Data, Non-Profts and the Obamas Campaign

There is an important lesson non-profts can learn from the Obama campaign. While
some political pundits moced a small group of Obamas campaign sta!, referring to
them as "martians,# the group repeatedl$ deli%ered results. Their prediction that
Obama could &in 'lorida and Ohio prompted changes to the Presidents schedule
da$s before the election. (s election night ended 'lorida and Ohio had been &on and
the "martians# celebrated.
)n the election, anal$tics re%ealed the &eanesses of rel$ing on traditional polling
data and pre%ious %oter beha%iors as predictors. )t also %i%idl$ demonstrated that
using a %ariet$ of data sources models might pro%ide a more comprehensi%e %ie& of
the "%oter.# (s post election ne&s co%erage e*plained ho& anal$tics had impacted
the election one reporter remared, the "martians ha%e landed.#

)T )+ T),- TO C.(N/-
There are se%eral changes non-profts could and should to mae to impro%e their
funding e!orts. 0sing the process of anal$1ing a%ailable data might &ell alter the
return on the in%ested time and energ$ in raising funds. (n increasing number of
for-proft companies recogni1e the %alue &hich data has to impact their sales,
customer ser%ice, product de%elopment, deli%er$ schedule and e%en hiring sta!.
,ost if not all non-profts &ould beneft from using anal$tics to impro%e their funding,
operations, personnel, grant maing and e%en selecting %olunteers to ser%e on their
boards.
(nal$tics is not ne&. )t is a process of taing a%ailable data and running a series of
predicti%e models to test &hether assumptions are correct. Theoreticall$, the more
data added the better the prediction becomes. What made the "martians# successful
&as after building predicti%e models the$ continuall$ refned the models b$ adding
more data. While some of the data came from pri%ate polls and inter%ie&s much of it
came from public sources readil$ a%ailable simpl$ for the asing.
Depending on the t$pe of non-proft organi1ation the amount of collected data &ill
%ar$, but it is there &aiting to be used. 'urther, data collected b$ go%ernment,
pri%ate and public sources is also a%ailable. )magine a museum comparing its o&n
data on its %isitors to national data about famil$ %acation destinations, educational
programs, economic data, data about neighborhoods, cities, housing, maga1ines and
&eb sites %isited. 2ut before non-profts do an$ data crunching there are changes
&hich need to be made regarding data and anal$sis.
Changing (ttitudes
,ost liel$ the biggest challenge for non-profts is not the cost to hire a data
specialist, gathering the data or the technolog$ to anal$1e it, rather the attitude and
belief about data.
(rguabl$ most important change that needs to occur is the need for e*ecuti%es to
acno&ledge and stress the importance for gathering and using data. +econd, &hen
replacing sta! consider hiring sta! that are outcome dri%en and en3o$ anal$1ing data.
Third, the organi1ation must be &illing, should it be necessar$, to brea from the past
processes, especiall$ &hen it comes to fund de%elopment, and to commit to using
anal$tics to impro%e results.
True, there is a cost to gather and collect data, primaril$ sta! time, but the general
lac of or use of data is far more costl$. 4acing data and the un&illingness to
measure is and has been far more detrimental, especiall$ during this period in &hich
man$ non-profts are facing decreased funding from their t$pical funding sources.
'ar too man$ non-profts ha%e succumbed to the challenges of measurement and
ha%e used the ill ad%ised e*cuse the$ can not measure their program, the results or
the impact.
-*ecuti%es should be dri%en to collect and use data throughout e%er$ le%el of the
organi1ation, e%en in bac o5ce functions. 'oundations, funding agencies, 'ederal
and +tate go%ernments are increasingl$ looing for data. Organi1ations need to
e*amine and re-e%aluate &hat data is collected on membership forms, from social
media centers, &hat data is collected or e%aluation forms, from general discussion
&ith members or %isitors, about ho& members pa$ dues or admission fees as &ell as
general trends. The message from the Chief -*ecuti%e should be6 Not ha%ing or not
using data is no longer acceptable.
7ecruiting sta!
'rom ne&spaper stories about the Obama campaign after the election sheds some
light on ho& the$ %alued data and recruited &orers. The pre%ious 899: campaign
had sho&n the need and %alue of data. The &a$ the$ recruited people &ho lied and
ne& ho& and &here to gather data also is a lesson for non-profts. The$ did not
spend a lot of mone$ recruiting instead issued a general notice on &eb sites &hich
people &ho lie to anal$1e data %isit that the campaign &as seeing sta!. The form
prospects completed &as short but focused. (fter getting a name and email address
it ased the person to e*plain &h$ the$ lied gathering and anal$1ing data.
What is pre%enting non-profts from recruiting and hiring specialist; )s it the
o%erriding emphasis non-profts seem to place to fnd candidates &ho support the
mission or the cause; )s it a concern among non-proft e*ecuti%es that the data
specialist might not "ft &ith the non-proft culture# or 3ust a lac of appreciating the
%alue anal$st could ha%e for the organi1ation; The lesson from the campaign is that
those "martians# contributed far more to the organi1ation than an$ concerns there
might be about their commitment to the cause, their salaries or ho& &ell the$ might
ft in.
0sing (nal$tics
Consider for a moment the traditional fund de%elopment model used b$ non-profts.
)t is a process most repeat $earl$, especiall$ &ith an annual campaign. +ta!
members, gathering a fe& pertinent e*amples of the &or, create materials to
e*plain &hat the organi1ation does and &h$ the mission is important. Then de%elop
and communicate, to their colleagues, the 2oard and campaign %olunteers, a
common message and prepare scripts for e%er$one. 'inall$, the$ produce the lists of
persons to solicit and send out the materials or hold an e%ent.
)f this sounds lie &hat happens, then there is a need for change< Where in this
process has there been an$ anal$sis of data; There is a &ealth of information that
can be and should be gathered to impro%e the fund de%elopment 7O). )t could
include follo&ing up on membership in=uiries, seeing out demographic information
about members, particularl$ ne& members >&here the$ li%e, age, gender, &hat
moti%ated them to 3oin? &hat social media the$ follo& and general information about
members or trends and changes to membership.
Non-profts could learn a lot about ho& to raise funds b$ looing at ho& the Obama
campaign used "anal$tics# to discern &here the %otes &ere. (nal$sts could
in%estigate the reasons member contribute or ha%e stopped contributing@ determine
&hether the organi1ations contributions are similar to national trends or &h$ the last
fund e%ent &as successful or failed to deli%er e*pected results. The anal$st could
loo at &hat social media re%eals about &ho %isited the &ebsite, &hat pages &ere
%ie&ed, ho& long the$ sta$ed engaged, &ho is follo&ing T&itter or opening the
organi1ations 'aceboo page. (dditionall$, general demographic changes or /oogle
anal$tics could be included to enrich the data the organi1ation collects.
There is a signifcant amount of data non-profts could use, if, the$ had a deeper
appreciation for data and had sta! &ho ne& &hat to do &ith it. -!ecti%el$ using
anal$tics, non-profts could fnd ne& sources of re%enue, impro%e operations and
impact sta! hiring and boards recruitment process.
The future &ill hold more challenges for non-profts, especiall$ those that ha%e been
dependent on go%ernment funding. The need for data gathering, anal$sis and
e!ecti%e use could mean the di!erence bet&een continued &or or closing of doors.
While data itself &ill not be the reason for an$ organi1ation to close, not ha%ing the
data to pro%e the %alue societ$ loses if the organi1ation closes could be a
determining factor for continued funding.
7eferences
Chicago Tribune, No%ember, AB, 89A8,
Beths Blog,
The State of Non-proft Date, NT-N and )deal&are No%ember 89A8, Portland,O7

