How pooling our data can build our collective intelligence

Ways to have your cake and eat it!

Overview
What is comparative & collective data good for? Common Data Traps What benefits are accruing to those who DO benchmark? How will we do this within re.volution? What other sources of data can I make use of? A few tips for making best use of these data sources How will we get going with the collective data work? Buddy system

What is comparative & collective data good for?

Internal goal setting: Seeing where you are strong (vs. your peers) Seeing what needs improvement Diversifying income and/or managing cost Setting targets that are more than plus a bit/minus a bit To stakeholders, funders etc: Stronger funding applications Galvanizing Volunteers & Members Communicating your achievements

What is comparative & collective data good for?

With trade bodies and professional organisations: Identifying areas where support or development is required Monitoring trends and the impact of sector development activities

For the non-profit culture sector as a whole: Communication of the overall contribution to GDP (or it would be if we had a total for the turnover of the sector) Lobbying to the Treasury by DCMS and others

Common Data Traps

Lack of data on peers Lack of data that is sliced by region, sector, size, role in ecosystem Focus only on the best practice of the large organisations and expecting this to be relevant to small & non-venue based organisations Filling in surveys but not holding the survey owners accountable for the usefulness of results reporting Too long a delay between survey completion and results publication/access Using above as excuses to not bother comparing progress and over reliance on qualitative arguments

What benefits are accruing to those who DO benchmark?

Pragmatic and realistic goal setting for new areas of income development e.g. donations & sponsorship Greater clarity on how a business model may change as an organisation grows e.g. changes from <200k to 750k to 2m More detailed understanding of how the best in class achieve their successes Succinct summary of greatest weaknesses and risks Development of key comparison points for their organisation so that staff and board can track these regularly Greater visibility with and respect from funders Seen as leaders who are using all the resources available to them to continue to develop their organisation in a tough climate e.g. Common Practice

How will we do this within re.volution?

MMM have partnered with MyCake to:
Collect, analyse and report on data for the re.volution programme using the MyCake benchmark tools Offer 50 re.volution peers 6 months of free access to the Culture Benchmark so you have access to results immediately Provide support for learning to use MyCake to both upload data and interpret individual results

in addition
MyCake is planning a series of seminars around England to get people benchmarking MyCake will set you up not just with access to the benchmark group for MMM but also to access to relevant sector clusters Even if you dont continue as a paid subscriber once the 6 months is up you will continue to have access to the RFO/NPO benchmark and the Charity Benchmark

What other (collective) data can I make use of ?

Data Source Arts & Business National Campaign for the Arts Charity Commission Use Comparison of private giving details by region, size of organisation and art form National headlines on approx. 20 key indicators Report & accounts information on thousands of arts non-profits

ACE RFO statistics (or the equivalent for Scotland, NI and Wales)
Audiences UK pilot reports results Trade body annual reports and survey results

Headlines for financial, governance and audience comparisons but mostly national totals not per organisation stats
Key findings from the 2009-10 work Sector specific reports on key issues, trends and progress

A few tips for making best use of these sources:

Think of the key types of comparison that would be most useful to you e.g. by turnover, venue/non-venue, art form, location etc Decide whether any of these are mutually exclusive (if so youll need more than one comparison group) Come up with a list of the best sources for information on these topics or companies Come up with a list of key organisations to compare yourself to Pull together the data on these topics and organisations into a single spreadsheet . If you dont then the different definitions and layout of the information will hinder analysis Report on the findings to your staff and Board at least once a year, quarterly if the data changes more frequently or is a live issue.

How will we get going with the re.volution data work?

The MyCake team will call all the peers individually to offer a short phone training session or webinar teaching you how to enter data We will also publicise the dates for the series of seminars (half a day each) Once we have data coming in (soon we hope!) then well also arrange webinars etc to help you analyse your individual results Once we have a strong data set well analyse the aggregate set and start discussing the major findings before publishing a report The goal is to give you short term benefits on an individual organisation basis as well as long term development for the sector

Buddy system
Another idea

Review the best in class performance

Email MyCake asking if the Top 2 or 3 performers would be prepared to share how they do it.

If Yes, MyCake sets up the direct contact and helps facilitate the conversation