Big data analytics has proved its worth in both business and government. It stands to reason, then, that nonprofit and charitable organizations can also make use of the technology. The widespread usefulness of big data serves to highlight certain important shared characteristics across these fields. For instance, customer experience is always important. Whether it is companies hoping to ensure repeat business, governmental bodies trying to win the approval of their constituents or nonprofits attempting to lock in donors for future contributions, nearly every organization can gain something by turning information into improved service.
Nonprofits seek improvement
According to the Wall Street Journal, some of the most successful charity organizations over the past few years have been those that have embraced technology. Rather than fleeing from or rejecting new developments like cloud computing and systems capable of analyzing unstructured data, the founders of these causes have built structures around them.
The source presented Scott Harrison, head of Charity: water, as the standard bearer for this more tech-enabled movement. Harrison stays in contact with donors on a level that would have been impossible in the past. His organization sends precise data about project progress to donors, giving them a more direct window into the process.
The analytical core of Harrison's Charity: water work lies in the plans in place to track internal performance more effectively. According to the source, Harrison intends to use a constant stream of information from projects in progress to maximize their efficiency. This process is likely familiar to corporate IT leaders who have pondered new big data deployments. The prospect of a close-up view of internal processes, one that can offer feedback while there is still enough time to make meaningful change, is one of the technology's most promising aspects in business deployment.
Harrison told the source that he also hopes the use of new data sources will open up transparency and accountability in the charity world. As such organizations thrive on their reputations and the promise that they will do their best, such information could become a forceful selling point.
"Ultimately additional data will force all charities and agencies that work in the space to raise the bar," Harrison said, according to the Journal. "We like to call it 'uncomfortable transparency.'"
New data options
Jake Porway, an expert in enabling technology at charities, told the news provider that many charities are already collecting data that could be useful in an analytical sense, and that they may not realize it. This is another way that such organizations are similar to businesses, as companies typically have archives full of files and streams of transactional information that they may not consider actionable. With new technology changing the definition of what makes good analytical material, however, a rapid reassessment may be in order.
UK Fundraising contributor Vicki Reeves recently specified that charities should strike now in big data analytics acquisition or risk being left behind by their peers. While it may be uncomfortable to admit, charity can be a competitive field, with a finite amount of money divided among a number of causes. Those that cannot become an effective part of the field and get their messages out could find themselves seriously lacking in funds and unable to make a difference in their chosen causes.
Reeves noted that big data could work in charity in much the same way it has become part of retail. While stores have loyalty data on frequent buyers, nonprofits keep records on their donors. They could use this data in similar ways, concocting new programs that appeal to what those contributors want most and make repeat giving a promising proposition.
Source: http://www.digitalreasoning.com/2012/industry-news/big-datas-benefits-echo-in-nonprofit-sector/
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