ROI of Data and Analytics in the Non Profit Sector | DAPS 2025

Join Jennifer Bartholomew, Director of Insights and Data Management at Plan International Canada, as she discusses leveraging data and analytics to drive meaningful organizational change and demonstrate return on investment (ROI) in the non-profit sector.

This presentation outlines Plan International Canada's journey through its Digital Transformation strategy, highlighting how data has been integrated into core organizational functions to maximize global impact.

Key Discussion Points Include:

✅ The Three Pillars of Digital Transformation: Detailing the strategy built on the pillars of People (data-driven culture and literacy [02:40]), Process (data governance and quality [03:09]), and Technology (CRM and Modern Data Platform [03:37]).

✅ Navigating the Data Maturity Model: Exploring the journey from descriptive analysis ("what happened") to the advanced stages of predictive (e.g., forecasting donor retention and attrition) and prescriptive analysis [06:21].

✅ Prioritizing People and Culture: Highlighting the critical lesson that cultural buy-in and data literacy are the biggest drivers of success, rather than technology alone [09:56].

✅ The Governance Foundation: The importance of establishing robust data quality, policies, and standards to build trust and ensure the reliability of the data used for strategic decisions [08:08].

✅ Strategic Alignment: Emphasizing the need to align all data and analytics initiatives with the organization's overarching business strategy to focus efforts and demonstrate clear value [09:56].

Learn how non-profits can effectively harness data to increase transparency, build donor trust, and maximize their impact on global development programs.