She looked out the window to their parking lot and sighed, “We’re doing good work, but all of this feels so fragile. It feels like we’re constantly a few weeks away from closing our doors.” 

If you work at a community-based organization, you’ve probably felt the same way. Federal dollars once felt like the safest bet, but now the ground shifts constantly. Priorities change, programs disappear, and suddenly you can’t use the very words that describe your clients in a grant application. Even the most successful programs can feel like they’re one lost grant away from crisis.

When it comes to attracting non-federal funders, evaluation has become a differentiator. Foundations, corporate partners, and major donors increasingly expect to see not just “we served 500 people,” but evidence of change: What shifted, for whom, and why it matters.

Your data and evaluation practices are the strongest bridge to more diversified, more stable funding.

Good Data Is Persuasive, Relatable, and Fundable

Most nonprofits collect data, but very few use it in a way that makes a funder lean in. Thoughtful evaluation practices help you speak everyone’s language.

Foundations want outcomes and equity. Corporate partners want measurable reach and community relevance. Government agencies want compliance and evidence; individual donors want human stories grounded in trustworthy numbers.

When your data is intentional and aligned with your mission, it becomes one of your most persuasive funding tools.

What Funding Diversification Looks Like In Practice

Let’s walk through a hypothetical nonprofit with perfectly diversified funding: Community Roots Collective (CRC), which works to improve food access and health in a midwestern city.

CRC’s annual budget is $3 million. A healthy, diversified funding structure might look like:

• 25% Federal / State grants
  • e.g., USDA grants for nutrition education; a state health department contract for food access work.
    
• 30% Private foundation grants
  • Local and regional funders focused on health equity, food systems, and racial justice.
    
• 15% Corporate partnerships and sponsorships
  • Grocery chains, regional banks, and health systems sponsoring programs, events, and a mobile market.
    
• 20% Individual giving
  • Monthly donors, mid-level gifts, and a few major donors.
    
• 10% Earned revenue
  • Sliding-scale community cooking classes, consulting with other communities on how to build similar food access coalitions, and a small catering arm that hires program graduates.
    

Notice: they still have government money, but it’s no longer the single point of failure. If a federal grant changes priorities, the organization is bruised, not broken.

How Good Data Gets Them There

CRC doesn’t magically wake up with that mix. They use data and evaluation at every step:

Evaluating current practices

They audit what they’re already collecting: attendance, demographics, food box distribution, pre/post surveys, maybe a few stories. They compare that to what different funders want to see: health outcomes, food insecurity measures, neighborhood impact, and systems-level change.

Using a framework like the one in our monitoring and evaluation for strategic planning post, they map current measures to long-term goals and see what’s missing.

Upgrading their data model

They decide to track:

Short-term: knowledge of nutrition, self-reported stress around food, number of healthy meals cooked per week.

Medium-term: changes in food insecurity scores, reduced reliance on emergency food, improved self-reported health.

Systems: number of policy changes supported (e.g., city support for mobile markets), new institutional partners, neighborhood-level data trends.

Tailoring the “story” to different funders

For a health foundation, they highlight reduced food insecurity scores and improved self-reported health, with strong data visualizations. For a corporate grocery partner, they show how many residents gained access to fresh produce within a one-mile radius and how many are now shopping at local stores.

And for individual donors, they build a simple one-page “Your gift at work” with a mix of three key numbers plus one participant story.

Using data to support earned revenue

When CRC sells a consulting package to another city, they can confidently say, “In three years, we helped reduce household food insecurity in our primary neighborhoods by X%, while building a coalition of 40+ partners.” That’s proof of concept, and a pretty good idea of what other municipalities will pay for.

This is the loop: better data → clearer evidence → more compelling case → more diverse funding → more stability → more room to keep improving.

Funding Sources You Might Not Have Explored Yet

• Mission-aligned earned revenue: training, workshops, curricula, or technical assistance based on your expertise.
  
• Corporate partnerships: data-backed community impact is increasingly important in environmental, social, and governance strategies as well as corporate social responsibility strategies – see Edelman’s Trust Barometer for trends. There’s a reason you see all those corporate logos at the bottom of every non-profit’s website!
  
• Planned giving and asset-based gifts: endowments, bequests, and Donor-advised funds provide vital stability, predictable revenue, and resilience, allowing nonprofits to plan beyond immediate needs
  
• Pooled funds/giving circles: groups like Philanthropy Together prioritize shared measurement and clear outcomes.
  
• Impact-minded investors: Community Development Financial Institution and Program-Related Investments often support social enterprises backed by measurable results.

All of these pathways get easier when you can clearly articulate and demonstrate your impact.

Getting Your Organization Funding-Ready Without Overhauling Everything

Here’s how you can start to get your organization funding ready: 

• Audit what you already collect and stop gathering data no one uses.
  
• Choose 3–5 core outcomes that matter to both your mission and funders.
  
• Standardize your collection process so staff know why each metric matters.
  
• Create funder-friendly data products, like a one-page snapshot or short outcomes deck.
  
