Original subtitles

Recently, you've been learning about how

businesses use data to guide decision-making,

answer questions, and solve problems.

In this video, we'll investigate how nonprofits to

use data analysis to pursue their unique goals.

Nonprofit groups are created to further

a social cause or provide benefit to the public.

As the name suggests,

their main purpose is not about profit,

but to foster a collective,

public or social advantage.

There are some very rewarding and inspiring opportunities

for data professionals in the nonprofit sector.

In particular, data can be

applied in order to help these groups

more effectively anticipate and

respond to the greatest areas of need.

For instance, maybe a US charity that provides

bicycles for children would like to

determine which neighborhoods are most in need.

They could ask their data professional to

access the US Census Bureau.

The professional would use

their talents to navigate the census database,

identify key metrics, and summarize

findings with analysis and data visualizations.

This report would highlight

where there are larger numbers of

school-age children in need who would

benefit from the resources of this program.

There you go, data insights lead to inform

decisions about where this nonprofit

can do the most good.

Now, nonprofits do more than use data.

Many of them also collect it.

As you likely know,

public entities and government agencies can

be excellent resources for useful data.

Much of it is open data that's available for general use.

As you likely know, open data

is data that is available to the public.

It's free to use, and guidance is provided to help

navigate the data sets and acknowledge the source.

While sourcing Open Data is

a good way to interact with data on your own.

There are other opportunities that enable

you to refine your skills while helping others.

Data volunteers contribute to many projects that help

nonprofits benefit communities all over the world.

To find out more, here are

some organizations to check out.

First, the Data Science for Social Good foundation was

launched at the University of Chicago back in 2013.

In 2020, they joined forces with UNICEF to analyze

various aspects of air pollution

around the world to help monitor children's health.

DataKind launched in 2011 in

New York City with chapters and the United Kingdom,

Bengaluru, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington DC.

This organization analyzes the cost

of environmental cleanup in

different underserved communities

to guide restorative efforts.

You can view both foundations lays

efforts through the links

and the transcript for this video.

Another option for putting

your data skills to good use are hackathons.

A hackathon is an event where data professionals and

programmers come together and

collaborate on a particular project.

The goal is to create a solution to

an existing problem using technology.

Some examples include developing

better tools for predicting extreme weather events,

creating tech to help

elementary school kids learn important reading skills,

and identifying ways that

community development groups can use

their data to advance

home accessibility and affordability.

Volunteering your data skills to

public projects is an excellent way to

contribute to the greater good while gaining

experience and networking with others in your field.

Coming up, we'll take a deeper look at some data

oriented projects in the public sector and

how they're making an impact around the world.