With the ever-increasing emphasis on data, its collection, and its many applications, many nonprofits are wondering where they can find useful data sets without spending a fortune. Nonprofits often fall under the misconception that Big Data has to cost Big Bucks for expensive database subscriptions or hiring data analysts. 

Note from Beth Kanter:   I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of Data Driven Nonprofits by Steve Maclaughlin (launching today, Sept. 6th) and so data and nonprofits has been on my brain.  So when colleague, Cheryl Contee reached out an idea for this post, I could not resist!  Speaking of books, you can pre-order my next book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout due out in October.

Guest Post by Cheryl Contee

How will data affect charity and activism in 2016? This week, we look at The Guardian’s article where experts share their thoughts on what this year will hold for the growth of open data.

Across the world, countries are expanding their use and distribution of data for others to access. Last year, the EU, China, and Taiwan announced various accomplishments and goals for the use of open data by the civic groups, businesses, and governments who need to analyze it. Five of the world’s experts on open data shared their thoughts on what is to come with the expansion of access to this knowledge.

Jake Porway from DataKind and Neal Myrick from the Tableau Foundation talk about their work with change-makers, to develop new ways for organizations at every level to inform their efforts through data.

Most nonprofits aren’t blessed with their own in-house design teams. Resources are tight, so when it’s time to create an infographic for a report or a chart for your website, the task often falls on someone who isn’t trained in design.

If you’re that person, the task can be daunting. And the results aren’t always pretty.

As the co-founder of a design firm that works with nonprofits, I’ve seen a lot of do-it-yourself information design projects that could have been improved if they had only aimed to avoid making 1 or more of the 4 most common mistakes:

MISTAKE 1: INFORMATION OVERLOAD

When you’re tasked with designing an infographic or other data visualization, you should aim to organize your presentation around one main point — often something that is interesting or surprising.

You then build your piece around showing that key point and support that point with no more than 2 or 3 sidebars that provide context or related information.

Often, however, those who are charged with creating infographics try to present way too much information.

If you’ve ever tried to navigate a long, scrolling infographic online like this one, you can see what happens when the designer succumbs to information overload. In this treatment, there is simply too much information, and the information is not organized or presented in a way that helps the reader understand its key points.

When a piece has no central insight and/or tons of equally weighted sidebars, many readers will simply tune out.

Contrast that long, scrolling infographic with this one, which is organized around a central idea and is supported by 3 clear sections.

MISTAKE 2: SKEWED REPRESENTATIONS

We are so familiar with pie and bar charts, that we sometimes forget that these charts are supposed to be used to accurately and precisely represent information.

When we decorate or alter these graphs and charts, we can skew the presentation of the data they represent.

For example, when we create a pie or bar chart in 3D, it alters the data behind the graph. By introducing depth, we exaggerate the differences between values. A 3D bar chart, like the ones below, forces the viewer to compare volumes when the data is actually being measured by height.

Even a treatment such as the one to the left, which is more visually pleasing than a flat chart, distorts the information.

MISTAKE 3: INFORMATION STARVATION

While many infographics have far too much information, there are almost an equal number that convey almost no data but take up a lot of space.

Common Problems with Infographics

This often happens when the creators forget to ask themselves if they really needed an infographic in the first place.

When you create an infographic, if a chart – or even a sentence – would tell the story more effectively, you wind up with a lot of noise and almost no useful information.

By trying to be cute, this piece uses a lot of real estate to do what a few vertical lines or even a sentence would have done much better.

MISTAKE 4: INFORMATION COMES LAST

Infographics should be thoughtful in the presentation of data. While it’s understandable that people want to liven these pieces up to grab attention, flash shouldn’t come at the cost of making the information easily accessible.

This piece, for example, organizes the carbon footprints of various countries to make the shape of a foot. While the designers surely felt that was an important tie into to the idea of a footprint, the presentation makes it difficult for viewers to understand the data it is trying to convey.

Viewers would be able to make far more interesting observations of the data if it were organized in a number of other ways such as by physical geography, size, or growth rates.

The preceding post originally appeared on the Social Media for Nonprofits blog, click here to read. About the author: Matthew Scharpnick is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Elefint Designs, a strategic design studio that works with good causes. Combining strategy with design, Elefint helps nonprofits, NGOs and other social sector organizations tell compelling stories and achieve greater impact. Matthew specializes in branding, design strategy, storytelling, and data visualization.

Twice a year, every year, we at GrantStation survey individuals associated with grant seeking in nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, government entities, and independent grant-writing shops, to quantify early trends in the world of funding. The most recent data reflects activity from July to December 2014, and the resulting reports, and the benchmarks contained within, can assist you as you navigate the increasingly bumpy waters of grant seeking.

So much is written every month in various nonprofit publications and blog posts regarding the insights and best practices revolving around fundraising. Virtually all of them are truly insightful and can lead to greater successes.

For Brian Lange from Datascope Analytics, there’s never been more opportunity for nonprofits and foundations to adopt evidence-based practices in their work.

Information is the first step in the long process of decision making, regardless of the industry you activate in. Small businesses, enterprises, universities and nonprofits all use data to measure success and set key performance indicators (KPIs). But where once Big Data stood king, professionals are slowly turning towards Smart Data. In fact, Smart Data tops Google’s top marketing predictions for 2015. This is because it enables organizations to make better decisions for their future.