**This event is CURRENTLY SOLD OUT and a Waiting List has been started.

We encourage you to sign up for our March 17th “Evaluate Your Nonprofit’s Success: Defining and Measuring Outcomes” course with Trina Willard, or to register for one of our many other skills-based and operational excellence classes for nonprofits. Learn more about our learning opportunities here.

Data Summit Details:

Demystifying Data: Adopting a Data-Driven Mindset for Your Organization

On February 4th, the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond and the local nonprofit sector will convene for a day-long data summit! Program staff and organization leaders are invited to learn from local experts, practitioners, and funders on how embracing a data-driven culture can lead to a clearer understanding of program effectiveness. Participants will leave empowered with practical solutions and advice for common challenges when collecting, analyzing, and reporting data and a framework for building a successful data agenda.

Speakers include Trina Willard, Knowledge Advisory Group; Isabel Eljaiek, Community Foundation; Michael Parsons, Peter Paul; and Robert Bolling, ChildSavers. The day will conclude with a panel moderated by Tyonka Rimawi from the Robins Foundation.

Registration includes admission and boxed lunch.

Session Details:

9:10-10:00 - Changing the Conversation About Program Evaluation: 5 Surprising Truths You Need to Know with Trina Willard, Principal, Knowledge Advisory Group

In today's nonprofit climate, your organization is asked to demonstrate its value to a multitude of audiences, including funders, boards, donors and partner agencies. Cultivation of an improvement-oriented evaluation culture is a critical factor in developing sound nonprofit practices, but let's be honest - it sometimes feels overwhelming amid daily demands.  We'll examine some common perceptions about program evaluation, dispelling a few myths along the way, and offer insights on how to start 2020 with a fresh perspective. 

10:00-10:45 - We’re All in this Together: Bridging Practitioner and Funder Conversations for Meaningful Impact with Isabel Eljaiek, Programs Analyst, Community Foundation for a greater Richmond

Calling on her experiences working both for direct-service nonprofits and grantmaking funding organizations, Isabel will draw back the curtain on the Community Foundation funding strategies and illuminate the misconceptions and truths of the grantee-funder relationship. Aiming to dispel the tensions that often accompany these outcome exchanges, Isabel will cover how NPOs and funders can co-create meaningful evaluation schemes.

11:00-11:50 - Growing a Data and Evaluation System from the Ground Up with Michael Parsons, Information Coordinator, Peter Paul

You don’t need to be a data scientist or spend a lot of money to make data useful to your program. Using real examples from Peter Paul’s youth, family and community programs, we will explore how nonprofits can use data to make decisions, improve their program and tell their story. Together, we will demystify data and learn how to build an evaluation infrastructure that is of value to your organization.

11:50-1:00 Networking Lunch

1:00-1:50 - Tales from the C-Suite: How ChildSavers Responded to a Regulatory Change with a Robust Data System with Robert Bolling, Chief Executive Officer, ChildSavers

A few years ago, a regulatory change forced ChildSavers to realize that its data and record keeping needed to move from paper charts to electronic record keeping. The resulting conversation brought together the organization’s senior leadership, board, and local funders and led to a data system that’s now state of the art. In this session, Robert will take participants through this journey and how organizations can see the same benefits and uses of a data-driven mindset that ChildSavers enjoys.

2:00-2:45 - Manageable, Meaningful & Responsive Data Systems; a Panel Discussion moderated by Tyonka Rimawi, Program Officer, Robins Foundation

Tyonka will draw together the day’s speakers in a panel that affirms the idea that the data organizations collect should be manageable, meaningful and responsive to community needs. Building in plenty of time for audience questions and input, Tyonka will guide the panel through issues like access to low-cost resources for data management, making a shift to a data mindset and ways that funders and nonprofits can continue constructing meaningful impact stories together.