Building capacity by building community

Originally published in January 2024

If you’re reading this, you probably fall into one of two groups:

1. A practitioner working on an issue that wants to leverage data to deepen your impact
2. A data analyst/scientist/engineer that wants to do meaningful data-for-good

(Some — though not enough — of you are both, and I adore you for it. And some of you are students trying to navigate this bifurcated road.)

These mostly discrete groups often possess a critical skill and a critical blind spot. I see this gap as a problem to be bridged from both sides.

Nonprofit folks have a deep understanding of the issues but often need a clearer vision of what data and tech can get them. We study the systemic roots of the problems our communities are facing and design programs to address them. And we know we need to be more strategic with how we do it. We know data can make us more efficient and deepen our impact. But we don’t always know what the data solution looks like, how to procure the requisite skills, or how to know we’re successful.

Data professionals have invaluable skills and technical expertise but often lack issue education. We can imagine solutions to complicated questions and know how to build them (or can figure it out on Reddit or Stack Overflow). But without lived experience, years in the field, and/or deep issue education, these skills are squandered in low-impact hackathon-style “solutions.” Having someone to point us in the right direction to unleash our skills can lead to significant insights and advances.

💡 What if we built the capacity of our local social impact sector by introducing these groups to one another in a shared space? Maybe a program manager describes a problem to a data analyst who has a quick insight into what zip codes they should be in. Or a fundraiser meets a data scientist who can help build a predictive model of likely donors. Or a nonprofit executive needs a data strategist on their board to support a new initiative.

📅 Well, we’re about to find out! On Tuesday February 13th, we’ll be hosting our first Breakfast Club gathering with free coffee and donuts. Come build a network of savvy social impact data folks with us! (Details below.)