Most charities talk a good game about sharing data across the sector. After all, it makes perfect sense to learn from one another and to break down those age-old silos between charities working on related causes (and sometimes even with the same people). People who rely on charities can only benefit as a result.
But let’s be honest, it is very tough in practice. The incentives for charities to share data are just too weak.
When organisations are competing for funding, fellow charities can resemble rivals as much as peers, so the idea of sharing information with the very people you’ll end up bidding against for work can feel daft. Even for charities which overcome this nervousness, data-sharing can look pretty cumbersome. It’s difficult to be sure what information, among everything you hold, is going to be useful to another organisation. Find a way to answer this question and you still need to identify a platform for sharing the data, and learn how to use it.
The barriers are substantial. This is why we at New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) have teamed-up with the NSPCC and tech partner Hactar to pilot a different way of working, to test what sort of system will encourage evidence-sharing.
SupportShare is a platform which offers a deal to the thousands of UK charities working with abused children. The bolder any charity is in sharing its data, the more they will learn from others. Organisations can access the data of everyone else who has joined-up — but only when they join-up and start sharing themselves.
The process begins with baby steps, like entering basic details of what an organisation does and how to get in touch, and then invites charities to make available more important information, firstly on outputs and then on to outcomes. As a charity enters more of its own data, so they gain access to more and more of the information shared by others.
Here’s why we think it matters so much.
1 Charities can learn what works—and what doesn’t
The voluntary sector brings huge benefits to society, through the passion, expertise and commitment of its staff and volunteers. But this on its own isn’t enough. It is essential that a drive to do good is coupled with projects which are known to be effective and make a lasting impact.
And this is where sharing data is so important. It means charities can look for answers to key questions before setting out on new programmes. Has this been tried before, and if so how successful was it? Is some other organisation already doing a really good job on this, and if so should charities be pooling resources with them rather than starting up whole new projects?
2 It prevents expensive mistakes
Even large charities are worrying about their balance sheets; for small charities, the financial squeeze has been the reality for a long while. They can’t afford to resource major work which actually achieves little for their beneficiaries, at the expense of extending help that their beneficiaries need more.
A bit of outcome data, shared by a charity working on similar goals, can go a long way. At the very least, charities will set out knowing which bumps in the road may lie ahead, and start planning accordingly.
3 A collective voice is stronger
With the government moving to restrict how charities lobby government, the value of a strong, collective voice is more obvious than ever. As NPC has argued before, charities have enjoyed the greatest recent successes shifting government policy when organisations united behind a single cause and armed themselves with robust data to support their argument.
This remains a sensible, effective way to try and shift official policy, but it will be much harder if charities don’t share the evidence they hold. Ministers have spent years listening to economic and moral arguments against this or that policy, and success is much more likely to result from charities teaming-up, their evidence at the ready.
4 It makes robust data the norm
Charities committed to collecting and sharing data know they are in a long game.
Initiatives like SupportShare are about building up a network of charities who can start reaping the benefits of data-sharing and spread the word about its benefits. NPC’s longer-term vision, of a voluntary sector where collecting and using robust data is a guiding part of what charities do every day, is a way off, but this is one important test of how this could work.
Ultimately, data-sharing is about making charities even better at helping people. Their beneficiaries would expect nothing else.
Visit supportshare.org to find out more or to register your organisation.
Content on this page is produced and controlled by the NSPCC, sponsor of the Guardian Social Care Network practice hub.
