Nonprofit Data Move Into the Spotlight

July 14, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute

A conference at the University of Chicago on August 23 will focus on one of the hottest topics in the charity world: the use of data by nonprofits.

Sessions will focus on big-picture topics, like using data to promote transparency, and technical issues, such as how to use data to improve fundraising and build maps in Google Fusion Tables. Speakers include Rayid Ghani, chief scientist for data analytics in President Obama’s 2012 campaign, and Eric Stowe, founder of Splash, a fast-growing international-development charity.

The meeting is being organized by Data Analysts for Social Good, which has also hosted Webinars, lectures, and networking events in Chicago.

“Hackathons” and other events that pair data scientists and charities for short-term projects are helpful, but nonprofits must be able to analyze data on their own to make their work truly data-driven, says Andrew Means, the group’s founder and an analyst at the YMCA of Metro Chicago.

The fee for the one-day conference is $80, and a limited number of spots are still available.

For more information: Go to dogooddata2013.eventbrite.com.

About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.