How Nonprofits Can Use Data to Solve the World’s Problems

Data collection is not a new idea in the nonprofit sector, but it has mostly been touted as a means of supporting financial accountability and transparency in the past. A recent survey of about 400 nonprofits by the Nonprofit Technology Network found that while 89% of the nonprofits surveyed tracked data about their finances, only 50% consistently tracked data on how their work affected the people it was designed to help. But as in every aspect of life, from the electing of presidents to the rai