What Do We Do with All This Data? A New(ish) Nonprofit Dilemma
Nonprofits have made incredible progress using data and technology of late—so much that old narratives are going out the window.
Those narratives said that nonprofits were laggards when it came to technology. Lacking the necessary budgets, staff, or skills—or probably all three—nonprofits didn’t have the means to utilize tech as fully or effectively as organizations in other industries. As a result, nonprofits were under-equipped with digital tools and under-prepared for adopting them.
That’s beginning to change.
Nonprofits of all stripes have spent recent years making major commitments and investment to bring their data capabilities up to par. They’ve been digitizing, integrating, automating, and innovating wherever possible, and with some amazing success. Nearly all nonprofits are embracing and embarking on some kind of digital transformation. Many are using cloud and digital tools for targeted initiatives if not fully integrating across the organization as a core driver of mission outcomes.
The popular perception that nonprofits are “behind the times” on technology just isn’t accurate anymore. And the industry deserves tremendous credit for making so much progress so quickly. That said, any organization that embraces technology soon discovers that it can unintentionally solve one set of problems while creating a different set entirely.
The data dilemma at today’s nonprofits
For those nonprofits that have introduced technology to most departments, digitized their key workflows, and made commitments to tracking and analytics, data is pouring into their organizations. That data contains invaluable insights to help nonprofits extend their impact and fine-tune operations. It’s vital and abundant—and that’s precisely the problem.
With data volumes increasing and accelerating, nonprofits are having to manage data at an unprecedented scale. With that scale comes numerous challenges:
- Storing data in large quantities.
- Breaking down data silos.
- Keeping information organized and accessible.
- Distributing data to stakeholders.
- Securing valuable information under attack.
Each of these endeavors is challenging on its own, and collectively they make data management into a weighty responsibility for today’s digitally adept nonprofits. Making matters worse, failures on any front could make data inaccessible or unreliable, thereby wasting much of the resources put into utilizing it. Nonprofits want and need to get large-scale data management right, which starts by putting the requisite upgrades in place.
Now’s the time to get started.
Thinking differently about data
As data has come to dominate how organizations operate, new ways of managing it at scale have emerged. Data lakes and data warehouses are two examples. Both serve as a central repository for storing and accessing data that brings everything together on a secure and scalable foundation.
Data lakes and data warehouses have helped adopters bring their data strategy to life, unearthing more insights for more stakeholders while, at the same time, resolving the difficult parts of managing data at scale. They’re the tool that data-rich nonprofits need—but too few have.
Meanwhile, new data structures and tools continue to emerge, making it difficult for nonprofits to make sense of this landscape, let alone explain it to key stakeholders in order to gain support for organizational investment.
We aim to change that.
Free webinar makes data excellence look easy
CLA has helped numerous nonprofits implement smart data management strategies. We will draw on that experience in an upcoming webinar where several CLA consultants will take a deep dive into data lakes and data warehouses and also share some new data management developments coming in 2024.
Learn how they work, why they help, and what it takes to put one in place. Your future data strategy starts here.
Join us November 29th 2023 from 1-2 p.m CT. Register for free here.
At CLA our people come to work each and every day with a clear-cut purpose: to create opportunities for our clients, our people, and our communities. As a member of our industry leadership team, I lead our nonprofit digital services. Our team of 800 nonprofit professionals serve over 10,000 nonprofits nationally through integrated wealth advisory, outsourcing, digital, audit, and tax services to help them succeed professionally and personally.
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