• Watch what funders ask about—their questions reveal what should be highlighted.

The nonprofits that thrive—especially as federal funding becomes less predictable—aren’t the ones chasing the biggest single grant. They’re the ones weaving together a more resilient, more diverse funding ecosystem built on good data, strong evaluation, and honest storytelling.

When you can clearly show how your work changes lives and why your approach matters, you attract better-aligned funders who stick around. If you want support building a data system that  works and a funding story that resonates, we’d love to help!

The post How Community-Based Organizations Can Diversify Funding With Better Data & Stronger Evaluation appeared first on Viable Insights.

If you work in the nonprofit world, chances are you’re collecting sensitive information about the people you serve. While your focus is (rightfully) on delivering programs, meeting grant requirements, and stretching a budget that’s already tight, there’s another responsibility that can’t be ignored: keeping that data safe.

Today, we wanted to share insights from a recent live online workshop we coordinated with Parsons Advisory. Our conversation was absolutely packed with practical strategies to protect client information and reduce risk – you can watch the full recording here: Protecting Your Organization & The People You Serve.

We’ll look at two main areas: operational strategies like anonymization, pseudonyms, and role-based access, and technology best practices like encryption, secure platforms, and regular security reviews. These aren’t lofty, impossible goals — they’re realistic, affordable moves your nonprofit can start making right now.

Why Data Security Matters More Than Ever for Nonprofits

Nonprofits often work with people who are already vulnerable and that means you might be storing information that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could cause real harm – especially under our current administration. Immigration status, health records, financial details, personal identifiers — all of it can be misused in ways that directly affect someone’s safety and wellbeing.

A breach doesn’t just harm the individual. It can damage your organization’s reputation, shake donor and community trust, and in some cases, lead to legal consequences. Think of the information you collect as valuable property entrusted to you by your clients. You wouldn’t leave stacks of cash sitting out in an unlocked room. Sensitive data should get the same level of protection.

The first step is shifting your team’s mindset so “data protection” isn’t a nice-to-have, but part of how you fulfill your mission. When everyone sees client information as something precious, the right habits start to form.

Reduce Risk by Anonymizing and Limiting Access

One of the easiest ways to lower your risk is to collect less information in the first place. If you don’t have it, it can’t be lost, stolen, or subpoenaed. Start by asking yourself whether each piece of information you request is truly essential to serving your client. If it’s not, remove it from your forms and systems.

When you do need to collect sensitive details, anonymization can protect your clients if that data is ever exposed. That might mean:

• Using pseudonyms or codes instead of names
  
• Storing identifying details separately from program data
  
• Removing personal identifiers before information is shared internally or externally
  

Access should also be on a “need-to-know” basis. Not everyone in your organization needs to see everything. By keeping sensitive data limited to the smallest possible group, you reduce the chances of both accidental leaks and intentional misuse.

Common mistakes to avoid: collecting “just in case” information you’ll never actually use, letting old files sit indefinitely without deletion, or storing sensitive records in places like shared drives with open access. Each of these creates unnecessary exposure that’s easy to fix once you’re aware of it.

Role-Based Access: Less is More

Role-based access takes the idea of limiting exposure one step further. Instead of giving everyone the same level of access to your database, you assign permissions based on a person’s role. A volunteer coordinator, for example, might need phone numbers and email addresses, but not birthdates, immigration status, or medical history.

This approach not only lowers the chance of a breach, it also simplifies training — staff only need to learn the security protocols relevant to the data they handle. And for funders or regulatory agencies, it shows that you’re being deliberate about who sees what.

To make this work, map out which roles need access to which types of information, then use your software’s permission settings to put those limits in place. Revisit those permissions regularly, especially when someone changes roles or leaves the organization.

Secure Your Tech

Strong policies are important, but your technology needs to back them up. Cybercriminals often see nonprofits as “easier targets” because they assume your systems are less sophisticated. You can prove them wrong by putting a few key measures in place:

• Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit — and avoid sending personal info over regular email.
  
• Choose secure platforms with privacy policies stating that you own your data.
  
• Enable two-factor authentication for accounts that hold sensitive information.
  
• Verify major transactions or file transfers with a second contact method before acting.
  

An annual tech security check, whether through an IT provider or a tech-savvy volunteer, can catch outdated settings or vulnerabilities before they become real problems.

Stay Ahead with Regular Reviews

Data protection isn’t something you set up once and forget. Laws change, technology evolves, and threats shift. Regular reviews make sure you’re keeping pace.

That means updating your policies at least once a year (or sooner if regulations change), providing refreshers so staff stay sharp, and testing your systems to confirm that your access controls, encryption, and backups are working as intended. Assign someone on your team to “own” data security, with the authority to schedule reviews, make updates, and keep everyone accountable.

Protecting sensitive data isn’t just a compliance task; it’s an ethical commitment to the people you serve. By collecting less, anonymizing what you keep, limiting access, and keeping your technology up to date, you’re not only avoiding trouble but actively building trust with your community.

If you’d like to dive deeper into the full conversation, you can watch it here: Protecting Your Organization & The People You Serve.

