Civita — from new-born to teenager

Civita was born less than 12 months ago and has had an incredible year of stuttering and first words like #hacktforimpact and #dataequity and days punctuated by the wonders of the data for good world. As a proud parent, watching her beloved not-for-profit standing on its own two feet, I am thrilled to share with you our 2019 review and our goals for 2020.

Where it all starts

Earlier this year, I published an article called “Data For Good is dead, long live Data For Good!”. At this time, I didn’t find that the data for good space had a unified global vision. In the post, I attributed the issue to the lack of sustainable and coherent business models, the complexity of finding the right connection between supply (data for good projects) and demand (data analysts) and, last but not least, the little focus that was placed on the actual implementation of these projects.

At first, we as Civita wanted to address:

• The impact: how can data for good be less of a feel-good moment and more of a do-good vision?
• The connection between project and volunteers: how can data for good be both impactful and technically exciting?
• The implementation: how can the potential impact of data for good be supported by more diverse skills and experience?

Data Equity first

Our newborn Civita was then stumbling into this strange limbo of innovation for social impact. We found a lack of organisations, actors and public understanding in the present landscape. And while it created very specific challenges, it was worth the while. Our not-for-profit was slowly and surely growing, one foot in each world — the left in the social impact, the right in the analytics and innovation — , we constantly asked ourselves if we were still true to our vision, how we could do things better and what were the next steps. Luckily for us, we weren’t alone in this journey. Our community of data peeps gave up their weekends, endured our prototype events and under immense time pressure, successfully attempted incredible feats of collaboration. Without their participation and dedication, Civita would not be where it is today.

Our core value started with Data Equity. Why data equity and not “just” data for good? In engaging with the notion of equity, we dispersed attention between organisations and the beneficiaries they served. Creating a diverse community of data heroes was becoming a key success metric of our work. As an almost all-female data and tech team, we are closely acquainted with the fundamental imbalances in the global community — and we wanted to change this for the better. A truly innovative world can only be realised through equal opportunity.

What happened in 2019?

Before the end of the calendar year, we surpassed our most optimistic — borderline hopeful — projections:

• we grew from a team of 2 to a team of 9 dedicated volunteers who work constantly on making Civita better and more impactful;
• Our Sydney-based community grew up to +1,400 members;
• We initiated more than 15 data for good projects, all helping achieving the Sustainable Development Goals;
• Civita partnered with more than 8 renown organisations. Among them Atlassian, the State Library of NSW andUTS;
• In addition of our hackts, we organised free workshops for volunteers and social events; we presented our vision to Fishburners and the incredible meetup Technologists who give a sh*t; we partnered with the Climate-KIC to give a shot of data to the Sydney chapter of the Climathon.
• And many more!

All of this would have not been possible without the Civita team, its community, the ones who have advised and supported us.

More collaboration

The global data for good community has also grown a lot in this year. New initiatives have appeared everywhere. I’m most excited about the immense potential for collaboration across widely different fields. It’s what we all get excited about at Civita — creating bridges between sectors and organisation, creating synergies — because it means that organisations and individuals begin to understand the power of data for a good cause. So rather than working in industry silos, individuals and organisations alike will come to see the limitless potential in creating synergies.

2020 is on the horizon

What are we wishing for?

This time, our three key words for the new year are:

• Scalability
• Impact
• Quality

To get there, we need to progress on our existential questions:

• As a connector between organisations and skilled volunteers, how can we find the best balance between the two parties ? How can we ensure that everyone receive high-quality support along the way?
• As an organisation, how can we become more scalable and creating connections beyond Sydney, regionally and even internationally? How can we create more optimised processes to ensure the best outcomes in the fastest way possible for the most people possible?
• As an impact-driven team, how we can make the medium and long term results more tangible and measurable?

We cannot wait to answer these questions with the help of our community and the organisations we support. We cannot wait to share our 2020 milestones and get excited for the future years, watching Civita growing and becoming a fully sustainable and impactful organisation.

Thanks again everyone for an incredible year. See you in 2020!

Psst… The start of 2020 is already full of exciting events. Among them, a data for good showcase at the end of January — stay posted on civita.tech.