Can leaders really effect change in data?
One year on from our Data for Nonprofit Leaders course
In 2023 we launched a new online training course – Data for Nonprofit Leaders. It was the first of its kind and aimed to equip senior leaders with the skills, knowledge and confidence to drive improvement around data. We know data skills are a weak point across our sector and that skills, particularly at leadership level, are key to advancing organisational data maturity.
We’ve been delighted by the feedback as more cohorts have completed the course. We know people leave feeling better equipped and confident to lead on data, as well as being motivated and inspired to take action.
“As a leader I know that data is an underused tool in so many of our organisations… As a leader of a small charity I am in that particular pinch point of knowing that I don’t know enough about it, but not knowing enough to know what questions to ask, what skills to look for in my team, and what impact we could be having if we were better equipped to gather, use or analyse data.
Data Orchard’s ‘Data for Nonprofit Leaders’ course gave me an opportunity to be honest about my lack of knowledge in an open, informed and supportive environment; it expanded my knowledge in ways that are relevant to my role; and it gave me an opportunity to connect with other leaders and learn from their experience and knowledge in this space. I’m hoping now that other colleagues of mine will also be able to join future courses, so that we can start to develop our own data journey with a shared language and a common understanding of what is possible.”
Jane Ide, Chief Executive, ACEVO
Obviously we’re thrilled about the positive support for the course AND, because we’re a social enterprise and we care about impact, we wanted to look at whether the course had delivered any long-term sustained/enduring change.
So, we asked our April and September 2023 cohorts, one year on from the course, what difference it had made.
Achievements across the board - big and small
The first, and most exciting, piece of news is that everyone tells us they’ve been able to effect some change and improvement around data in their organisation since completing the course. In some cases quite big changes:
“I am in the process of developing a data strategy and have the support of the leadership team.”
Maria Ashley, Head of Communications and Digital, Firstport
“I have restructured the team so we have a dedicated person looking at our impact. We have also started really talking about the insight our data gives us.”
Katie Antill, CEO, Alzheimer’s & Dementia Support Services
“We have a clearer vision of what we need to do to achieve our data goals based around the data maturity framework... This vision helped us to secure support and investment in the team.”
Anonymous
Greatest successes
All respondents reported success in implementing changes in their organisations. The top two impacts were ‘Leading better conversations about data’ (100%) and ‘mobilising support/leadership buy-in to improving with data’ (70%). Others were: ‘implementing data improvement projects’, ‘data strategies’, ‘developing a data culture’, ‘new roles and responsibilities’, and ‘securing investment for data related resources’.
Since completing the course, have you been successful in achieving any of the following?
What achievements are you most proud of since completing the course?
Given that so many leaders have told us in the past that they fear (or even hate) data, we really hoped that our alumni would have developed more positive associations with data since increasing their knowledge.
When we asked about our leaders’ proudest achievements, we were excited to see that everyone had something to say, including yet more significant achievements:
“Endorsement of our data strategy at leadership team level… [and] doing a whole org data maturity assessment - as a result of data finally being on the agenda…. [The] course helped me to feel more confident in talking about data and amplifying the voice of our data science and insights team…”
Amanda Spencer, Director of Technology, Royal Society of Chemistry
“I have a much wider understanding of the power of data, it has helped me rearticulate some of the areas of our work which has opened up funding possibilities.”
Heather Peak, Artistic Director and CEO, DASH
“Creating progression pathways and supporting the professional development of my team by supporting them to pursue relevant opportunities”
Anonymous
Were there any unexpected benefits gained from the course?
We designed the course to include small cohorts of leaders at a similarly senior level within their organisation. We wanted attendees to be able to share and learn from each other because we know that organisations across the board share many similar data challenges.
For many of our leaders, this small cohort of like-minded people was an unexpected benefit:
“[It was] really interesting to meet other leaders from the non-profit sector with fascinating use cases for data and insights”
Amanda Spencer, Director of Technology, Royal Society of Chemistry
“Confidence in myself when talking [about] data and realising that many other charities are on the same boat as us.”
Maria Ashley, Head of Communications and Digital, Firstport
What would you say to other leaders considering whether to sign up for this training course?
Finally, considering that all our leaders say they would recommend the course in their post-course feedback, we asked again about what they would say to others.
“Go for it, in fact I got one of my team to do it.”
Katie Antill, CEO, Alzheimer’s & Dementia Support Services
“I’d really recommend this course because it boosted my confidence and gave me the tools and frameworks to be more strategic in how we reach our goals for using data.”
Anonymous
“Do it! It is only a little bit of time every week, so completely manageable to fit in around a busy role, and it will give you great insight into the subject of data and considerations around it, with a useful bank of materials to return to after the course. With small cohorts made up of people in similar organisations and engaging and knowledgeable course leaders it is very good value for money.”
Amanda Spencer, Director of Technology, Royal Society of Chemistry
“If you are trying to change the data culture in your organisation, this course will give you some tools and knowledge to help you do it.”
Maria Ashley, Head of Communications and Digital, Firstport
“I think it is [a] course that will reignite quite how expansive, useful and fun it is working with data.”
Heather Peak, Artistic Director and CEO, DASH
A bit about the data
As data people, we know it’s important to be open and transparent about our data. We train small cohorts of leaders on our courses. For this evaluation we followed up all 14 people who had completed our courses in 2023 (6 from the April cohort and 8 in the second cohort). 2 had moved on from their roles, 7 responded to the request and 5 didn’t respond.
In the context of long-term evaluation we’re very pleased to have a 50% response rate and would like to thank everyone for sharing their data journeys with us and the wider world. We will continue to do longer-term follow up with all our course alumni 6-12 months after they’ve completed our courses.
Find out more
We’ve recently published dates for the 2025 cohorts of our Data for Nonprofit Leaders course.
Get a free preview of the course
If you’re a leader who’s left with any doubt about whether you should sign up to one of the upcoming cohorts, our free no obligation preview event will answer any of your lingering questions.
Come along on 20 November, 12-12:45pm, for a quick look at what the course involves and a chance to ask any questions you have.