Learning guide: Excel for non-profit administrators, one day workshop

In theory, non-profits exist to serve causes that would be difficult to make a profit from.

In practice? Well, most do some of that.

But most non-profits also struggle with data in a way unique to their organization. They lack the resources to invest in sophisticated data platforms. They lose top talent who are frustrated by the red tape and low pay.

I’ve worked at a public hospital, so I know how difficult it is to get by on the data resources provided to analysts. Often the only resource is what’s available on your desktop, and that’s usually Excel.

When I searched online for information about Excel at non-profits, a consistent theme was whether Excel should be used in the first place. This is a perennial debate, and one with merit: while a poor craftsman blames his tools, he doesn’t see every problem as a nail for his hammer, either.

I built the below workshop as an introduction for the non-profit administrator to what’s possible in Excel, and what should be done elsewhere. But I also built it to help non-profit administrators stretch Excel to everything it can be.

Consider this outline like a blueprint or recipe. You’re welcome to use it in part or full to support talent development at your organization, or get in touch to partner on delivery.

Download the learning guide here.

Lesson 1: Excel and the non-profit data stack

Objective: Student can identify appropriate use cases for Excel in non-profit data administration

Description:

• What is a spreadsheet and when do you use it?
• Tour of the stack: spreadsheets, databases/data warehouses, business intelligence/dashboard platforms
• Identifying the best tool for given scenarios

Time: 20 minutes

Lesson 2: Data entry

Objective: Student can build integrity checks into data entry process

Description:

• Conditional formatting
• Data validation
• Protected cells & ranges
• Removing duplicates
• Restoring & comparing workbook versions

Time: 45 minutes

Lesson 3: Data cleaning

Objective: Student can build repeatable processes for common data cleaning tasks

Description:

• What is reproducibility?
• Row-wise transformations: sorting, filtering, filling, aggregating
• Column-wise transformations: delimiting, creating calculated fields, cleaning and converting variables

Functions/tools used:

• Power Query

Time: 45 minutes

Lesson 4: Data analysis

Objective: Student can calculate common non-profit data analysis metrics

• Tracking year-over-year performance
• Tracking donor activity: retention, donor level moves, engagement, loyalty
• Tracking efficiency and efficacy: program, fundraising, operational

Functions/tools used:

• Date functions
• PivotTables

Time: 50 minutes

Lesson 5: Data presentation

Objective: Student can create visualizations and reports using principles of information design

• Choosing the right visualization
• Creating on-brand visual assets
• Visualizing geospatial data
• From visualization to dashboard

Functions/tools used:

• Charts
• Power Map

Time: 50 minutes

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