The Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy is championing the power of data in its report on the state of Alberta's non-profit sector
Alberta’s non-profit organizations have shown remarkable resilience despite facing challenging times. The landscape they operate in has undergone significant shifts since 2020. They are currently grappling with a series of simultaneous and compounding challenges. These include escalating service demands, cost hikes due to inflation, stagnant or diminishing funding, and the need to maintain a steady workforce.
Addressing these challenges requires non-profits to secure access to accurate and comprehensive data. Data is no longer a luxury but a necessity for informed decision-making. Non-profits are relying on data to bolster their funding requests, improve their services, and engage with influential policy makers.
Regrettably, the non-profit sector is grappling with significant data capacity challenges. Many non-profits need more access to sector data or to build their team’s capacity to collect data about their operations. Equally crucial is the need for non-profits to enhance their strategic use of data and evidence. However, this need has not materialized fast enough due to resource constraints, limited staff capacity, and a lack of technology access.
Non-profits are showing a growing interest in enhancing their data capabilities, but they need to do so more cohesively. They need support to become more effective, efficient, and cost-conscious.
Championing the power of data
For over 20 years, PolicyWise for Children & Families has been championing the power of data to enhance policy and programming decision-making in the non-profit sector. We believe Alberta’s non-profit sector needs coordinated, multipronged actions to build their data capacity skills.
This collaborative effort will need:
- Data management to strengthen the skills and build the capacity of non-profit leaders and staff to understand, collect, and use data within and across organizations.
- Data access capabilities that develop practical tools and resources to make it as easy as possible for decision makers and non-profit organizations to find data and apply knowledge in planning and coordination.
- Data analysis to increase data availability about the sector that supports leaders, policy makers, and funders in making informed decisions at a system level.
We have been supporting all three of these areas through many of our data-focused initiatives. In particular, we have been leading the Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy since 2019. This sector-wide collaborative initiative has been:
- Providing non-profits with sector-level data analysis.
- Connecting non-profits to other sector-level research and resources.
- Offering capacity-building activities to help non-profits understand and effectively use data to enhance their services.
Strengthening the non-profit sector
In the Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy’s ongoing work, they recently released their 2023-24 Annual Report.
The report highlights the non-profit sector’s impact, current challenges, priorities over the past year by combining Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy’s previous work with other recent analyses on the sector. It also provides resources that can help non-profits in the future.
Focusing on four key areas, the report highlights:
- Alberta’s social profit, which emphasizes measuring success by looking at the positive effects non-profits have on society instead of just focusing on financial metrics.
- The maze of challenges Albertans and the non-profits serving them face due to the recent difficulties around the cost of living.
- How strengthening the non-profit sector can occur by enacting priorities that will overcome the maze of challenges.
- The data-oriented initiatives PolicyWise for Children & Families leads that support non-profits on their data journeys.
To learn more about this report’s policy and practice implications, visit its dedicated resource page here.
Project Sponsors
The Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy is funded by the Edmonton Community Foundation with additional support from PolicyWise for Children & Families. It has previously been supported by the Alberta Nonprofit Network and the Government of Alberta.
