donor data Archives | Bee Measure

July 6, 2020 By Erin Cafferty

Anti-Racism in Data Viz’s, Charitable Giving & COVID-19 & Taxing Internet Ads

Anti-Racism in Data Visualizations

“Photos are powerful and important, but so is the data that illustrates the disparities in our country.” As someone who looks to data to find opportunities, make decisions, and see the bigger picture, I came to this same conclusion. This article explains why data visualizations of COVID-19 — but not the Black Lives Matter movement — are so prevalent in our news cycle right now. And data viz designer Amanda Makulec lists 5 questions to ask ourselves when thinking about how we “data people” play can play a key role in the current anti-racism movement.

The Work-from-Home Guide to Filtering Google Analytics

With many organizations working remotely, now is a great time to talk about how to filter your employees out of your Google Analytics. Why is this important? So they don’t skew your stats! Data is only helpful if it’s accurate. And if you’re curious which method to employ since Simo Ahava gave a few, here’s what he suggests: “the URL query parameter solution is simple, because optimally your users only need to do this once per browser.”

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April 17, 2020 By Erin Cafferty

My Favorite Advice & Data Viz of the Month

My Favorite Advice

Getting Specific About Donor Data.

Collecting data about your donors is important. But you know that already! The tough part is always in the implementation. You need to get specific about what data points to track and what each means. This piece from Candid does a great job walking through that logic. I like this article because it keeps things simple, acknowledging that tracking too much data can, as they put it, become a “tidal wave that overwhelms any organization not equipped to handle it.” I suggest paying close attention to donor affinity (giving history, relationship to your cause, political giving) to help you understand a donor’s willingness to give to your organization.

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December 20, 2019 By Erin Cafferty

Google’s Advice for Ads, Drowning in Donor Data & Political Ads Online

My favorite part of December isn’t the decadent food, cheesy Netflix movies or the endless holiday parties (though, I do love all those things). It’s the year-end “best of” lists. This month, however, is not only the end of 2019… it’s the end of an entire decade. That means an abundance of 2010s nostalgia lists.

Everyone from Buzzfeed to The New York Times is pondering how this decade will be remembered (What will we wear to the 2010s theme parties of the future???). Journalists can argue about whether this decade’s key historical contributions were meme culture, smartphones, YouTube or #MeToo. But I feel like a decade’s culture doesn’t quite solidify until well into the next one.

What seems so clearly defined in retrospect is fuzzy and haphazard when you are living through it. But in reading through these lists, one thing *is* clear to me. The digital world is ever-changing. Staying up-to-date with the trends and skills ⁠— from targeted ads to better UX to online privacy ⁠— is both more important and more difficult than ever. For me, writing this newsletter has been an excellent way to keep up, and I hope you all feel the same.

So raise your glass to the end of 2019 and the start of the 2020s! 🥂

From Fake News to Full Transparency

The 2010s can be described as the decade “fake news” became prominent as a buzzword online. Yes, it’s been around for longer than that, but digital media secured its prominence. People are very skeptical these days with so much fake information out there, so it’s important we keep that in mind as we create new digital content and products. Designing for transparency should be our goal in 2020 (and beyond).

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