The people you serve have trusted you with their most personal details. These simple moves can help make that trust nearly untouchable.

The post Simple Moves That Make Your Nonprofit’s Data Nearly Untouchable appeared first on Viable Insights.

Understand How Data Analytics Drives Smarter Decision-Making

Data analytics sounds complex, but at its core, it’s about using information to make better decisions. Think about it this way: if you were planning a cross-country road trip, you’d check the weather, traffic patterns, and maybe even gas prices along the way. Why? Because it helps you make informed choices and avoid unnecessary detours.

Similarly, organizations can use data to spot trends, understand participant behavior, and identify internal bottlenecks. If a retail company notices a drop in sales during certain months, they can analyze purchasing trends and adjust marketing strategies or inventory accordingly.

Why would social organizations or people-serving organizations be any different? They aren’t! Perhaps your patient satisfaction scores are down or maybe you’re deciding how to allocate funding and need to select three of your five pilot programs to continue for the next three years. Data provides another method of exploration and decision making. This proactive approach turns raw data into actionable insights.Research from IBM highlights that data-informed organizations are over three times more likely to achieve significant improvements in decision-making and operational efficiency compared to their less data-savvy counterparts.

One way we’re different? We like to say we’re data informed rather than data driven. We find this takes data off its almighty platform of unattainable rigor and dehumanization. We never lose sight of the fact that we’re working with real humans and all their wonderful, imperfect glory.

Set Goals Backed By Data That Actually Stick

It’s one thing to set goals; it’s another to achieve them. Data can bridge that gap. Start by assessing the data you already have—sales figures, participant feedback, engagement metrics—and look for patterns. Are certain programs outperforming others? Are there recurring participant complaints?

Once you have a clearer picture, define specific, measurable goals. For instance, if data shows your participant response times are lagging, set a goal to reduce response times by 20% over six months. Use predictive analytics to forecast the impact and track progress with clear KPIs.

Actionable Tips:

• Conduct a quarterly data audit to evaluate what data you’re collecting and how it’s being used. Are you missing key metrics that could drive better decisions? If this is something that you need help with, get in touch!
  
• Move beyond S.M.A.R.T. goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). It pays dividends to set space to review progress – both individually and with other folks involved.

Use Data to Improve Participant Engagement

Let’s say you’re noticing higher participant turnover than usual. Instead of guessing why, dig into your participant survey data, exit interviews, and even attendance records. Maybe the data reveals that teams with unclear metrics have higher exit rates.

With this insight, you can implement clearer performance goals and offer targeted support. Over time, you might see not just lower turnover but higher overall satisfaction and engagement. Organizations that listen to their data are better equipped to create spaces where participants thrive.

Actionable Tip:

• Survey fatigue is a real thing. Use mini or pulse surveys and other engagement tools to gather regular feedback, then analyze the results for actionable insights.

Simplify Data Management to Stay Focused

A common hurdle organizations face is data overload. With so much information coming from different departments, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. The solution? Streamline your data management practices. Also, take inventory of your data collection efforts. Are there instances of data being collected just to collect it? Not only does this fatigue people (you’re asking them for lots of info), it also reduces trust (they might think “they asked me for something and didn’t use it!!) 

Actionable Tip:

Implement user-friendly dashboards that allow teams to access and interpret data without needing a data science degree. Tools like Tableau or Power BI make this accessible for most organizations.

Visualize Success: Turning Data Into a Story

Raw numbers can be intimidating, but visuals tell a story and encourage exploration. Imagine trying to explain to your board that fundraising is up 15% year-over-year. Now imagine showing them a visual dashboard that breaks down which campaigns performed best, highlighting donor trends by age group and donation size. Which is more compelling?

Visualizing data helps teams align on priorities and makes it easier to spot both wins and areas needing improvement. It can also foster accountability because progress is visible and measurable.

Actionable Tip:

• Use interactive dashboards in team meetings to track progress on strategic goals. This keeps everyone engaged and focused on results.
• Host a meaning making session where you walk through data and actively facilitate interpretations and insights. You’ll also increase buy in and sense of belonging!

Leveraging data analytics for strategic planning doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start small: assess what data you have, identify gaps, and set clear, measurable goals. The payoff? Smarter decisions, better resource allocation, and a more agile organization ready to tackle 2025 head-on.

By weaving data insights into every layer of your planning, you position your organization to adapt and thrive in a constantly changing environment. Ready to take the next step? Get in touch and let’s chat about how you can use your data to better plan for 2025!

The post What Does Your 2025 Strategic Planning Need? appeared first on Viable Insights.

As we approach the end of the year, we’re full of mixed emotions. The end of a year is normally a time for resetting, preparations, rest, and reflections. In some ways, 2020 is no different — but as we spend time reflecting, the heaviness is easy to dwell on. We’ve consciously decided to name the positive, too, as we found it easy to be consumed by the not-so-good.

