Data Visualization & the Global Public Interest: Tech@State Conference Sept 23-24

Tech@State will host a conference on Data Visualization in the Public Interest on September 23-24. This conference visualization techniques and the innovative ways in which they are--and can be--used to enhance results in development, government, and the social sector in general.

Speakers will include Jaime Fitzgerald from Fitzgerald Analytics as well as an all-star roster headlined by Edward Tufte.

The full agenda is available at tech.state.gov where you can find the most current agenda and speaker bios.

Tech@State connects technologists to the goals of U.S. diplomacy and development through physical and virtual networking events. As part of Secretary Clinton’s 21st Century Statecraft initiative, Tech@State brings together leaders, innovators, government personnel and others to collaborate on 21st century technology solutions to improve the education, health and welfare of the world’s population. Previous Tech@State events have covered the aftermath of the Mobile Money, Open Source and Serious Games.

Quick Nexus Update (in Pictures)

A mentioned earlier this week, Jaime, Naoko, and I are participating in the Nexus Global Youth Summit on Innovative Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship. It’s been a busy, but inspiring, 48 hours! We’ve met lots of interesting and inspiring attendees so far, from a woman running her family’s foundation that feeds poor communities in Malawi, to representatives of well-known NGOs like Amnesty International, to someone who specializes in organizing the toppling of dictatorships…seriously. Here’s just three photos from my experience so far...

Naoko and I at the Met, with the Congo Power Figure

Amazing surprise appearance and talk by
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (you have to squint…)

Conference “survival guide” and
neat microphone in UN meeting room

Thursday is another packed day. This morning's agenda includes the panel Jaime is participating in, Metrics of Philanthropy and Impact. Stay tuned for more highlights!

Where Causal Clarity™ Matters The Most

This week, three members of the Fitzgerald Analytics team are attending, participating, and speaking at The Nexus Global Youth Summit on Innovative Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship in New York City.  We are here due to our enthusiasm for the event's mission, which is to catalyze and empower a next-generation of social entrepreneurs, innovators, and philanthropists in their quest to change the world for the better.

Our lasting firm-wide commitment is to use our specialties and strengths for social sector impact.  Although most of our revenues come from corporate clients, we also help non-profits, social-entrepreneurs, and philanthropists create impact...at heavily discounted rates.  Our work in the "social-sector" is one of the most fulfilling elements of our jobs.

Attending this week will be co-founders Jaime Fitzgerald and Naoko Fitzgerald, as well as Justin Goldbach, an analyst at Fitzgerald Analytics who, among other duties, supports the Aspen Institute's Business & Society Program.

Jaime Fitzgerald will be a panelist speaking on "New Metrics for Philanthropy and Social Impact." Moderated by  Brian Muraresku, an attorney at the Inter-American Development Bank and innovator in the field, it will feature the perspective of four amazing thought-leaders on the topic:  

• Doug Mellinger, the Founder of Foundation Source
• Laura Rawlings, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at the World Bank
• David Pritchard, Head of Measurement and Evaluation Specialist at New Philanthropy Capital
• Jeni Klugman, UNDP, Director of the Human Development Report Office

The event is being hosted by Young Donor Network and Search for Common Ground.

Fitzgerald Analytics to Participate in Innovative Philanthropy Conference

Fitzgerald Analytics co-founders Jaime Fitzgerald and Naoko Fitzgerald,  together with teammate Justin Goldbach, will take part in The Nexus: Global Youth Summit on Innovative Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship, thanks to the invitation of conference organizer, Daniel Karpantschof.  The conference is scheduled for July 26-29 in New York City.

Jaime will join a panel discussion on Metrics of Philanthropy and Impact, where he will share thoughts on how FA’s Analytics Pathway™ methodology, with it's emphasis on clarity of cause and effect, can be applied to improve results in the social sector, just as it has generated millions of dollars in profits for private sector clients of Fitzgerald Analytics.  

Jaime’s co-panelists include:

1. Doug Mellinger, the Founder of Foundation Source
2. Laura Rawlings, , Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at the World Bank.
3. David Pritchard, Head of Measurement and Evaluation at New Philanthropy Capital 
4. Jeni Klugman (UNDP, Director of the Human Development Report Office 
5. The panel will be moderated by Brian Muraresku, an attorney at the Inter-American Development Bank.