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
,r. Neils career includes management and e*ecuti%e positions in for-proft and not-for-proft organi1ations.
-arl$ in his career, he returned to academia and became interested in researching organi1ational goals,
performance measures and fnancial returns on non-proft organi1ations. (lthough his published &ors are
often directed to&ard non-profts, his concepts and anal$sis are e=uall$ applicable to for-profts as &ell.
(s his career progressed, ,r. Neils recogni1ed the da$-to-da$ demands on e*ecuti%es, especiall$
managers, &ere most often at the tactical decision le%el, lea%ing little time to impro%e or de%elop
strategic sills. (s a result, he de%eloped a een interest in strategic thining.
.is frst &or &as Using Conceptual Models to Improe an !"ecuties Strategic Thin#ing$ This paper &as
a theoretical e*ploration of conceptual models and strategic thining. (dapting (braham ,aslo&s
"%ierarch& of Social Needs# ,r. Neils e*amined ho& internal and e*ternal forces act on organi1ations and
e*ecuti%es.
'ollo&ing that, he began to in%estigate ho& e*ecuti%es might integrate creati%it$ as a &a$ to impro%e
strategic thining sills. This second article Creatiit&' Strategic Thin#ing and Statistical Models =uestions
ho& commonl$ used statistic models and creati%it$ might aid an e*ecuti%es and sta!s sill to thin
strategicall$.
2ecause of the interest generated from these articles, he began to in%estigate ho& managers and
e*ecuti%es learned to thin strategicall$. .is research found most emphasis to be on attributes of strategic
thining people and the need to thin strategic, but little on teaching methodolog$. This prompted,
Deeloping the S#ill of Strategic Thin#ing in &hich he suggests Co&charting as a possible method to teach
sta!, managers and e*ecuti%es to become strategic thiners.
,r. Neils &rote (hat non-profts can learn from the )bama Campaign in response to an engagement
&here he argued the need for non-profts to impro%e their use of data and data anal$sis.
.is &or Team Building In a Culture of I began after attending a con%ention of .uman 7esource managers
and recogni1ed the strong interest in team building. ,r. Neils e*plores ho& cultural forces in the 0+, that
emphasi1e the %alue of the indi%idual is a uni=ue component and has $et considered b$ authors &ho stud$
team building and b$ management as the$ identif$ person to become part of a team.
7ecogni1ing the impact the )nternet had on business and the %ast amounts of data that it pro%ides ,r.
Neils has turned his attention to &hat organi1ations do &ith the data the$ collect or could collect. .is &or
Improing a Non-profts Collection and Use of Data attempts to reduce the an*iet$ about data, data
collection and anal$sis.
Currentl$, he is &oring on a follo&-up piece that e*plores fund raising and &h$ nonprofts need to be
using on-line cro&dfunding applications. This brief essa$, *re +ou Still Using a Bobber and * (orm to ,ish
for ,unds &ill be published soon.
,r. Neils belongs to se%eral 4ined)n groups on non-proft management, strategic thining and
performance measures as &ell as in%ol%ed in organi1ations focused on de%eloping impro%ed management,
measurement and technolog$ applications for nonprofts. .e can be reached at Dames.neilsEgmail.com.