The weaponization of data: With great power comes great responsibility
For the past few years our friend Vu Le of Rainier Valley Corps has been publishing a terrific blog called Nonprofit with Balls. If you don’t already know Vu, the title gives you a clue about his provocative ideas. A seasoned nonprofit leader, Vu has an unorthodox take on how the nonprofit world actually works—and lots of disruptive (in a good way) ideas about how it could work better.
Vu recently posted a blog entry that got our attention here at TrueBearing: Weaponized data: How the obsession with data has been hurting marginalized communities. It’s a thought-provoking read for anyone involved in the nonprofit, public or grantmaking sectors, so all you unicorns out there go ahead and click on the link to read his post. I guarantee you’ll chuckle at least twice- and you’ll get the reference to unicorns. I’ll wait.
Back already? OK. For those of you who didn’t bother to click the link, here is a 30,000-foot overview of Vu’s post:
“Data can be used for good or for evil.” While acknowledging the power of skillfully used data and its benefits to both nonprofits and grantmakers, Vu nails ten distinct ways in which data can be—and too often has been—used to obscure rather than to illuminate, to diminish the richness of our understanding of nonprofit performance, and to maintain the power status quo in a way that marginalizes and sometimes even pathologizes entire communities. […]
Community coalitions—the next generation
In my work with organizations, I focus on providing services to help them excel at their mission right away. But I often find myself wondering what risks and rewards may await our clients down the road, and how they can position themselves to meet them.
History offers many lessons about the need for organizations to periodically re-invent themselves. Once in a while I fantasize about being a consultant to famous leaders of the past who faced golden opportunities for their organizations– like the railroad barons of the late 19th and early 20th century. They were undisputed masters of their world, and very confident in the way they perceived their mission: “We lay rail, and America takes the train.”
I would love to have been able to whisper in their ears, “OK, you’ve had a good run, but have you heard of that young Henry Ford guy? Have you heard what he’s building in his garage? Just spitballing here, but maybe you want to rethink that “we lay rail” mission of yours a bit. Because if you don’t tweak your definition of yourself you’re in for a nasty surprise. Maybe instead of defining yourself strictly in terms of rail, try thinking a little bigger. Something like ‘Whenever America makes a move, it’s on us.’ Because without a broadened mission and a shift from rail to transportation, before you know it you’ll turn into… Amtrak.”
The failure of the railroad was not a lack of resources—they had more money than they knew what to do with. It was purely a failure of vision.
So, how does this vision thing apply to an organization like yours? Well, let’s take one sector we work with that has opportunity pounding on its door. I refer to community coalitions, particularly those dedicated to drug and alcohol prevention.
Towards a healthy and drug-free lifestyle for youth: Discovering what works in your community
Today, hundreds of Federally-funded drug and alcohol-focused community coalitions operate across the United States, joined by many others that rely primarily upon state or private funding. The watchword these coalitions share is prevention, and the overriding challenge they live for is to offer effective support for our nation’s youth in living a healthy and drug-free lifestyle.
At conferences, in online events, and in our work with such coalitions, there is a key question on everyone’s mind: “What preventive strategies work most effectively in our distinctive community, and how do we know whether we are succeeding?”
As an evaluator, I think those are great questions. Really, they comprise the bottom line for any strategic effort. I also believe that these coalitions are in an excellent position to answer these questions—not in the abstract, but in terms of their own community, their own neighborhoods, and the youth they know and seek to serve. It is possible to discover what works—and what doesn’t work—to achieve a particular prevention goal in a particular community.
I believe this for two reasons.
On the Road to Readiness
As you can see, there was plenty of fist-pumping excitement for evidence-based decision making and organizational readiness yesterday at the the Nonprofit Practices Institute Summit in Chelan WA! It was great to hear the stories of so many dedicated nonprofit leaders who attended from throughout North Central Washington, and to learn about the good work they are doing. TrueBearing’s Dr. Nathan Brown offered double-header workshops: Moneyball for Nonprofits and Ready = Willing + Able. The presentation decks are available, with plenty of supplementary information and practical resources on EBDM and organizational readiness– take a look and put them to good use!
Thanks to the Community Foundation of North Central Washington for sponsoring this event! […]
Useful Stuff: Community Health Needs Data
Does your organization’s work involve health outcomes? Check out this awesome resource from Community Commons.
Drawing from a number of reliable sources of health data (e.g., CDC, US Census, Department of Health and Human Services), this tool generates Community Health Needs Assessment reports that cover categories like demographics, social and economic factors, even health behaviors and outcomes (including what proportion of the population has specific health issues, and how each figure compares statewide and nationwide). The best part is that you can interact with the site to filter down to individual counties or even zip codes. […]
EBDM On The Road
We’re on the road with Moneyball for Nonprofits at the Washington Nonprofit’s Shaping the Conversation conference in Bellevue WA. Lots of energy among the folks attending our workshop about the use of an evidence-based decision making approach in strategic planning, action, and evaluation. The full presentation deck has plenty of supplementary information and practical resources– take a look here, and start your organization on a path to better decisions! […]
