Can you think of a time when a new strategy didn’t work, results changed unexpectedly, or a goal was missed? Through the power of hindsight, you may be able to see right away if it was due to a knowledge or skills gap.
A recent study into these competencies showed that at least 59% of nonprofits are suffering from extreme knowledge gaps in fundraising and that there’s a significant skills gap when it comes to turning data into effective strategy.
Data isn’t valuable because of what it is, it’s valuable because of what it does. If we’re willing, it can teach us. Maybe even enlighten us. There is a saying that “you cannot optimize what you cannot measure”—but perhaps it helps to flip that around for the sake of our discussion: measure what you want to optimize.
But measurement alone isn’t enough. Most of the organisations in the study noted above likely have copious amounts of data available to them—the problem is that the right people lack data visibility.
In this blog, Justin Beasley explains how your non-profit can achieve data maturity.
Propper Fundraising 