What's in Your Data Ecosystem?

Our friends at NTEN have launched a survey to examine nonprofits' data ecosystems. Your first question is probably "what is a data ecosystem?" NTEN describes it as follows:

The nonprofit ecosystem is a way of thinking about how data is shared by and flows across the different departments and activities in your organization. Similar to the interconnectedness in natural ecosystems (for example: marsh, birds, plants), we think of the data ecosystem as the interconnectedness of software tools and the data they hold. Thus, in a well functioning data ecosystem, tools are connected so that the information gathered from online donations, for example, is easily commingled with the information gathered from an event which is commingled with the information collected about other supporters. In a poorly functioning data ecosystem, each pool of data stands alone with little or no interconnectedness.

This survey aims to better understand the nonprofit software ecosystem and how satisfied nonprofits are with their data ecosystems.

They say the survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. The results will help you and your fellow nonprofit staff understand the array of systems nonprofits are using and how well they're working.

Ready? You can take the survey at http://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1MMwPetPVBlsMCw&SVID=Prod

Photo: Kevin S. Barrow