Dashboard models and managing apps for NGOs

March 06, 2020 12:00 AM

Data is never-ending. One can only imagine the boundless possibilities that can be achieved through raw data. Understanding the right set of tools for operations and management of NGOs can extensively reduce the cost, resources and time available with the NGO and help in collecting data in an organised manner.

Dashboards and CRMs work on this front and help in tighter management of operations and workload allocations. Dashboards help in the formulation of a framework that aids in understanding data in a more accessible and meaningful manner.

The purpose of Dashboards lies in the focus of an organization. Digital Dashboards help in monitoring statistics and numbers in evaluating and understanding the performance of each department in an organization. It also assists in facilitating specific data points that help in setting strategies and achieving organizational goals.

Dashboards concentrate on the Key Performance Index (KPIs) and identify points to be worked on in those metrics. KPIs talk about the specific proxies that need to be improved upon to attain the desired organizational outcomes.

Here are some dashboards that nonprofits could benefit from:

Strategic or business intelligence dashboards - These dashboards focus on the KPIs of internal management and the organization altogether. Strategic Dashboards track the performance of an organization at either quarterly, half-yearly or annual pace and update the stakeholders and board about any new developments of the organization. NGOs can use these dashboards for board meetings and public reports. It can be useful in the following ways:
- Project-based developments - NGO can create these dashboards to assess their KPIs, inputs and outputs of a specific program or a project. These can include the groundwork as well as the digital impact of a project. The dashboards identify the different indicators that help in the project. Also, various qualitative and quantitative factors that help/need to be present in the project to improve future outcomes. Project-based dashboards can assist the board members, teams and departments to assess and improve on the crucial components of the project in the future.
- Annual Reports - Annual Reports show the complete picture of the organization in the current year. Right from their impact to their future goals, the annual reports document the various activities, finances, operations that resonate with the vision and mission of the organization. It also assures stakeholders and the public about the organizations' achievements and projects done in the current year.

Operations/Performance Dashboards - These dashboards keep up the movement and actions running in the organization. They're responsible for reaching the weekly/monthly targets set by the organization. Accountability Dashboards keep a complete track on the finances, performances and operations of the management and its resources.
- Sales and Finances Dashboard - These dashboards keep the accountability of the cash flow of incoming, outgoing transactions from volunteers, donors and other people involved in the organization. It also helps in providing a visualization of the organization's budget and fiscal narrative to the complete team. From a CSR point of view, financial dashboards help in reviewing the organization's transactions, breakdown of revenue per expense sources, ROI, efficiency metrics etc. Non-profits use sales dashboards to gain insights and information on sales trends, projection leads and revenue and its audience insights.
- Donor Fundraising and Volunteer Dashboard - Keeping check of donor data for future purposes as well as forging network connections is critical. It helps the organization in the breakdown of revenue per expense sources, ROI, marketing management etc. It can be beneficial for devising new donor retention strategy/ fundraising strategy. A volunteer dashboard helps in visualizing the activities and impact of volunteers on different projects. It also serves as a motivation and aiding tool in identifying the scope of improvement in different areas. (Works on hours spent by a volunteer, retention of volunteers, total no of volunteers, events attendee etc.)
Analytical Dashboard - Analytical Dashboards helps in visualizing and presenting a clear picture of the web-based activities and processes of the organization. It indicates a complete performance chart on how the organization is performing on the internet, for the general audience. It allows users to identify and explore segments, manipulate filters, and search for insights. It serves as a foundation for digital marketing experts to work and improve the results of the NGO on the internet as well as improve traffic, bounce rates and organic results on the website.

Below we have listed some tools that can be used for creating dashboards -