Heart, Soul & Data

In this episode, we sat down with Rebecca Gosla of Simplicity Education to discuss what it takes to succeed as a data manager, how being a data manager can mean different things to different orgs, what the day to day experience of a data manager looks like, and what those of us who are not data managers can do to better support this role so that we all have the information that we need to be successful at the change we are trying to achieve.

Rebecca is an Associate at Simplicity Education. Her role at Simplicity focuses on building data analysis tools for the organization’s school partners and working with school leaders to gain actionable insights about their student data. Prior to working at Simplicity, Rebecca worked for four years at Codman Academy Charter Public School - a K-12 school serving 345 students - in Boston as the Data Manager and Student Recruitment & Enrollment Lead. Through her work, she doubled the number of recruitment events the school held, analyzed student achievement data, created dashboards to drive instructional and operational change, and spearheaded the school’s transition to a new gradebook. She is also Co-Chair of the Young Professionals Board for Friends of the Children-Boston, a non-profit dedicated to providing high-quality 1:1 mentoring.

Rebecca holds a master’s degree in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from UC San Diego.

"When you're thinking about doing a research study, define and design. So you define what you wanna know, then you design how you're gonna find that out. That's everything. Everything goes back to those two words."

If you're one of those people who think that scientific research is just for academic scientists or the lab rats working hard at their lab bench benches with their pipettes, today's episode is for you. I am joined by Neil Krohn, founder and principal of Advanced Healthcare Analytics, to share his expertise in doing research that really matters, and how research isn't just for academic scientists. Stick around till the very end of this episode and learn how your organization, even a small nonprofit, could benefit from designing your own research projects.

Neil Krohn is the founder and principal of Advanced Healthcare Analytics, which provides both quantitative and qualitative analytic services. Neil earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tulsa and completed his post-doctoral fellowship in Administration and Evaluation Psychology from the University of Colorado Denver. For more than 20 years Neil has worked in healthcare analytics in both the public and corporate domains. He is particularly interested in helping organizations design and implement research studies that assist them in defining their goals and furthering their missions. He also taught Statistics and Research Methods to psychology graduate students for many years and served as the research design member on doctoral papers and dissertations. Currently, Neil is launching an initiative to have experts in science and technology share their knowledge in small-group discussions in the community. Neil lives with his wife in Denver, Colorado. He’s an avid cyclist, riding about 150 miles per week on Denver’s amazing trail system.

Think about the pieces of technology in use in your organization or your team today. In most nonprofits out there, you'd be surprised that there are dozens and even up to 50 different pieces of technology being used across your organization. In today's episode, I am joined by Tim Lockie of The Human Stack, who specializes in optimizing this interface between technology and humans. Learn how these tech systems work within the ecosystem, and how a CIO plays a part in managing these interactions—regardless of how big or small your organization is. We also discuss the skills required for a chief information officer (CIO) position, the need for effective communication and collaboration within organizations to harness the power of data, the challenges nonprofits face in utilizing data effectively, and how you can take action to address these challenges.

Tim Lockie is the CEO and Founder of The Human Stack, and co-host of the Why IT Matters podcast. Tim has over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and tech world, with roles including volunteer, youth worker, camp counselor, music instructor, foster parent, board member, finance director, bookkeeper, recruiter, and community administrator among others. He's passionate about Digital Transformation and believes it's something that all nonprofits can benefit from, no matter their size.

In this two-part episode, you will get a better idea of how we use data as humans and understand how our brains work to analyze the data that we acquire every day in powerful and effective ways and the possible mistakes we might make along the way. Learn more about the four biases and what you can do about them:

Knowing these and finding out the signs to look out for and what to do gives us a chance to become better when it comes to decision-making not only at work but also in our personal life.

Merakinos provides analytics as a service, data strategy consulting, analytic
project work, and data fluency training for individuals and organizations seeking to build and strengthen
analytic capacity and data-driven decision-making. We can work with your organization to identify the
key analytic insights you need from your data, develop and maintain actionable dashboards or reports,
and deliver them across your organization monthly, weekly, or on your schedule. Or if you would like
to develop internal capacity, we can provide training on key platforms like Power BI, Tableau, or Alteryx.
And if you aren't sure where to start, our advisory services can help you design and implement effective
analytic strategies to amplify your impact.

In this two-part episode, you will get a better idea of how we use data as humans and understand how our brains work to analyze the data that we acquire every day in powerful and effective ways and the possible mistakes we might make along the way. Learn more about the four biases and what you can do about them:

Knowing these and finding out the signs to look out for and what to do gives us a chance to become better when it comes to decision-making not only at work but also in our personal life.

Merakinos provides analytics as a service, data strategy consulting, analytic
project work, and data fluency training for individuals and organizations seeking to build and strengthen
analytic capacity and data-driven decision-making. We can work with your organization to identify the
key analytic insights you need from your data, develop and maintain actionable dashboards or reports,
and deliver them across your organization monthly, weekly, or on your schedule. Or if you would like
to develop internal capacity, we can provide training on key platforms like Power BI, Tableau, or Alteryx.
And if you aren't sure where to start, our advisory services can help you design and implement effective
analytic strategies to amplify your impact.

