Data visualisation plays two key roles: 1. Communicating results clearly to a general audience. 2. Organizing a view of data that suggests a new hypothesis or a next step in a project. It’s no surprise that most people prefer visuals to large tables of numbers. That’s why clearly labeled plots with meaningful interpretation always make … Continue reading 10 Visualisations Every Data Scientist Should Know
How Accessible Data Can Make Nonprofits More Effective
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 … Continue reading How Accessible Data Can Make Nonprofits More Effective
The Importance of Having a Multichannel Fundraising Campaign
Year-end fundraising season is starting to gear up. However, if you just send one fundraising letter and wait for the donations to come in, prepare to be disappointed. Your donors have a lot going on and may put your letter aside to handle later, and then never get to it. Of course, you can also … Continue reading The Importance of Having a Multichannel Fundraising Campaign
The five steps of risk assessment
An event like a hacker attack or the loss of a major donor could be catastrophic for your charity. So what are you doing to reduce the risk of such an event? This question is at the core of risk management, and it’s one that charities of all sizes should be asking themselves on a … Continue reading The five steps of risk assessment
60% of charities now have a digital strategy
Now in its fifth year, the Charity Digital Skills Report is an annual barometer of digital skills, attitudes and support needs across the sector. The report tracks how these have changed year on year and analyses how other key building blocks for digital change are progressing, including understanding user needs, leadership, strategy and governance. The … Continue reading 60% of charities now have a digital strategy
7 Steps to Ensure and Sustain Data Quality
Before data science became mainstream, data quality was mostly mentioned for the reports delivered to internal or external clients. Nowadays, because machine learning requires a large amount of training data, the internal datasets within an organization are in high demand. In addition, the analytics are always hungry for data and constantly search for data assets … Continue reading 7 Steps to Ensure and Sustain Data Quality
How to design kick-ass pages and products by simply asking some questions
Every organisation wants to design digital solutions with a rich user experience. To do this, they need a thorough understanding of how people interact with technology and experience these solutions. As humans we are hardwired to spot certain patterns and responses in our surroundings. We use these responses and patterns when we are solving problems … Continue reading How to design kick-ass pages and products by simply asking some questions
Most public sector messages are not direct marketing
The ICO says public sector organisations can send ‘promotional’ messages which would not be classed as direct marketing, if they are necessary for a public task or function. This is significant. ‘Promotional’ messages have always been considered as ‘direct marketing’ before, regardless of whether they are sent by commercial companies, not-for-profits or the public sector. It … Continue reading Most public sector messages are not direct marketing
Data doesn’t speak for itself: Why data storytelling is important
Almost all data is a recording of past events - what has happened before. People have to explore and analyze it to find historical truth, in the hopes it can reveal trends, inform the next direction to take, and act as a guide for the actions necessary to improve the future. For analysts in an … Continue reading Data doesn’t speak for itself: Why data storytelling is important
Philanthropy and Cyber-Security
With more than a trillion dollars flowing in 2017 from donors and government agencies to grantees in the United States alone, online thieves have discovered fertile hunting ground. Cyberattacks have only gotten more clever, and the stakes higher. To thwart hackers, organizations in the philanthropy space need to focus on both common security practices and … Continue reading Philanthropy and Cyber-Security
Propper Fundraising 