Boosting Nonprofits in their Use of Data to Drive Climate Action
by Nadia Akseer, Hana Tasic, and Nikita Japra
The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation’s (PJMF) Data and Society (D&S) initiative contributes to realizing the Foundation’s mission by strengthening the technical capabilities and data use cultures of social impact nonprofits around the world.
Through its engagement over the past five years with hundreds of prospective grant partners, the D&S team at PJMF has developed practical insights into how nonprofit organizations across the globe have sought to adopt the use of advanced data management and analytics practices to support impact goals — in other words, how those organizations have tried to make substantive progress on their respective “data journeys.” This insight has shaped the hallmark of D&S programmatic support to its grant partners: a combination of technology and practical technical guidance that accompanies funding.
During that same period, through conversations with both current and prospective grant partners, it became clear to D&S that most available nonprofit training options in advanced data practices were tailored for a limited audience largely composed of organizations with existing and advanced data use cultures — mostly based in Europe and North America.
As a result, one year ago D&S took stock of its existing programmatic offerings and experiences working with grant partners and determined it would develop a pilot program to test the hypothesis that a generalizable set of short-term enrichment activities exists to prepare nonprofits at earlier stages of their data journeys to get the most out advanced data analytics and management practices — allowing those nonprofits to make meaningful progress on refining their data questions and methodologies based on existing data assets, even if their teams were not ready to pursue longer-term D&S grants.
Why?
- Many D&S grant applicants have a strong vision for advancing their respective organization’s data culture but have only had experience with data at the level of conventional Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) activities, traditional statistical modeling, or early-stage data infrastructure and strategy development.
- These nonprofits often seek dedicated resources to fill an identified gap in their data capacity.
- The activities conducted under this program would not only provide direct support to a set of nonprofit teams but also build an experiential learning opportunity to surface sector-relevant solutions to common data challenges faced by other nonprofits at different stages of their data journeys
Earlier this year, PJMF engaged Modern Scientist Global (MSG) — a Canada-based public health and advanced analytics consulting firm with a broad bench of experience working in the Global South — as an implementing partner for a new program that would aim to “boost” the data journeys of four such nonprofits with promising but early-stage proposal concepts.
In 2022, MSG is harnessing the expertise of its multidisciplinary scientists to advance the data journeys of four nonprofits tackling climate and environmental issues in their local communities. Through the PJMF Booster program, MSG will lead individual three-month support sprints with Booster grant partners Sodzo Foundation (Uganda), Center for People and Climate (Bangladesh), Cadasta (USA), and Nature Conservation Foundation (India) to:
- Refine data questions based on available data assets and nonprofit missions
- Adapt proposed methodologies to make the best use of advanced analytics tools
- Assist in defining, vetting, and preparing datasets, refining data collection/acquisition/management processes, and designing sustainability plans
- Identify appropriate and accessible tools and technologies (e.g. geographic and remote-sensing, AI/machine learning, cloud-based platforms)
- Advise the design and execution of data analyses (e.g. training on software, interpretation, visualization, and dissemination of findings through products such as scientific papers and real-time dashboards)
In addition to direct technical guidance from MSG, each of the four Booster grant partners will receive $15,000 in funding to support their collaboration with MSG.
Whether uncovering macro-pollutants on the shores of freshwater bodies using a real-time drone and smartphone imagery in Uganda, identifying the source of methane emissions in Bangladesh, exploring patterns of vegetative and reproductive phenology of tropical trees in India, or developing a global database for land and climate in the USA, our 2022 Booster grant partners have been gracious enough to offer their real-world experiences in the program as a pathway to deeper learning on what it takes to overcome common data challenges faced by the nonprofit sector. Over the course of the coming year, MSG and PJMF will document shared insights on what it takes to boost the data journeys of these four nonprofits, with the twin goals of 1) better understanding the different levels of support nonprofits need, and 2) informing the future of such partnership models.
Watch this space for more to come, and in the meantime, learn more about the organizations in the 2022 PJMF Booster Cohort:
Dr. Nadia Akseer (Epidemiologist-Biostatistician) is Director of Research at MSG and is Scientist faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.
Hana Tasic graduated from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto with a Global Health Emphasis. Hana has since worked on numerous projects in the global public health field related to maternal, child, and newborn health and nutrition.
Nikita Japra leads strategy and partnerships for the Accelerator program. She also advises on the Data and Society team’s broader strategy and field-building efforts to ethically and responsibly advance nonprofit data maturity.
