Data, The Feds, and Cool Geeks

   Sonal Shah and ZD visit Women's Audio Mission

In addition to being an accidental techie, I've also managed to become an accidental data geek, especially since there is so little of it that’s readily useful for social advocates such as myself.  Regardless of the burdens, confusion and frustrations of data collection and measurement, the fact remains that information is power.  If we learn to work with data and information proactively, my own experience shows that we can have better control over our destiny and that of the people we serve.

Apropos of this sentiment, at ZeroDivide we recently had the opportunity to host a roundtable with Sonal Shah, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, while she was in town for the Social Capital Markets 2009 Conference.

We invited a group of philanthropy and non-profit leaders to help Sonal answer a few key questions her Office is contemplating as it designs its role and function:  What lessons have funders and their grantees learned about the process and role of evaluation and metrics that would help federal programs?  What role can or should the federal government have in assisting the social sector in making better use of data and measurement?  How to deal with the need for measurement, but not stifle innovation?

A rich discussion ensued that covered metrics, data standards, evaluation and the role of the federal government in hindering or enhancing the work of funders and non-profits.  Ms. Shah suggested that many of the specific experiences and recommendations that participants shared are not fully known or understood by Congress, nor by federal agencies.  A few participants, including Dr. George Bo-Linn of the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation and Jim Fruchterman of social enterprise Benetech, described their process in terms of a management discipline approach to measuring impact and analyzing the potential for scaling.  Ken Ikeda, of the Bay Area Video Coalition made the case that narrative in the form of digital content could also serve as part of a rigorous process of documentation and analysis. Both Anni Chung of Self Help for the Elderly and Martha Ryan of the Homeless Prenatal Project made urgent appeals for both private and government funders not to subject service providers to burdensome data collection without providing a mechanism to return the data back to them in useable form, so that they could conduct their own analysis of impact. Christy Pichel of the Stuart Foundation which funds education in California and Washington, described how her foundation pays for an evaluator to work with their grantees to interpret the data they gather and use it to measure progress.  Laura Efurd from ZeroDivide shared the approach we use to jointly develop metrics with our community enterprise grantees that captures financial, business and social indicators.

Sonal wrapped up the roundtable by stating it would be useful to have similar conversations with others in government, and encouraged the funders to bring their experiences to the table as they seek fruitful partnerships with federal agencies and her Office.  She also emphasized the opportunities that technology presented in devising more effective tools and methods for gathering, analyzing and sharing data. 

I'm encouraged by the inquiry of public leaders like Sonal Shah, who genuinely care about the sector, and who are creating a space for private, non-profit sector practitioners like us to develop honest partnerships with our government on matters as seemingly mundane as metrics and evaluation.

Although I guess it may be asking too much for even this White House to make data geeks cool.