"Make friends with Google"

In today's episode, we're going to take a broader view of how Google Analytics can be an incredibly powerful tool for understanding the performance of your content and marketing efforts on your websites. By connecting Google Analytics to your website, you can gain insights into how users are interacting with your content, where they are coming from, what pages they are spending the most time on, and much more. Colin Clapp talks about how optimization isn't a one-and-done and isn't something you can just set and then forget, but something you need to continually engage with. Find out how you can get the results you want without getting overwhelmed in the process, including knowing what your goals are and paying attention to the bigger picture.

Colin Clapp is the Co-Founder of Online Marketing Done For You, an online marketing solutions catering to people who are too busy to market online. His purpose in life is to inspire "Significance through a philosophy of Give. Take. Invest. Enjoy." and help other people reach their potential by staying accountable to their dreams. He likes to spend his time with his wife, who he considers his first accountability partner, and his two children.

“Data is a labor of love”

Children can teach us valuable lessons about work and inspire us to be better workers, and as parents, both Tasha and I can definitely attest to that. In this episode, we talked about how we apply these lessons in marketing, data, supporting non-profits, and more. From sleepless nights to endless battles over wearing underwear, we deep dive into the ways we can lean into research to learn more and become better at what we do, and why it's essential to find balance in learning from the lessons of others and personalizing them to suit your needs.

Tasha Van Vlack is a relationship growth specialist at Yeeboo Digital - where she empowers nonprofits to 'lead with digital' and embrace new marketing, fundraising, and technology practices. When she isn't chatting with nonprofit professionals she spends her time connecting with cool people on LinkedIn, writing content, creating customer journeys, and generally being pulled in ten directions. She is also a proud mom to 3 spirited children who keep her continuously on her toes.

“Don’t be fooled – EVERY system needs maintenance.”

Nonprofits are often chronically under-resourced, and thus unable to put in the time, money, and expertise required to optimize their operational systems. The old comic of the guy pushing the square wheel because he doesn’t have time to invent the round one is painfully true for nonprofits everywhere!

Fortunately, we have Adam Kogeman here today from Good Bones Consulting to share his secrets of how nonprofits of any size can evaluate how they do what they do – and find more efficient and effective ways to accomplish the great work we’re all here to do.

Adam Kogeman is co-founder and principal consultant at Good Bones Consulting, an organizational development consultancy which supports purpose-driven organizations to enhance operational systems, processes, and efficiency. Adam is an experienced social sector leader who has overseen programs and operations at prominent nonprofit and social enterprise organizations and has expertise in diverse issue areas including workforce development, homelessness and housing, and refugee resettlement. He is an engaged member of multiple nonprofit boards, including Good Business Colorado, a statewide advocacy group and network of values-driven small business owners.

Khahn Vu immigrated to America as a young child. As he grew up among American friends and worked for American companies, he found himself straddling two worlds - he was expected to act one way at home and another in American society. In his role now as the leader of the Society of Asian Scientists & Engineers, he helps others who find themselves existing across different spaces.

In today's episode, Khahn explores data from the point of view of needing your numbers to know if there are issues – what really is the makeup of your community, your organization vs your leadership? Are there groups getting left behind? You can’t know that unless you look at the numbers. He addresses the resistance to being transparent with these numbers, and that we MUST move beyond that.

Ask yourself: is my team or organization honest and transparent with the data on our people? If so, what story is the numbers in your organization showing? If we aren’t, why not? What would it take for us to open up? Are we collecting that data but sitting on it? Or have we not even begun to collect it? 

Khanh Vu is the CEO of SASE, the Society of Asian Scientists & Engineers, the largest nonprofit of AAPI talent and leadership. Khahn came to America at the tender age of 5 as a war refuge. He has had decades of experience in the non-profit sector. He is also a son, brother, husband and father. Learn more about SASE as www.saseconnect.org and follow Khanh at www.linkedin.com/in/vuqkhanh/.

If you have a website or blog, or produce content for others, you may be wondering how to determine if your content is effectively reaching the right audience. How do you know if your website/blog posts are working? Can you optimize it? 

Listen along this week as we talk to Brian Piper about how to break down this question into manageable parts that allow us to decipher if our content is effective. His first question is what is your goal? While this question sounds logical, there's a lot of nuances to it that can be overwhelming. As he says, "Data without goals are just numbers". Tune in today to hear Brian discuss helpful tips for tracking your content's effectiveness and optimizing it for your intended audience. 

Brian Piper is the Director of Content Strategy and Assessment at the University of Rochester and is also an author, international keynote speaker, and consultant. Brian has been optimizing digital content since 1996. He has created online training programs for hundreds of companies including Xerox, L3Harris, IBM, and Volvo. He has spent the last 8 years focusing on data analytics, digital marketing, and content strategy. Since 2021, he has been diving into Web3, community building, NFTs, social tokens, and is the founder of $PIPER coin. He recently co-authored the second edition of Epic Content Marketing with Joe Pulizzi which releases in March 2023. He is also a contributing author and editor of The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever with Mark Schaefer, which releases in May 2023.

Brian is a volunteer and Board member of the nonprofit Higher Education Web Professionals Association, he is a member of the Ed3DAO, and a mentor for the Content Marketing Institute.

When he's not creating data visualizations, he teaches wingsuit skydiving and spends time with his wife and six children.