Fitzgerald Analytics, a New York City-based firm, helps its clients - from Fortune 1000 companies to data-driven start-ups to international non-profits - achieve extraordinary results by maintaining a clear line-of-site between business objectives and the analytics and data management programs which support them.  The firm has made a long-term commitment to supporting the social sector by applying its tools and expertise to enhance non-profit outcomes.

Justin Goldbach, who recently spoke on the topic of social entrepreneurship at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain, is helping out with pre-conference logistics.

Note:  Laura Rawlings of the World Bank recently published a great book on measurement in the social sector, entitled Impact Evaluation in Practice, which we highly recommend....

Helping in Haiti, Informed Giving, and Maximizing the Impact of Donations

The recent tragedy in Haiti--and the outpouring of well-deserved sympathy and generosity it stimulated--has also highlighted a crucial trend in the non-profit world: the role of information in improving productivity, efficiency, and results.

This is good, as better information about how donations are used should help inspire MORE people to give what they can, confident that they know their hard-earned dollars will be deployed efficiently. But the tools need to be used to get these benefits...

According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, private-sector donations to relief efforts in Haiti were more than $600 Million in the first 3 weeks since the earthquake...it looks like private giving could end up exceeding a billion dollars. And while this is a large and historic surge of giving, Haiti's challenges far exceed the resources available to fully address them.

When results matter--as they surely do at a time like this in Haiti--the tools we use to maximize the positive impact of our resources becomes incredibly important. Efficiency matters. My hope is that whenever possible, donors to charities not only give resources (e.g. dollars), but give them in ways that maximize the results achieved from these resources.

To give as efficiently as possible, we need good information on our options, and the implications of HOW we give. The good news is that today's donors have access to excellent information if they choose to use it....information that can multiply the impact of donor dollars by channeling resources to the most efficient charitable organizations. Several key resources here include:

1. Charity Navigator: the "guide to intelligent giving," this organization rates charities on their organizational efficiency and capacity, using a standard methodology. The CEO of the Charity Navigator, Ken Berger, spoke about the importance of "informed giving" on "The Takeaway" radio show.
2. Impact Your World: The Charity Navigator and CNN have partnered to create this site which features"vetted" organizations with known capabilities for a given natural disaster or humanitarian need
3. The American Institute of Philanthropy is considered especially aggressive in filtering out organizations that may attempt to "game" the ratings systems of other oversight organizations. It has been called the "pit bull of watchdogs" by the New York Times, and "more forensically minded" by Forbes. Their website is at http://www.charitywatch.org
4. GuideStar is also well known for their informed giving toolkit, including their 9-Step Guide to Giving Wisely
   
5. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University has done a lot of research--and offers valuable information for donors--about the factors affecting "return on donations" across a wide range of situations. Their recent conference (in Oct. '09) pointed out that while "disaster giving" is essential and necessary, preparation for disasters BEFORE they occur often yields an even higher benefit per dollar invested.

At Fitzgerald Analytics, we have made a lasting commitment to serving the social sector as well as the private sector with our skills and our passions. We made this commitment because we genuinely believe that good decisions are even more important in the public and social sectors than they are in the private sector. With better decisions--enabled by information--our vision is to maximize the positive results achieved from existing resources, which are always finite.

Using the resources listed above, my team and I at Fitzgerald Analytics chose to make a contribution this month to Partners in Health. We were attracted to their clear business model, their efficiency, and their impressive rating @ Charity Navigator.

Final notes and next steps:

The topic is far more complex than any single blog post: it is important to acknowledge the inherent complexity and challenge of measuring the effectiveness of charitable programs. The social sector is incredibly diverse, and so are the drivers of results, the types of results being pursued, and the tools for measuring outcomes. We look forward to exploring a variety of more detailed topics in future posts, and also to learning more from our allies in the non-profit sector regarding the challenges they face, the nuances they encounter, and the emerging non-profit models they see getting the most traction towards the results donors so generously seek to enable.

Please share your insights: Please do get in touch so that we can "thought-partner" and collaborate further on this essential but complex topic.

- Jaime Fitzgerald