Voluntary Sector Data Use and Needs Strand three – sector survey and interviews Joe Heywood, NCVO Royal Statistical Society, 25 September 2013

Online survey Sample of 2,000 organisations in England/Wales stratified by size of organisation by annual income and then randomly selected Number of respondents: Methodology – mixed method approach Telephone interviews Interviewed 13 organisations Each interview – 30 minutes Included grant-making, infrastructure and service delivery organisations

“we are a small band of people who manage our village hall, largely volunteers” “We keep a list of elderly citizens to whom we give [very small] grants” “we don't have the resources or time spend researching or searching for data. It would be useful to have some sort of central database.” “As a choral society... …We use data held by other bodies to obtain music and research programme material.” 2.1. Do organisations use data to inform their work? Source: TSRC/NCVO/RSS Base: 92 respondents

2.2. Use of data: by size/geographic scope Stronger relationship between geographic scope of activity and use of data Weaker relationship between size of organisation and use of data

3. Types of data used (cont.) Internal data: o Operational and financial data about their organisation o Monitoring and evaluation o Membership/CRM data o Information collected for or by funders Source: TSRC/NCVO/RSS Base: 45 respondents. All applicable options were selected External data: Publicly available data sets Data “by” or “about” the sector Data generated from internal/commissioned research Data purchased from private companies

4. Purposes of using data Source: TSRC/NCVO/RSS Base : 47 respondents. All applicable options were selected Improving quality of work -Developing strategy -Demonstrating impact -Assessing and understanding need Offering a service Offering tools/information to members/stakeholders Supporting/communication with members Campaigning/lobbying

Getting data that can be merged/aggregated with other data Some data is there, but difficult to use, “buried” or “not functionally unavailable” Getting data that are specific to organisation’s work Cost of purchasing private data Risks and opportunities of open data Source: TSRC/NCVO/RSS Base: 41 respondents 5. Barriers to using data “The real problem for us is not so much data analysis - it’s more a question of collating raw, reliable data in the first instance and establishing continuity and mechanisms throughout the business to record it”

5. Potential Solutions Practical support Guidance and signposting on how to use data and which ones are the most useful Storage/data repository – bringing data together More support for smaller organisations Shaping the future agenda Coordinated approach to data use Examples of how data has transformed charities – both large and small Stakeholders and collaboration Partnership across public, private and voluntary sector More engagement from grantmakers around data-sharing

Thank you! Any questions or comments? Contact Joe Heywood: