Building data capacity in the not-for-profit sector: Interim report

The Swinburne node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) (2020-2027) is leading this project to understand and address the state of technology and data capacity in Australia’s not-for-profit (NFP) sector. The project aims to work collaboratively with NFP sector organisations to investigate data capacity and establish mechanisms for building data capability. This will involve qualitative research using co-design processes to develop a Data Capacity Framework. We adopt a participatory design approach, drawing on local knowledge and perspectives from a range of NFP organisations. This involves preliminary interviews with sector representatives; co-design workshops focusing on elements of a data capacity framework; overview of exemplary use-cases. The preliminary findings presented in this Interim report explore the features of data transformation among representatives of the NFP sector. This report draws on interviews with 20 people from 9 Australian NFP organisations and 13 workshop participants at the Infoxchange Group Connecting Up conference in May 2021. Our analysis identified five key themes: concerns with consistency in data systems and processes; development of data expertise; a preference for off-the-shelf tools but tensions in their suitability for purpose; data management strategies beyond legal compliance; and the need to expand data-driven decision making and measurement for impact.