Strengthening Systems through Shared Data Work
Non-profit organizations rarely work alone; they are often connected to other organizations working on similar issues or providing services essential to their operations. Sometimes these connections are visible as parts of a system, such as a school system, a library system, or a health-care system – which all have central leadership overseeing smaller units serving people in different areas or withd different needs. Other nonprofit organizations are connected to each other in ways that are not as clearly defined but play a crucial role in addressing social problems. These more informal systems include different actors who rely on each other to achieve a common aim or are impacted by each other’s work. For instance, an early childhood care and education system includes multiple providers, funders, and organizations who seek to foster the development and growth of young children.
This connectedness between nonprofits is often necessary to solve complex problems, as different organizations address different parts of a puzzle and gain support in different ways.
Data Strategic Planning, a program of CTData, works to strengthen both individual nonprofit organizations and the systems of which they are a part. Data Strategic Planning is designed to help mission-driven organizations increase their data literacy and analytical skills, improve their impact measurement, and support data-informed decision-making. As we have grown, systems-level work has become an important part of our approach. We have found that we can have a greater impact on the nonprofit sector when we work to improve systems as a whole.
The Legal Aid System and Its Parts
“A system is more than the sum of its parts—it's defined by the interaction of its parts. To understand how a system works, you have to study not the individual elements but the linkages between them. When you start thinking in systems, you can then spot opportunities for change.” Systems Thinking vs. Design Thinking, What’s the Difference?
The importance of focusing on systems became apparent while Data Strategic Planning staff were working with the Connecticut Bar Foundation to support Connecticut’s civil legal needs assessment. As we began to understand the challenges of the state’s legal aid system, we recognized that each legal provider depends on the state to fulfill its commitment to reduce barriers to justice. However, the legal aid providers do not manage the state’s court houses and cannot inform their policies or procedures. What legal providers can do is to measure their progress towards achieving shared goals and share this data so that the whole system can be more responsive.
CTData provided data literacy training and coaching sessions for each of the state’s legal service providers, helping them to develop a framework for measuring their impact. The coaching sessions with each provider also helped CTData understand the challenges faced across the legal aid system and build a framework for further research. This work to strengthen each organization’s data literacy and impact measurement laid the foundation for moving towards a shared data language and eventually better measurement across the system.
Coming together to talk about their common challenges and shared goals, the participating legal aid organizations saw opportunities for working together to improve system-wide access to justice in Connecticut by:
Amplifying their collective message through media outreach and advocacy efforts
Investigating the efficacy of different outreach strategies
Using qualitative data from clients to capture the human impact of legal aid and provide compelling narratives for advocacy and fundraising
Improving how individuals access civil legal aid
This systems-level work has both short-term and long-term results. Sharing the study’s preliminary findings led to one concrete and immediate change: in response to hearing about the technological infrastructure challenges in many of Connecticut’s courthouses, the State Supreme Chief Justice announced a plan to improve technology. In the longer term, CTData’s findings from interviews with legal aid organization staff, leadership, and stakeholders in the justice system are being used to inform the Connecticut Bar Foundation’s statewide economic impact study and its survey of people who may need legal aid services.
Because nonprofits work within larger networks or systems, their data work also needs to be done on a systems level. When systems align their goals, establish mechanisms for proving their achievement, and support data and information sharing, all organizations can more effectively identify and address service gaps and prove successful intervention. Building a data ecosystem is not merely beneficial; it is essential to address complex social challenges.
At a time when the nonprofit sector is particularly threatened, it is more important than ever to think systemically about how to make progress. Leaning into systems work is an important strategy for increasing collaboration, maximizing resources, and making progress towards shared goals.
Data Strategic Planning is now working with organizations who are part of the affordable housing system in the state and exploring possibilities for addressing information gaps in the childcare and homelessness systems. If there is an issue where you would like to advance collaboration and problem-solving through funding a systems approach to data work, please contact Data Strategic Planning here.
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