Des Moines Data for Good — 2024 Catalysts Honoree
From Insight to Impact: Empowering Nonprofits with Data
Des Moines Data for Good empowers nonprofits in the Greater Des Moines Area to make data-driven decisions and maximize their impact.
At the 2024 Catalysts Live event on July 18th, Tammy Armstrong, Data for Good board member and owner of Little Data Solutions LLC, and Scott Anderson, Data for Good founder and board member and advanced analytics delivery manager at John Deere, took the stage to share more about the all-volunteer organization.
The purpose of Des Moines Data for Good is simple: to use data to help non-profits make better decisions.
The organization, which is comprised entirely of volunteers who are analytics and data professionals, was founded a few years ago as an outgrowth of the Des Moines Data & Analytics meetup group. A few of its members realized that many non-profit or government groups were missing out on opportunities to improve their programs or services because they were lacking data.
Tammy Armstrong, Data for Good board member and owner of Little Data Solutions LLC, expanded on Data for Good’s mission:
We have so many wonderful nonprofits who are working on great missions, and they’re trying to do a lot with a little. Analytics and data work is often not making the cut. As tech professionals, we understand the value, power and potential of data when properly used.
This is where Des Moines Data for Good comes in. The group provides non-profits with access to analytics expertise, helping set up processes to better capture data, gain valuable insights from data to improve program effectiveness, and ultimately measure impact.
A strong partner of Des Moines Data for Good is the United Way of Central Iowa, which has connected the group with a number of non-profits that could benefit from data analysis.
Scott Anderson, who founded Data for Good and works full-time as an advanced analytics delivery manager at John Deere, shared the example of Central Iowa HealthWorks, a non-profit that trains and supports central Iowans seeking careers in health care.
HealthWorks wanted to understand which of their healthcare training programs were effective and what factors were contributing to that.
Many participants in these programs are from lower-income areas and wouldn’t normally have the chance to attend the training due to cost. To combat this, HealthWorks provides gas cards to help participants get to the sessions. Volunteers from Des Moines Data for Good found that 99% of the people who utilized the gas cards graduated from the program.
“This led to a really cool conversation with HealthWorks’ leadership to say, ‘Hey, I think we can go to Casey’s or Kum & Go and say, Do you want to help graduate more healthcare professionals? How about you give us gas cards that we can use to then increase graduation rates?’” Anderson explained.
The findings also helped HealthWorks change their processes. Previously, they waited until students asked about gas cards. Now it’s a feature they hand out ahead of time, as they know it helps make participants more successful.
Anderson also shared Des Moines Data for Good’s partnership with CultureALL, which connects Iowans of all ages with a variety of interactive programs designed to expand their understanding and appreciation of different cultures, religions, beliefs and preferences.
CultureALL was interested in understanding geographically where they were having an impact and where they weren’t, particularly within school districts. To learn more, Data for Good built a self-service, geospatial reporting tool that provided new insights for the CultureAll team. The data collected led to great conversations with donors and board members to determine what the organization could do better.
One thing that made this project especially successful was that Data for Good teamed up with a subject matter expert from CultureALL who helped them understand what really mattered to the organization.
This is a good segway into how Data for Good works.
To start, a board member from the organization meets with a non-profit to ensure they have good questions that can be answered with data. But, more importantly, do they have data?
Data for Good has found that smaller organizations don’t think they have data. But they do.
What we’re doing with Data for Good is trying to report on your participants and show where you’re having an impact. You can do that with small datasets.
Once the initial conversation has happened, Data for Good reaches out to its volunteer base of roughly 100 analytics professionals in the Des Moines metro and brings three to five of them together. This group then works on the data project for three to five months and meets monthly with its business partner. At the end, Data for Good gives a final presentation of its takeaways so the non-profit can make key decision points.
Armstrong wrapped up by sharing that Data for Good is continually looking for volunteers, particularly data scientists, software developers and business intelligence professionals. If interested, email dsmdataforgood@gmail.com.
This is an especially great time to join the organization, as they’re experiencing an exciting period of growth and crystalizing its mission and vision.
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