This year, we’re more thankful than ever for the work of those we get to collaborate with (both directly and indirectly). We draw our inspiration from organizations and individuals who are human-focused — making people first. This might sound strange coming from a group focused  on embedding data into practice…however, we feel more compelled than ever to find the humanity in the numbers — to find just as much value in the nuanced stories as large sets of data. That’s why we want to start our reflection off by talking about some awesome groups we had the opportunity to work with.

Project Highlights

We love all our clients, but we selected just a few to highlight (with their permission, of course!) and share with you. Each demonstrates a different aspect of the work we’re so proud to be part of. We know you’ll enjoy learning more about each of them as much as we love working with them.

The Arizona End of Life Care Partnership (EOLCP), anchored at the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, is a collective our team has the opportunity to work with on an ongoing basis. The EOLCP’s mission is to enhance the way we live by fundamentally changing the way we talk about death. Their community partners provide support, services, and education to help you talk about what’s important to you so that you can live well and end well. The work they are doing to normalize death as a topic for conversation, and educate everyone on how to plan for their own end of life journey has truly been transformational for us–both in terms of how we view the topic ourselves and how we see their work affecting the community. We are thankful that they have given us the opportunity to advise on data management, evaluation, and strategic planning for their incredible initiative, and we very much look forward to documenting their story and impact in the years to come!

Public libraries serve incredibly important roles in communities. They are a social structure for community members to come together, they serve as an educational hub, and they employ passionate educators and social servants. For more than a year we have been working with the Pima County Public Library System to conduct a comprehensive job analysis with the goal of producing community-relevant job descriptions and branch-specific staffing models. Ultimately, this will better enable system administrators to continue building and maintaining a healthy and supportive structure — better positioning themselves to deliver community-specific services across each of its branches. Having the opportunity to work with such a large group of professionals from across all levels of a library system has been a rewarding experience. Not only have we been able to learn the backgrounds and stories of so many of them, but we also have very much enjoyed working with a highly engaged administrative team and task force throughout the process.

The Financial Wellness Partnership, anchored at the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, brings together community organizations, nonprofits, funders, businesses, and government offices for focused discussions on financial well-being. The group seeks to improve the financial wellness of individuals and families by increasing accessibility to effective services, resources, and opportunities, and by influencing policy to develop equitable, people-centered systems that support financial wellness. Their intentionality in this work has led to opportunities for ongoing collaboration with our team, including facilitation, program design, logic model development, and process evaluation. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to sign up for their mailing list to stay in the loop on their latest activities! We want to express an especially heartfelt thank you to the Partnership and its members for their immediate community support throughout the pandemic. Simply put, these folks are “people first,” which resonates with our philosophy.

Gila County Department of Public Health is responsible for many important initiatives across their community. Among these initiatives are their efforts to better understand and address teen pregnancy through purposeful education and prevention. Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to work with their team to conduct a comprehensive literature review examining this public health concern. Our collaborative efforts helped identify national and regional techniques for proactively addressing teen pregnancy and are being used to adapt their county’s current programming (as well as to inform other teen pregnancy prevention initiatives across Arizona).

Peak Nutrition is a comprehensive health and nutrition company based in Phoenix, Arizona. Providing their clients with A-Z nutrition solutions is their primary focus — helping folks achieve measurable results. Therefore, it’s probably not a big surprise that they recognized the importance of adding real-time performance metrics to their decision making process. Our team worked with their Chief Operations Officer to stand up a Tableau solution — consolidating countless static reports into a centralized tool! Through our training, their team has been able to leverage Tableau to access their data in a convenient and meaningful way. This is a great example of how our team helped with the foundation through customized training but our client really took it and ran — we’re excited to see what they conquer next in Tableau!

What else is good?

In addition to working with some awesome folks, this year has consisted of two other significant milestones — a growing team and branding makeover.

A growing team

We’re constantly looking for great people to collaborate with us. Each brings a unique set of skills and perspective. Both are important as we show up to engage with our clients. Interested in learning more? Check out our team or send us a message.

Logo + Brand + Website Redesign

This year we partnered with Kicks Digital Marketing to better communicate what Viable Insights is all about as a program evaluation and organizational development firm. We are in-freaking-love with what they came up with and feel it truly represents how we approach all things data. If you haven’t taken a look, carve out a minute — we think the team at Kicks outdid themselves. 10/10 recommend.

That’s a wrap!

All of that to say, it’s clear we have a lot to be thankful for. Our community, the work we’re privileged to be able to do, and so much more. We hope you find time for relationships in this new year, too (even if it is distanced). On that note, we want to invite you to spend more time with us in 2021 — check out our events page to save yourself a seat!

The post 2020 Insights: What’s Good? appeared first on Viable Insights.

Most often (at least in the context of evaluation or applied research RFPs), these solicitations are filled with information about a client organization and the things they hope to learn through the course of the research/evaluation process. In many ways, RFPs — and the subsequent proposals that are submitted in kind — are a lot like a dating game. The goal of the solicitor is to match with someone that yields the greatest return on investment in terms of maximizing services and minimizing costs, while the goal of the consultant/contractor is to sell the specific advantages of working with them. Budgets don’t always decide whether a match is made, but they are an important part of the formula as client organizations assess who brings the most to the relationship.

