This blog post was written in collaboration with Dr. Lisa Delpy Neirotti, Ph.D., Associate Professor & Director of Sports Management Programs at The George Washington University School of Business.

Access to relevant, actionable data presents an enormous opportunity for the impact sector to be more effective and efficient in reaching its goals and realizing its potential. In fact, we’re beginning to see the sector shift significantly in this direction, best represented by our champions at our partner organizations, who are leading their teams to become more data driven.

Surveys are an important form of data collection to support program improvement and storytelling. We also know it can be challenging to create, disseminate, and analyze surveys amid all your other priorities.

If you are reading this, you already know that we live in a data driven world. Having access to actionable data has transformed virtually every sector -- and recently, we’ve seen a notable shift in the social impact sector, as more organizations put systems and processes in place to leverage data to drive impact.

“The SBYD [sports-based youth development] conversation has thoroughly evolved in the three years that I have been attending this event,” reflects UpMetrics Director of Client Services, Stephen Minix.

“We began in 2012 with three loans—it was sort of our experimental year,” explains WEALF (Women’s Enterprise Action Loan Fund) founder, Vicki Weiner. “The next year, we really got going, and things started to come together.”

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While it’s clear that Special Olympics Northern California & Nevada (SONC) is having a positive impact on the athletes they serve, it’s also obvious that they’re not interested in resting on their laurels. Already, they’re using data in order to better inform their decision making and more effectively tell their story of impact. But, as is the case for many nonprofit organizations, those steps involve navigating multiple systems and adding to workloads across the chapter.