Harnessing the Power of Data
Harnessing the Power of Data is a program facilitated by Houston Endowment grantee Pivot Data Design to support more than 65 nonprofit organizations over three years in strengthening how they collect, use, and learn from data in their work. The initiative was grounded in the belief that data can and should be used for more than meeting a grant reporting requirement. It can help organizations reflect on their work, strengthen decisions, and tell a clearer story about their impact. This page will be updated to share what we learned, and will offer resources for others considering similar efforts.
The Harnessing the Power of Data program 2.0 (Phase 2) engaged two groups of partners—Collective Action for Youth (CA4Y) and Houston in Action (HiA)—to strengthen how they collect, interpret, and use data to inform their work. The Project Insights Report unpacks the Phase 2 approach, partner engagement, learnings, results, and reflections on sustaining data practices.
Evaluation capacity building (ECB) in the philanthropic sector is often designed around a common set of assumptions: organizations need to be directed toward “correct” evaluation practices, compliance is the primary motivator for engagement, and funder-defined metrics are the most appropriate measure of success. This article challenges these assumptions by sharing insights from a multi-year ECB initiative funded by Houston Endowment called Harnessing the Power of Data.