Starting the conversation

In the coming weeks, Viable + Friends will be hosting an event to discuss the topic of RFPs, so we thought it would be good to preface that conversation with a quick pulse check on the community to see what thoughts you might have on the topic. In particular, what we’re hoping to discuss/learn about has to do with suggestions for making the RFP experience more effective.

We are by no means the first to have this conversation, but we’ve found that most of the time this discussion is oriented toward the ways in which consultants can write stronger proposals in response to RFPs. This is a critical topic and one with which we want to explore in this setting. However, we are also interested in hearing what suggestions consultants might have for clients and organizations that put out RFP solicitations. Really, this is meant to be a learning opportunity for clients and consultants alike as we collaboratively identify how to make RFPs more strategically detailed, and how to make proposals more impactful.

A collaborative wishlist

From the perspective of a consultant, we would like to start the wish list off by talking about something that affects nearly every consideration [we] make when deciding whether to respond to an RFP opportunity: timeline. This is a detail that touches on nearly every facet of a project and its corresponding scope of work. One thing that we would like to see happen is RFPs be developed with realistic — and to be honest — respectful timelines. Budgets are often very important to clients/recipients of proposals, so just a simple recognition that timelines have a direct impact on not only scope but also how much short timelines can impact the number of resources needed to get a project done (as those resources go up, so does the budget).

Timelines serve as one of several items on our wishlist for ways to improve the RFP and proposal experience. We will certainly spend time talking about this wish list during our Viable + Friends Town Hall: Improving the RFP-Proposal Experience, but until then we really want to learn more about what might be on your wishlist. Whether you’re in a consultative or client role, we want to hear from you! It is only through a shared understanding of one another’s experience, expectations, and limitations that we can work more effectively as we collaboratively work to change the world!

How you can participate

All that said, please take a moment to share your thoughts on the topic in this brief survey. We look forward to unpacking this important conversation at our Viable + Friends Town Hall: Improving the RFP-Proposal Experience. If you haven’t already done so, please register so you can join in the discussion!

The post Improving the RFP Experience appeared first on Viable Insights.

BONUS POST WITH DR. GAIL BARRINGTON!

And you thought the fun was over…

Whether you are thinking about venturing out on your own or have already started, this series will arm you with advice from seasoned consultants! This post features Dr. Barrington, who provides her insight on common questions consultants (or consultants-to-be) might have. Be sure to check out the first and second part of this series!

Bio:

Gail Vallance Barrington is a graduate of McGill University (BA) and Carleton University (MA) and holds a Doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of Alberta (1981). She is a Credentialed Evaluator and a certified teacher. In 2014, she was made a Fellow of the Certified Management Consultants of Canada. Since starting her consulting practice in 1985 she has conducted over 130 program evaluation studies in the fields of education, health, and research. Her top-rated book, Consulting Start-up and Management: A Guide for Evaluators and Applied Researchers (SAGE, 2012) continues to be popular. In 2008 she received the Canadian Evaluation Society award for her Contribution to Evaluation in Canada and in 2016 was honoured to receive the American Evaluation Association Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Award for Evaluation Practice. She teaches courses in qualitative research and program evaluation for several universities and provides webinars and workshops on consulting skills.

What made you decide to become a consultant?

I began to work on program evaluation contracts while teaching as a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Education. For a while I did both. Then a term came along when, due to program reorganization, the courses I was teaching would not be offered. I had to decide what to do, wait for a year with half-time consulting or go at it full time. This was not an easy decision as I had always worked for a school, college, or university, never responsible for my own pay check. Going out on my own was very scary. I can remember sitting in my car looking across a rainy street at the office building I had selected and wondering if I could really work there. I took a big breath, got out of the car and the rest is history. My consulting business opened on November 1, 1985.

Could you share some best practices for remote consultancy?

I often work with clients at a distance. For example, I worked for many years on a national evaluation project for the federal government in Ottawa, Ontario while I lived in Calgary, Alberta. I made a point of holding quarterly meetings in person because I felt that being on site with the client was necessary to get a sense of their work, their issues, and their reaction to what we were doing. Email and Skype are fine but in, the end, it is personal chemistry and partnership which bond a project together. In that project we spent time together informally as well as during our day-long meetings. We had fun skating, sailing, and going out to restaurants. These informal activities strengthened our understanding of each other and we accomplished a remarkable amount of success as a result.

Do you suggest that consultants market themselves as a specialist or a generalist?

I think you need a specialty area and then you can branch out from there. New consultants should focus both on what they like doing best and on what they have received good feedback about. Your specialty area will expand and morph over time but having a clearly defined area of specialization as a foundation is a great way to start.

How do you measure the success of a project?

Success is not measured by the final report. It is really measured by the extent to which positive program change occurs. Evaluation is all about making a difference through informed decision making and of course our role is providing the evidence needed. The real results happen long after the report is finished, and we have gone on our way. Not often enough do we circle back to find out what happened afterwards.

Finally, what advice do you wish someone had given you as a new consultant?

