New Approaches to Research and Data

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New Approaches to Research and Data

• Measuring and communicating our impact
• OR
• Why Power Point makes us look stupid
• Deedra Atkinson
• United Way of Dane County
• Community Leaders Conference
• May, 2008

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Todays objectives

• Building creditability as a community partner
  through data
• Generate new sources and partnerships for finding
  data
• Ideas and techniques for displaying and
  communicating data
• Sources, models and ideas for using data

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Dane County Snapshot

• Population 225,000 in Madison and 450,000 in all
  of Dane County
• Consistently low unemployment rate
• Always listed on Top 10 Best Places to Live
• 15 of population persons of color (42 in
  Madison Metropolitan Schools)

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Aspirational and realistic
2008 Investments 14,000,000!
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Strategy for change focuses resources

• Accountability to the donor
• Engage us in a common vision
• Create change at the community level
• Identify strategies that get results
• Use data, research and best practices

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Reducing the racial achievement gap
WISCONSIN READING COMPREHENSION TEST
1991-2004 BELOW STANDARD/MINIMAL PERFORMANCE BY
ETHNIC GROUP
First Year Schools of Hope Leadership Team
Source MMSD student data warehouse summary
tables. All figures are based on students
participating in test.
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Power Point is intellectually thin

• Hierarchical, bullet outlines dilute thought
• Data-thin, forgetful displays make audiences
  passive and diminish credibility of presenter
• Sets up a dominance relationship
• Auto wizard dilutes ability to gain wisdom from
  data

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Source www.norvig.com, Peter Norvig
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Children and Youth Achieve PotentialReadiness to
Succeed in School
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Children and Youth Achieve PotentialEducational
Success and Readiness to Succeed in Adulthood
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Children and Youth Achieve PotentialEducational
Success and Readiness to Succeed in Adulthood
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Children and Youth Achieve PotentialEducational
Success and Readiness to Succeed in Adulthood
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Families are Economically Stable and
IndependentFinancial Stability Among Working
Families
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Reason for Not Giving to United Way This Year
(Lapsed Donors)
Over half the reasons for not giving (53) focus
on the lack of reach/contact with United Way or
WP campaign
Base 111
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Recent National History Katrina Affects
Percentage
-1.2 pct point change
0.5 pct point change
0.7 pct point change
-0.1 pct point change

National Designation Percent Fell Beginning 2004
Source UWA Research
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Areas of Growth and Decline in the Continuum

• Annual Campaign 3.61B to 3.63B
• Government Grants 134M to 151M
• Gifts to Initiatives 84M to 102M
• Corporate Sponsorships 4.3M to 6.0M
• Volunteer Time 161M to 165M
• Planned Giving (EPG) 62M to 67M
• Major Gifts (non campaign) 4.7M to 24M

• UW1 Discretionary Funds 2.71B to 2.69B
• Leveraged Funds 225M to 221M

National Drop in Unrestricted Real Dollars
Source UWA Research
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Key Club Givers
Key Club consistent with Tocqueville Society
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Leadership Giving Potential Reasons

• Recruiting to Tocqueville Society often focused
  on existing philanthropy through United Way
• Meets donor desire to show support of United Way
  without significant increase in overall
  philanthropy
• National trend is for donors to give specifically
  so they know where dollars are going
• Opportunity for greater emphasis on importance of
  unrestricted giving

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Local Trends
Total Private Sector Unrestricted Flattening?
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Local Donor Retention
Actual 2-year retention 2006 to 2007 91
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2006 Churn Rates Metro 1
Percent
UWs losing 1 out of every 2 donors
Max 45 Churn Rate
UWs losing 1 out of every 3 donors
31 Churn Rate
UWs losing 1 out of every 5 donors
Average 21
7 Churn Rate
Twenty-five percent (25) of Metro 1 UWs lose
between 1 out of 2 to 1 out of 3 donors
Source UWA Research, 2006-07 Database 2 Survey
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UWs w/Year-Round Relationships Among More Donors
have Lower Churn Rates
Churn Rate
UWs w/Yr Round Relationships Among of Donors
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Total Donors
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Average Gift
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Data should engage and tell a story

• Data walls, not projected presentation
• Headline and conclusion, not label
• Use color
• Sources
• Pay attention to the message youre sending
• Combine data elements to contextualize

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Presentations should be good teaching

• Eliminate hierarchical bulleted lists
• Danger paralysis by analysis
• Use techniques to prompt discussion

Wisdom
Knowledge
Data
Data
Information
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Data builds accountability, credibility, and trust

• Use community data
• The internet is your friend
• Seek new data partners
• Capture scope and dimension
• May take years.and then youll refine it some
  more

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Data is not always reliable or timely - changes
can impact the work we do.

• SOH change in the 3rd grade reading test
• School district changes definition of homeless
  children
• Department of Corrections changed definition of
  recidivism

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An effective accountability system will create
impact
Resources support effective work, practice,
research
Community allocates resources
Research informs practice
Evidence informs community
Practice provides evidence
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Students of color achieve at the same rate as
white students.
2004 - 3rd grade reading --gap eliminated in MMSD
10th grade algebrain process in MMSD
Sun Prairie in 2nd year for elementary literacy
1st year for middle school math Verona in 1st
year for elementary literacy
Source Madison Metropolitan School District
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Fewer children have the skills they need to start
school.
Screening tool changed in 2002
Source Madison Metropolitan School District
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Top mental health issues are consistent across
levels
259
567
178
206
191

387
395
325
313
378
538
446
412
Source MMSD data, first semester 05/06
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Homeless children in Madison
There is a decrease in homelessness.
Children in shelter
Number of children
Source Madison Metropolitan School District
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Surplus food distributed through pantries and
meal sites 50 in 3 years.
Sources Community Action Coalition reports,
Second Harvest Food Bank reports
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Who Needed the Model?
Community Alignment Project
Solution
Case Managers
Caregivers Care-receivers
Donors
CST
Needed uniform structure and language for
investment decision
Need to quickly understand the impact
from their investment
Limited service information for the clients
Limited accessibility to available resources
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Seniors are supported in their homes
Since 2001, less than 4 of seniors in Dane
County are in skilled nursing facilities
Sources US Census, Dane County Public Health
Profiles, State of WI Dept of Health Family
Services, WSJ 2007 Book of Buisness
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23
32
28
42
43
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Non-profit agencies and volunteers are strong
partners in achieving measurable results.
79.5
80
78
71.5
66.7
57.5
51.6
41.9
27.6
24.2
Survey of Agencies, June 2005, 54 responses
Completed UWDC Best
Practices Tool, National Tool, or another
recognized tool
2005 Agency Year-end Reports
2006 Agency Year-end Reports
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UWDC Days of Caring links volunteers and agencies

• Days of Caring is a three day volunteer event
• which links volunteers and agencies.

Volunteer Participation
Agency Participation
219
2127
2174
2207
2071
139
107
86
70
79
145
129
123
143
Source Volunteer Solutions / VolunteerYourTime.or
g
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73 think United Way of Dane County creates long
term impact
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United Way of Dane County has highest top-of-mind
awareness
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Your presentation of data is dependent on the
quality, relevance, and integrity of content

• Designer format doesnt salvage weak content
• Audience boredom is a content failure, not a
  decoration failure
• Dont get taken in by Phluff tools