How To Leverage Your Program Data to Get More Funding
It’s not uncommon for our partners to ask us, “Hey evaluator, how can we use our program data to get more funding?” Quite honestly, this is a sticky question for us to answer. Why? Because we are independent evaluators with the responsibility to report the successes and the challenges, the bright spots and the lessons learned. Still, it’s no secret that securing funding is an essential need for most organizations. And we certainly recognize that data play an important role in helping to fulfill that need. So, when pushed, here are a few strategies that we hope will support you in increasing the financial sustainability of your programs and organizations.
Take Inventory
You may be wondering, “what data do we even have to leverage?!” Asking that is a great starting point! You certainly don’t need to wait for a multi-year evaluation report to share your data. Believe it or not, your program team is likely sitting on far more information than you realize. Spend a little time with your colleagues to talk through the many data points you may already have available – financial data, attendance data, survey data, and monthly reporting data to funders can take you far. This inventory will give you a fantastic menu of options!
Connect Your Data to Your Message
Everywhere we turn these days, we’re surrounded by data. Help your audience by curating your program data and strategically aligning it with your messaging. As an example, your attendance data alone offers multiple angles to choose from. Does your team want to elevate how many unique clients you served (reach)? Or would you prefer to highlight the number of first-time participants (growth)? Or perhaps you’re wanting to share the total hours (dosage) of programming received that year across all participants? Help your readers make sense of your most important program data by directly connecting it to your messaging.
Tell the Story Behind the Numbers
If you think statistics alone are effective, try pairing your program data with a “real-life” story! Doing so helps your readers connect to your work on a deeper, emotional level. Don’t have a whole story? Consider matching your data with a related quote from community members, volunteers, or staff. By using a mixed methods approach, you can increase the impact of your quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (words) data to tell a more complex, powerful story about the impact of your work.
Visualize Your Data
Numbers in a table only go so far! Get your message across more powerfully by putting your program data into charts or graphs. Visualizing your data has several benefits. It helps you to more easily communicate your data, highlight your key points, and simplify complex information. As a bonus, data visualization helps your readers remember the important things you share!
Use Comparison Data
Maximize the program information you have by comparing it to other data. For instance, if you’ve collected the same survey at different stages, consider sharing year-over-year results. Another option is to compare your clients against similar individuals not in your program. For instance, does your city, county, or state track progress against the same outcomes that you are gathering among your participants? How do they compare? Comparing your data helps to ground your readers in your clients’ progress over time or in contrast to similar populations.
Looking for more info? Check out our previous post on data communication or reach out for support. We’d love to help!