Hang in there and find some good colleagues. When I started my business, I didn’t have any role models and so I had to make it up as I went along. The closest approximation I could find to the independent evaluation consultant was the independent business consultant. As a result, I became a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) so I could have some colleagues to talk to. However, research was not their interest area and so I was still struggling about how to conduct evaluation research and bill for it gracefully. Happily, I found the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Independent Consulting Topical Interest Group (IC TIG) and there at last were business people with a social justice perspective. We continue talking to this day!

Want more Dr. Barrington? Visit her website!

The post For consultants and consultants-to-be: BONUS POST! appeared first on Viable Insights.

It’s here — part two! 

Whether you are thinking about venturing out on your own or have already started, this two-part series will arm you with advice from seasoned consultants! This post features Ann K. Emery, who provides her insight on common questions consultants (or consultants-to-be) might have. Check out the first post in this series here.

Bio:

Ann K. Emery is a speaker, workshop facilitator, and blogger, passionate about “making technical information easier to understand for non-technical audiences.” In other words, she is a dataviz expert! Ann is also a well-known blogger, bringing practical tips to those looking to transform their data into effective stories through the use of data visualization. Without further ado, let’s dig into her tips! 

How did you prepare for running your own consulting firm?

Launching my own consulting firm was a happy accident. I started blogging back in 2012, just for the joy of sharing skills with others, without expecting it to lead anything. And I always enjoyed public speaking and leading workshops. My name got out there. People read something I wrote or saw me speak at a conference. I started getting a few invitations to give talks and redesign the visuals in reports. And then I got a few more invitations. And a few more. At the time, I was working full-time and doing grad school at night. I had limited bandwidth for independent consulting projects. In Spring 2014, I finished grad school and had the time to accept some side projects. I did the math; the projects would actually pay more than my current (good) salary. People started asking when I was going independent. I hadn’t considered going solo. I had planned to stay at my current position for a long time. Over the summer of 2014, I spoke with a dozen of my mentors. I got great advice:

“Don’t even think about quitting your salaried job until you have a years’ worth of household expenses saved—and be willing to lose every penny if you’re not profitable the first year.”

“You’ll work harder than ever, but the work will be more fulfilling than ever.”

In the fall of 2014, I was having dinner with some girlfriends, and mentioned that I might go solo someday. “Well, what are you waiting for?” one asked. I didn’t have a good answer. That next week, I put in my notice.

For those wondering how about the transition to a consultant, did you continue working at a 9-5 job until you became established?

I’ve met two types of consultants: those who find themselves with spare time (job loss, just finished grad school and they’re job hunting, etc.) and those who have already built a reputation for doing great work and have prospective clients banging down their door. The first type struggles to take in work. The second type struggles to turn it down. The second type has no choice. You have to quit your salaried job and start your own company. You work harder than ever, for a while. Then you get better at subcontracting and saying no. You get to choose which type of consultant you want to be. Pull the trigger too early—before you’re established—and you may always struggle to bring in work and pay the bills.

How do you avoid being spread too thin?

I hire smart and talented subcontractors like you!

More importantly, I say no so that I can say yes. I don’t appear on podcasts (I’m visual so an auditory medium has zero appeal). I don’t write guest blog posts (my clients hire me to write blog posts so it doesn’t make business sense to write for free). I don’t work for free (I like to keep a roof over my head). I have to decline projects that aren’t a perfect fit so that I have creative energy to rock the ones that are.

Describe a time when you dealt with a difficult client (or situation). How did you make things work?

I divide my projects into two broad categories: training and design.

In training projects—my keynotes, workshops, webinars, and individual coaching sessions—I haven’t had difficult clients, but I have had inexperienced clients. The contact person has been put in charge of planning the keynote address for their conference for the very first time. I often need to teach them about coordinating with A/V staff, setting up projectors, connecting and testing the microphones, and so on. Planning a talk of this level can be a stressful experience for my clients. They want the logistics to be perfect. I try to walk them through the unknowns and alleviate as much of the stress as possible. I’ve given a billion talks. I’ve seen all sorts of stage setups. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong—projector lightbulbs burning out mid-talk, fire drills, laptop batteries dying, malfunctioning microphones. I get migraines a few times a year—the kind where your vision and smell are all messed up—so I knew it was only a matter of time until I got a migraine during a speaking engagement. It happened in February. I could only see a sliver of my slides thanks to tunnel vision. Then the smells and nausea started. I gave participants a coffee break, puked in the bathroom, and came back and finished the talk. From the audience’s perspective, it was one of the better workshops I led all year. Good public speaking is more about rolling with the punches than about careful preparation. I let my client know that I’ve experienced every possible projector and microphone hiccup and that the talk will be stellar no matter what. 

In design projects—revamping existing reports or designing the visualizations for client reports from scratch—I haven’t had difficult clients, but I have had difficult timelines. Contracting takes longer than expected because we need a signature from someone who’s on vacation. I’m graphing the data and notice that the numbers don’t make sense and they have to re-run the analyses to fix a few typos. Every consultant I know has been in this situation: Something goes wrong that’s outside of your control, and you’re the one who has to give up your weekend to fix it. We all notice the red flags early on. In the past, I’ve tried to give the project the benefit of the doubt. This project will be different, I lie to myself. Sure, their timeline is tight, but maybe everything will go according to plan this time.

