Research and evaluation are critical aspects of nonprofit and foundation work; yet they are too-often last on the agenda. Accurate and thorough measurement can make or break a nonprofit’s efficacy, ability to secure new grant funding, and its reputation. Through a first-hand survey of 50 nonprofit partners, MFF found that while 65 percent of them have at least one full-time staff member dedicated to data collection, 95 percent said they would benefit from learning more about how to measure their impact.
Given the importance of data, research and evaluation—and our commitment to being more than a funder to our nonprofit partners—we have launched a series of initiatives to share our knowledge and teach valuable skills that build impact measurement capacity.
Funders want to see impact data. Organizations need to know what works and why in order to gain funding, prove impact, tell data-driven stories and better serve their communities. The Data for Nonprofits Workshop Series is a self-guided introduction to data design, measurement, and application created specifically for nonprofit professionals.
The Data for Nonprofits Workshop Series is designed for anyone who could use data to enhance their work, including program managers, fundraisers, grant writers, marketing professionals and C-level leadership.
Get More DetailsLaunch your learning journey with Data 101. You'll find a short quiz there, to help you decide where in our six-lesson series you should begin.
REGISTER NOW!The course is free, provides downloadable templates for immediate use and comes with one-on-one virtual support upon completion. By the end of the course, participants will be better equipped to collect, analyze and visualize data.
Produced by MFF Publishing, the course was designed and created by MFF’s strategic change and evaluation specialist, Elisabeth Wilson, in conjunction with Beyond Campus Innovations. Wilson has a decade of experience conducting research and evaluation for nonprofits, legislators and others. She built the first research team in Indiana state government and has trained numerous practitioners and early career researchers leading to their first academic publications. Wilson has learned that the most important data is data that leads to action. The data for nonprofits course uses her insights to ensure learners can leverage actionable data for their organizations.
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Sometimes you get so caught up in doing the work that you get lost in it. This workshop has been a really valuable experience for us to really think through our programs to determine what the problem is, where we want to see change and how we want to make change happen.
Tess Halac Evaluation Manager at A Precious Child
Data 101 made data and research seem more accessible.
Data for Nonprofits Workshop Series user
I enjoyed the process of learning terms and concepts, and practical applications and tools, then applying them to case studies and testing my knowledge.
Data for Nonprofits Workshop Series user
Impact100 leaders knew, through firsthand experience and countless anecdotes, the profound impact the organization made possible. They lacked the data-driven evidence to help them tell their story.
To fill that gap, MFF conducted a research study that included in-depth interviews with 23 Impact100 chapter presidents and survey responses from 744 Impact100 members and 107 recipient organizations of Impact100 grants. The sample was statistically significant enough for us to draw conclusions about community impact, member satisfaction and empowerment, and the success of the Impact100 model.
MFF Publishing worked with the participating chapters to showcase the resulting findings in a beautiful set of magazines and a coffee table book, Impact100: Local Philanthropy Fueling a Global Movement, available for purchase in the Impact100 store.
Buy The Coffee Table Book
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Research and Evaluation 
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