We collect a lot of data about our donors and constituents. And we put that data to good use in crafting our messages and appeals and our stewardship. We focus on this data so much that we have a hard time seeing past it. A hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

Today we have a conversation with a pair of advancement services technologists who took a step back and looked at the forest instead of the trees. They took a simple question, answerable by their data, and turned the answer into a tool to solve their curiosity and a solution for the world to use.

Guests: Clare Buttry and Carrick Davis

University of Northern Colorado Alumni Dashboard : https://www.unco.edu/alumni/bears-go-big/

Sankey Diagram : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankey_diagram

Edward Tufte and the famous use of Sankey-style in a chart : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tufte

• 00:00 - Using your Data Creatively
• 01:10 - Clare Buttry and Carrick Davis
• 03:01 - What problem is data trying to solve?
• 11:05 - It doesn't have to be complicated
• 15:39 - Bears Go Big - the tool described
• 19:15 - Data Clutter and Efficiency
• 26:28 - Advancement Services is the right spot
• 31:27 - See the little lightbulb turn on