Easy Fixes for Nonprofit Data Mistakes
- Ryan Brooks
- May 8
- 4 min read
Simple ways to improve how nonprofits track impact
Nonprofits manage lots of data so they can track and report their impact. A few mistakes can make a big difference in how useful your data is and how easy it is to work with.
Here are four common data mistakes nonprofits make when tracking data, and some tips about how to improve.
Confusing outputs and outcomes
Tracking only outputs when you need to track outcomes as well
Dates are missing
Skipping the demographics
1.Confusing outputs and outcomes
Outputs – the things you do. The services you provide.
Outcomes - the things you achieve as a result of the things you do.
Outcomes don’t have to be grand or dramatic (e.g. we reduced poverty in zip code 12345 by 15%), but they should be meaningful enough that your participants and donors will care.
Examples of Outputs versus Outcomes
Output: Provided at total of 500 tutoring sessions to 25 students
Outcome: 20 students achieved reading proficiency.
Output: Had 5 financial literacy workshops with a total of 75 participants.
Outcome: 50 participants created an emergency fund within 6 months of the workshop.
Tips to Improve
Learn the difference between outputs and outcomes (See definitions above).
Look at all the numbers on your website and clearly label each of them as an output or an outcome. Then do the same thing with your last grant proposal. Repetition will make it stick.
2.Tracking only outputs when you need to track outcomes as well
Your mentors worked with 200 adolescents, or you helped 300 people with resumes. Well done!
Those are outputs. Those are the things you did.
Donors, and especially foundations, want to know if the things you did made a difference. They want evidence that your work improved people's lives.
Tips to Improve
If your services have an end goal (getting a job, earning a certificate, etc), then those are outcomes that you need to track.
Start small. Pick 1 or 2 outcomes, identify a good way to measure it (AI can help or look around at nonprofits like yours), and start tracking it.
Outcomes don't occur as often as outputs, so tracking them shouldn't be overwhelming.
However, not every program needs outcomes
Yes, I said it. 😲 Not every program needs outcomes.
Some programs offer food in an emergency or clothes or maybe a couch.
Programs that offer tangible items to address basic needs often exist to simply help people get by. Their services are justified all on their own, and it’s “good enough” to say you provided 100 meals or 10 beds to children who need them.
Could these programs track outcomes? Sure.
Would it be helpful for them to track outcomes? Could they raise more money or become more effective? Maybe. But, the outcomes have to make sense.
3.Dates are missing
Dates are essential data, but they are easily forgotten when you track data in spreadsheets.
Dates help you answer simple questions
When did you do the thing?
When did you achieve the thing?
When did the person start your program, and leave it?
It is so much harder to run reports without dates.
Without program start dates, end dates, dropout dates, or graduation dates, you can’t easily say “we served 55 people between Jan 1 and June 30 of last year”.
Without service delivery dates, you can’t accurately say “we served 5,000 meals in the past 2 months.
Tracking dates is the easiest thing you can do to make reporting easier. Start doing it now!
Tips to Improve
It’s time to start tracking dates consistently with everything you do – and I mean actual dates with Day, Month, and Year, not “Fall 2024”.
Moving Forward
Track the date every time that:
you provide food, coaching, or financial assistance (outputs).
a participant gets a job, finds safe housing, or earns a certification (outcomes).
you enroll a new client in a program or they exit the program.
The next time you run a year-to-date report, you’ll appreciate having dates everywhere so you can easily keep the outputs, outcomes, or clients who are appropriate, and to filter out the ones that are not.
Looking Back (to clean up old data)
Your old data might be a mess that’s hard to work with. You could ignore the mess, but it’s better to add dates to the best of your ability.
Be as precise as you can without being overzealous. "OK" dates are way better than no dates at all.
If you know the exact date someone enrolled or received a service, then record it.
If you only know it was in the month of May, then just write down May 1 or May 15.
If you only know it was some time between January and March, pick a date and move on.
If it makes you feel better, add notes in your database that say "This date is a best guess".
You might not want to report very rough guesses to the government, but they should be fine for your annual report or a new grant proposal.
4. Skipping the demographics
Demographics are data about your participants. Most of us think of race, gender, income, age, and education as demographics... and they are. These are demographics foundations, governments, and sometimes donors want to see.
Demographics can also help you to improve your services in real-time - when you are face-to-face with clients.
Demographics to Improve Services in Real Time
Special dietary needs
Do they feel safe meeting in private, or do they prefer to meet in a public place?
Primary language
Preferred method of communication
Demographics like these can help nonprofits be responsive to client needs and provide services more effectively.
Tips to Improve
Think about 1 or 2 pieces of demographic data that would help you provide better services in real time. It can be as simple as “Preferred Contact Method: text, call, or email”. Start adding them to your data system.
As you go, reflect on whether collecting that data helps you enough to make it worthwhile. If it helps a lot, then keep it. If not, stop.
Are you a small growing nonprofit? Check out countbubble.
The Standard Plan is ideal for smaller nonprofits. that are ready to upgrade past spreadsheets. countbubble's free plan is perfect for small nonprofits that aren't ready to pay for better program tracking software.
Founder, CountBubble, LLC
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