Data Management Best Practices Series

The Data Management Best Practices series is professional development opportunity for nonprofit organizations to learn why a data-driven approach to program design and outreach is key to successful program implementation and grant-seeking, management and compliance. This series will present best practices for the organizational and programmatic levels to bolster capacity in grant seeking and management efforts. Interested nonprofits will hear from Loudoun County staff, peer organizations, and other data professionals throughout the series.

Nonprofits will learn to:

  • Build capacity to collect, manage, and present data for grant seeking, management and compliance.
  • Build capacity to utilize data for more effective storytelling.
  • Improve access to data relevant to their organizations as part of their grant seeking and management efforts.

Schedule and Registration

Course Title Training Type Date  Time Location Registration
Data 101: Data Required for Grant Seeking and Management Informational April 11, 2023
 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Virtual Register Here
Census Training: Making Sense of the American Community Survey Interactive Presentation April 13, 2023
 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Virtual Register Here
Data 102: Data Collection and Confidentiality Best Practices

Panel Discussion April  20, 2023 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Virtual Register Here
Data and Grant-seeking: Exploring Loudoun County Data Informational April 24, 2023 10 a.m -12 p.m. Virtual Register Here
BYOD: “Bring Your Own Data” Workshop

Technical Assistance Workshop May 4, 2023 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Loudoun County Govt. Center Register Here
Crafting a Data Management Plan

Technical Assistance Workshop May 18, 2023 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Loudoun County Govt. Center Register Here

Note: The virtual sessions can accommodate registrations up to the day of the training. The deadline for the May 4 in-person training is May 3; the deadline for the May 18 in-person training is May 17; however, if the capacity limit is reached before those dates, registrants will be placed on a waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis.

Course Descriptions

Data 101: Data Required for Grant Seeking and Management

join us for an informational presentation about data needed in grant applications. Explore data used to determine community need, program evaluation best practices and supporting work with evidence-based research. Learn how to tell your organization's story and back it up with data to make a compelling case for funding support. Participants are encouraged to send in their organization’s goals and objectives as well as raw data sets and survey tools to assist in shaping the workshops that occur later in series. This session is a foundation to the Data Management Best Practices series.

Making Sense of the American Community Survey

Join us for an  interactive presentation from Data Dissemination Specialist Stacie Cochran-McNeal of the U.S. Census Bureau. Learn about Census Bureau basics, how data from the American Community Survey (ACS) is collected, as well as how you can access and utilize it for your both your grant-seeking and data administration. Understanding your clientele's need is essential for program development and grant seeking and Census Bureau tools can assist you. Participants are encouraged to follow along and participate in data exercises! This presentation will cover:

  • Background information about census tools and the ACS, its methodology, geographies, data sets and topics.
  • How to use data.census.gov, the narrative profiles and other resources to access social, economic, housing and demographic data available down to the neighborhood level (tract and block group).
  • Uses and limitations of the ACS data sets.

Data 102: Data Collection and Confidentiality Best Practices 

Participate in this Data 102 presentation and panel discussion to learn from peer organizations and Loudoun County about how to build a data collection system allowing for flexibility and adaptations. The aim of the training is to prepare organizations to build versatile data sets so they can adequately respond to changing needs and varied funder requirements. The training will open with a data collection best practices presentation. Following the presentation, a panel of nonprofit leaders will share their processes to efficiently collect substantive data while adhering to the needs of fast-paced programmatic work. Panelists will also discuss how they balance client confidentiality while capturing data to both demonstrate community need and program effectiveness. Learn quick tips, view concrete examples, and delve into privacy policies with your peers. Participants are encouraged to send in their organization’s goals and objectives, survey tools, and raw data sets to assist in shaping the workshops which occur later in series.

Data and Grant Seeking: Exploring Loudoun County Data

Attend this informational presentation to gain an understanding of where to access data relevant to Loudoun County nonprofit organizations in their grant seeking efforts. Loudoun County has prepared a Nonprofit Data Toolkit, which will be reviewed during the presentation. The toolkit includes relevant data sets from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Loudoun County office of Mapping and Geographic Information as well as education, budget and community data and environmental and equity data. Participants will also explore evidence-based research.

BYOD: “Bring Your Own Data” Workshop

Join us for a technical assistance workshop where you "BYOD" or bring your organization’s program evaluation and community engagement data. Led by Loudoun County Program Evaluation and Research Manager Megan Cox, the workshop will give participants a hands-on, interactive opportunity to share how their organization measures success and workshop their organization’s data. Together, participants will investigate how they ask questions of clientele and explore other opportunities to expand their data set to better tell their organization’s story in potential grant applications. Please note, program descriptions, goals and objectives, data collection tools, and raw data files should be shared two weeks prior to the event to be utilized as an example in the workshop. 

Data Workshop 2: Crafting a Data Management Plan

Join Loudoun County for this brown bag lunch/technical assistance workshop to build your organization’s data management plan. Participants will explore sample evaluation plans utilized in grant proposals to build upon their organization’s current data collection and evaluation methodologies. Participants will also delve into logic models and have time to create their own data management plan onsite. This workshop is sequential to the “Bring Your Own Data” workshop but can be attended as a stand-alone workshop.

Stay Informed 

Loudoun County has established a subscription service to provide information of interest to local nonprofit organizations, including county grant and professional development opportunities. Individuals can sign up to receive email or text updates.

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