Hi there,
It’s fair to say that 2020 has not been what we expected, and this year is shaping up to be one of the most challenging many of us may ever experience. We hope you’re staying safe and well, and we send our thoughts to those who are doing it tough.
In this edition, we recap on some of the events and projects we worked on over the last few months including two data hacks and an interactive data viz. We also reflect on our work to build the data capabilities of the Australian not-for-profit sector. That’s not it, though. Continue reading for more.
What we've been up to
Datathon for Social Good Melbourne
In February, we hosted Melbourne’s first Datathon for Social Good, solving a real-world data problem for a not-for-profit organisation. The Datathon attracted a diverse range of people working in data, with a whopping 72% of participants identifying as female.
Dr Sonja Hood, CEO of Community Hubs Australia (CHA), said that the “success of the weekend floored me.”
We’re excited to showcase the results of the Datathon when teams have submitted projects. Stay tuned for updates.
Data-driven fundraising
Not-for-profits have nothing to fear and everything to gain from data science, but they need to be clear about what they want from it before embarking on any data project, according to community fundraising manager of environment group Climate for Change (C4C), Marta Zajac.
The group gleaned these insights and more at a data hack day hosted in late 2019, exploring the potential of data-driven fundraising.
Not-for-Profit Governance Roadmap
The Institute of Community Directors Australia (ICDA) has commissioned a survey of 1878 senior not-for-profit sector leaders to identify trends or challenges faced by their organisation, and they’ve released the results in Rethink what you know about not-for-profit governance: Not-for-Profit Governance Roadmap. Innovation Lab data scientist Dr Paola Oliva-Altamirano crunched the data and created a cool interactive data viz.
Building not-for-profit data capability
How do we achieve data capability success in the social sector? We often instruct not-for-profit organisations to start small by selecting the simplest task – the lowest-hanging fruit – when commencing data projects.
In these two articles, Our Community data scientist Dr Nathan Mifsud summarises the activities undertaken in 2019 to build not-for-profit data capability. Dr Mifsud writes that the success of any data project starts with healthy ‘roots’, and that having good data capability and the right infrastructure and governance in place are just as important as having good data.
CLASSIEfier: From scikit-learn to SageMaker
To track the flow of funding to and within the Australian social sector Our Community developed CLASSIE as a universal classification system for Australian social sector initiatives. Now, we’re developing a machine learning algorithm called CLASSIEfier to reduce the need for manual classification.
Dr Paola Oliva-Altamirano has experimented with different model training and deployment options and shares what she has discovered along the way.
Good Tech Fest 2020
In response to the pandemic, Good Tech Fest is going virtual! Sarah, Paola and Nathan will join speakers from USA and the world sharing our knowledge about social sector tech. Register now for Early Bird prices and use code 50OFF for a further $50 discount.
What we’ve been reading, listening to and watching
- Article: Can you make AI fairer than a judge? Play our courtroom algorithm game
- Tool: Social Impact Toolbox
- Course: Power BI for Social Impact Measurement & Reporting
- Podcast: Humans of Purpose, episode 148, Ellen Broad: AI Ethics
- Report: Foundation Horizon Scan: Taking the long view
- Web: Beautiful News, Best Data Visualization Projects of 2019
Volunteering in response to COVID-19
- Not-for-profits: Our friends at RHoK are here to help
- Talented people: COVID-19 projects looking for volunteers
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Our Community House
552 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, VIC 3051
The Our Community Innovation Lab receives support from Equity Trustees, with thanks to the Ella & Mitchell Brazier Fund, Charles Lamond Forrest Estate, James Raymond Hartley Charitable Trust, Charles Frederick William Taylor Estate and Truby & Florence Williams Charitable Trust.
