’s return to Capital Idea and Project Quest. Eva Rios-Lleverino explained to me that she uses her decades of experience to analyze potential candidates and determine (based on experiential evidence) who is most likely to complete the program. When we continued to engage in our discussion, I told her that this mirrors how an AI model works. When organizations use AI and predictive analytics, paired with the analytical skills of nonprofit professionals, they will be even better equipped to help the organization determine where to invest its resources.
3. Scalability and measurable proof of success.
A staggering 1.5 million 501(c)(3) organizations now operate in the United States, which means more people are helping people, but also competing for funding. Knowing the operational investment of your budget is crucial to standing out.
When investors look at companies to partner with, they interrogate that organization’s ability to scale and how leadership makes financial decisions. Investors and donors are looking at organizations that are adopting smart tech, as it suggests more promise of ROI.
In this way, helping people with increased demand and static supply is crucial. AI and automation provide multiple benefits to social good organizations, chiefly among them: the ability to quickly sort through and optimize data. Smart tech speeds up mundane data entry tasks, eases the creation of funder reports, and offers proactive suggestions on how to improve email marketing campaigns. By allowing experts in therapy, childcare, and other specialized fields to focus on empathetic, skills-based work that demands their attention, social good organizations capitalize on time and resources. This communicates to donors an organization’s ability to sustain itself long-term, based on sound financial investments in technology.
Your best decision
At Bonterra, we are helping nonprofits adopt software that partners with people. We help experts in their field build their skills by simplifying the use of AI. As demand for social programs increases, the competition for funding will grow and technology will play a powerful role within the social good ecosystem.
My advice is to lean into the opportunities technology can bring to your organization and partner with people who are as passionate about solving your data management needs as you are passionate about solving the needs of your community.
In us, you have a partner who is ready to listen and ready to help tell your data-driven story.
About the author
John Manganaro is the chief product officer of Bonterra — a social good software company focused on powering those who power social impact with donor engagement, supporter engagement, program management, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) tech solutions.
