Nonprofit

Half of all nonprofits aren’t getting the most out of their data, according to recent studies. This needs to change.

Nonprofits can use data to improve their outreach and fundraising. And you don’t need to break the bank to do it. This article shows you how.

Data-Driven Marketing & Fundraising

Traditional outreach strategies can work. But they often fall short. Why? They aren’t tailored to specific audiences.

Data can help you reach the right people. Machine learning makes this possible.

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning teaches computers to find patterns. You feed it information you already know. It learns things you don’t know yet.

For nonprofits, this means learning who might donate. You can use public data about potential donors. The computer finds patterns that predict interest in your cause.

This strategy works well for:

  • Audience-tailored advertising
  • Fundraising campaigns
  • Outreach activities

A Real Example

Let’s say your current donors share common traits. They might have similar income levels. They might live in certain areas. Or share demographic characteristics.

You can apply these patterns to a database of non-donors. The result? A list of people likely to support your cause.

Target these people in your campaigns. Don’t waste money on unlikely donors.

Predictive Analytics

Nonprofits use predictive analytics in many ways:

Museums want to predict visitor numbers for future dates.
Food banks want to predict demand surges before they happen.
Disaster relief organizations want to predict hurricanes, fires, and floods.
Educational organizations want to predict student outcomes.

The list goes on. No matter what you want to predict, data is the answer. A strong data strategy gives you the most reliable predictions.

Web Stats & Dashboards

Many nonprofits now track outcomes data. Donors and grant organizations want to see this information. They want transparency about their donations.

Stakeholders ask questions like:

How many people were served?
How many homes were built?
How much of each dollar goes to the cause versus overhead?

How Boxplot Helps

Boxplot helps nonprofits answer these questions. We help you collect the right data. We help you analyze and understand it.

We also create beautiful visualizations. These can go directly into web pages.
We create reports for PDFs and other formats.
We build dashboards in Tableau and Power BI.

These dashboards can be embedded anywhere. Check out this example we created for the Forbes Funds.

Your Data Strategy

Every nonprofit can gain insights from data. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or already advanced.

You might need to:

  • Learn a new open-source tool
  • Adopt machine learning strategies
  • Add fresh ideas to existing solutions

Boxplot can help at any level. We offer consulting services. We provide full data strategy outsourcing. We deliver hands-on data tool training.

Get in touch with us here to learn more.

Contact Us  

Automation

Does your team do lots of manual data entry? Automation can save time and money.

Many organizations move information between different systems. They transfer data between CRMs, task trackers, HR software, and financial tools. They set up user accounts and deactivate them later.

All of these tasks can be automated.

We’ve helped organizations automate their data flows. They’ve saved tens of thousands in salary costs.

Freeware Data Tools for Nonprofits

Nonprofits often have tight budgets. The good news? Many top data tools are free.

These open-source tools handle data collection and analysis. Here’s a quick overview:

Python

Python is the world’s most popular data science language. It’s used for data analysis and visualization.

Python beats Excel in three key ways:

  • Automation
  • Reliability
  • Adaptability

The data world is moving from Excel to Python. Never coded before? Don’t worry. Python is intuitive and easy to learn.

SQL

Tired of manual data work? Use a database.

Databases give everyone access to a single source of truth. Here’s why this matters:

Imagine organizing data in disconnected Excel sheets. One data point appears on 25 different reports. If you enter it wrong, you must fix all 25 reports by hand.

With a database, you fix it once. The change updates everywhere automatically.

Most SQL tools are free. MySQL and Postgres let you build and maintain custom databases at no cost.

R

R is less popular than Python, but still powerful. It’s free and intuitive. Computer science folks often prefer Python. Statistics professionals often prefer R. Both work great for data analysis.

Google Sheets

Excel is great, but it costs money. Google Sheets is free with an internet connection.

Most Excel features work in Google Sheets. It’s a solid alternative.

Nonprofit Discounts

Many companies offer deep discounts to nonprofits. Tableau, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon all have special nonprofit pricing for their paid products.