My number one goal in 2018 is to trust my gut instinct and decline the projects with too-tight timelines.

How do you measure the success of a project?

Repeat clients and referrals!

A few months ago, I gave a mediocre workshop—or so I’d thought. I’d pose a discussion question to the group, and people just stared at me with poker faces. I’d tell a joke, and people just stared at me with poker faces. I couldn’t understand why the workshop structure I’d carefully crafted over the years had fallen flat. I left feeling deflated. Over the weekend, I had serious self-doubt, questioning whether I was even in the right career path. Then, on Monday morning, the client emailed me, praising the workshop and saying it was the best they’d ever attended. They invited me to return to their organization for another few days of workshops. I returned, gave another few days of workshops, and left with the same self-doubt. For the second time, nobody responded to my discussion questions or laughed at my jokes. And then—you guessed it—the client emailed me, praised the workshop, and invited me to return. The organization is accustomed to traditional, buttoned-up lecturers. My skin gets thicker each time, so when I return for the third series of workshops, I’ll be prepared to pose non-discussion discussion questions and tell my unfunny jokes.

In design projects, I used to think that a repeat client was a bad thing. If I redesigned the report well the first time, the client should be able to follow my steps and do it themselves the next time, right? But my clients are often pressed for time. Or, they can get the design 90% of the way there, and they need me to nudge the visualizations to the finish line. I’m working on a multi-year project right now. Each year, my role shifts. At first, I was creating the visualizations myself. Later, I was coaching their staff members through the process, making minor adjustments to their drafts, but creating very little myself. Other consultants have warned me against this approach, worried that I’ll teach clients too much and be out of a job. But my instincts keep telling me that training up staff is a net positive. I’ve taught the staff so much during this multi-year project that I wish I could hire them. Literally. I tried to subcontract part of a project to one of the women, but we discovered that our contracting language wouldn’t allow it. We’ll definitely be working together again someday.

Finally, what advice do you wish someone had given you as a new consultant?

I’ve learned from the best: Herb Baum, Tanya Beer, David Bernstein, Dave Bruns, Isaac Castillo, Stephanie Evergreen, Edith Hawkins, Rodney Hopson, Kylie Hutchinson, Helene Jennings, Cole Knaflic, Chris Lysy, Kevin McNamee, Johanna Morariu, Kim Narcisso, Veena Pankaj, Maryfrances Porter, Jon Schwabish, and Trina Willard.  

I adore each of these people for telling me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear. They’ve given me all the personal and professional advice I’ll ever need. There’s nothing I wish I would’ve known earlier—just advice I wish I would’ve followed earlier.

Want more?!

If you’re interested in learning more from Ann, check out her website. You won’t be sorry, and I bet you’ll be adding it to your favorites. 

“Expert” Photo by Rita Morais on Unsplash

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Become an American Evaluation Association (AEA) member.

Not only will you be able to attend the yearly conference, you will have more opportunities to become involved than you will be able to sign up for. From professional development to peer-reviewed articles, AEA really does have a great compilation of resources for academics and practitioners.

Attend an AEA conference!

Me nerding out with Dr. Stephanie Evergreen at the Eval16

It is one thing to become a member and never go to a conference, but this is one conference I am willing to pay out of my own pocket to attend. If you’re looking to share and learn from others, find a job opportunity, or just network with others, this week-long event is a great investment. I can promise you one thing: the AEA conference is like no other (in a good way).

Find your Local Area Affiliate on AEA.

Again, AEA is a great resource, and that isn’t just at an international level. They also support AEA affiliates, which means you can be involved throughout the year. This is a great way to meet evaluators near you, find out about independent work (if you’re into that), and further develop yourself as a professional. If possible, I suggest being part of a committee or the board. You will be stretched more than just being a member. We have all become members of organizations to never actually attend an event (c’mon, I know I’m not the only one).

Some of the great Arizona Evaluation Network board members I get to work with!

Join an AEA Topical Interest Group (TIG).

If you have a certain area (or maybe more than one) within the field of evaluation that strikes your fancy, get more involved through a TIG! You might have the opportunity to write a blog post, rate conference proposals, and/or be part of the yearly meetings (held at the AEA conference). Again, you will meet people with similar interests but with different levels of experience. I’m part of the Data Visualization and Reporting TIG, along with Research on Evaluation.

Refine your elevator speech.

Who are you? What’s evaluation? How do other people entitle what you do? All of these things are important. Be ready to explain what you do to others. Dividing my time between industrial-organizational psychology and evaluation means I’ve had to refine this for all areas of my professional life. My best advice is to think back to those family dinners…how do you explain it? Okay, take that and make it relatable each time you talk about it. UC-Davis has a good resource on this here.

Get on Twitter…oh yeah, I said it.

