Harness Data to Tell Stories Donors Remember
Resources to help you gather the right data, analyze it well, and show impact in powerful, easy-to-digest ways.
July 9, 2026 | Read Time: 1 minute
Nonprofit leaders sit on a wealth of program data: surveys, outcomes, reach, dollars well spent. But too often, data shared with donors and board members lands with a thud. Reports filled with dense tables and walls of text document the work, but they don’t inspire.
A well-designed chart or a single striking number can do more to convey impact than pages of narrative — if it’s designed to capture attention and clearly shows real change.
“We have about a three-second window to grab somebody’s attention,” says Stephanie Evergreen, CEO of Evergreen Data and a data-visualization expert. “We have to hook people because there’s so much out there competing for people’s attention that we have to cut through that noise.”
Here is a roundup of resources to help you collect the right data, analyze it well, and show impact in powerful and easily digestible ways.
Editor’s note: Chronicle playbooks are updated on an ongoing basis as new advice becomes available.
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