SAP loves data, and these days it’s all about Big Data - data so big that it’s hard to understand what it actually means and what the implications could be. We know that the more we analyze the data, the more we know if things are working or not working. However, in the non-profit world it seems Big Data is still an unknown. However, long before Big Data was a buzzword, there was still the need for it.
Data is defined as, “facts or information used usually to calculate, analyze, or plan something,” the secondary definition is, “information that is produced or stored by a computer.” In the Corporate Social Responsibility field, tracking results and data is imperative for success. Like any type of business we report on how effective our grants are, volunteer hours and lives impacted. The last number, lives impacted, is an interesting dataset to study. For the same amount of funding, partners report anywhere from 50 lives impacted to 13,000. We’ve started to wonder what this number means and if it is a good measure of how to track our impact. In 2012 our grant guidelines changed, guiding funds towards partners aligned to our core areas of focus, which align to our business strategy. Because of this strategic funding (versus funding grants with higher impact numbers) our lives impacted went down, by tens of thousands across North America. However, we believe that our impact is greater because it’s concentrated within a smaller focus area (STEM education programs and Youth Entrepreneurship programs for ages 12-24). How do we prove this?
As non-profit partners, we depend on your tracking and know that this is an important topic on all sides of the funding spectrum. We want to ask you and your teams for your best practices around data tracking. All responses will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 global giving gift card. Send your answers to CSR.NA@sap.com by December 1st to be entered.
- What are your most important data points?
- How do you collect data?
- What numbers do you wish SAP would ask for
annual reporting? - What is the best way for you to showcase your
impact numbers?