Evaluators are taking on Twitter and it is AWESOME! This is a quick way to see what the trends are and learn from others. Plus, you get to share your own thoughts and work. As someone who was anti-Twitter for a long time, I get it…you might be apprehensive. Twitter is the way to find little nuggets of information that can often times lead to great finds. So, if you haven’t already, create an account and start following other evaluators (pro tip: find one person you like and check out who they’re following)!

…and there you have it! Did I miss something? Feel free to share what has worked for you.

NEW – Additional tips from Ann K. Emery’s blog…

1. Conference tips for new evaluators
2. Newbie essentials
3. Job hunting

P.S. Click here to read a blog I wrote for AEA365 as a Data Visualization and Reporting TIG member.

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So what’s my experience with this? I also had these great applied opportunities, and I started to realize that I was an advocate for my field. I had a new perspective about the entire experience — if my client walked away feeling like they wasted their time, I didn’t do a very good job.

My second to last semester I completed a needs assessment and process evaluation for a company in another state. This company is phenomenal — great idea that’s meeting a need, lean bottom line, and an office full of great people. Where’s the but? Well, it’s that data wasn’t driving their strategic planning. Needs assessment? What’s that? There I had it — an opportunity to BUILD the capacity of evaluation in this organization.

In short, the project went well — everyone learned a lot, services were revised, future planning was focused on data. But that’s all while you’re still there, right? In the back of your obsessive applied psych mind…you know this was one project, and the long lived method of luck and “educated” guessing (oxymoron’s make for good blog topics) could be revived and become the preferred decision making tool — again.

Data driven decision making. What does the data tell us? How do the statistics relate to what we are seeing financially? Your clients said they wanted this service…but was it a representative sample?? I felt like a broken record…because I hoped that between demonstration, dialogue, and bringing my client along for the experience would lead to an appreciation and PREFERENCE for data to inform their decisions.

Created by Chris Lysy

Well, two months later I was in a follow up meeting…sitting in on an unrelated project…and I heard it:

“We need to make decisions based on what the data tells us. It can’t be what I like, or what makes sense to me. Let’s use the tools we have to make changes using data.”

…you know that moment when someone says their idea of an awesome day is binge watching Frasier and eating pizza rolls, and you’re like “…that’s hot.” Bam. There it was. The sexy side of being an advocate for our field.

You see, change is hard. Pushing for a better method (that isn’t always easier) can be a challenge. And hey, being a grad student is a special level of hell at times. Sometimes you want to drop the results and peace. You don’t always want to screw with Excel for hours to get something other than a canned report (but seriously, talk to me if it’s taking you hours to craft good viz). But at the end of it, you have an opportunity to see the results put into action. Your very presence is a disruption — a potential catalyst for change. The credibility of our field? It’s on ALL of our shoulders. So, the next time you’re burnt out, remember the potential to impact decision makers and the responsibility to your colleagues (oh, and call on them when you need help!).

Created by Chris Lysy

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Well, canned reports suck (unless they’re super customized by your IT team, but who has time for that?!?). When I ask for a data pull, I hate being told “no” or “yes, I’ll get that to you in a few weeks.” Usually when I need a report, it’s because someone important needs to make a decision. So instead of waiting around for someone to do it for me, I put on my data manipulation cap and get ready to finesse some Excel files.

Enough with the back story, right? You need tools! Admittedly, my most common problem is having all the data I need…spread across a bunch of out-of-the-box reports. Easy you say? Sure, if I was only dealing with a few rows of data. We’re talking thousands of rows. So, here are a few tools I’ve come across that have turned my data nightmare into something usable:

1. Consolidate
2. Merge Table Wizard for Microsoft Excel (the app with the world’s longest name) – Mac
   1. If you’re a PC user, use ActiveData

So let’s talk about these tools…

Consolidate is great when you have several entries for one company (or participant) that you need summed, averaged, or a number of other functions. It’s as easy as five steps:

1. Select your data.
2. Go to the Data tab.
3. Choose the Consolidate function.
4. Select your data (be sure to note where the label that you’re consolidating is at).
5. Choose your function.

Done! Now you’ve got your data in one place. In my case, I needed each company’s entry to be consolidated into one entry, and I wanted the sum of all of their orders.
Next, I wanted to tie e-mail addresses to the company. That’s where my fancy application came into play. Here’s a quick walk-through on merging two reports to make one useful report.

1. Open both reports.
2. Open Merge Tables Wizard (Mac)
   1. ActiveData (PC)
3. Select the data you want to merge on (pick the dataset with the majority of the data). This is your primary dataset.
4. From the other worksheet (or, in my case, a workbook), select the data you want to merge. 
5. Your tool will likely verify that it identified the variable you want to merge on (i.e. company).
6. The default is to add a new column for any data that does not exist in the primary.
7. After that, the remaining steps are fluff. Select what you want and run it!

Boom. In several minutes, you just created a data file with all the data you needed. Of course, this is an oversimplification. But, you can apply it to anything – especially those nasty datasets.

So, what about you? What are your favorite tools for forcing Excel to comply?

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