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Data management
A self-assessment on data management for small and medium non-profit organisations, and a book to learn how to measure indicators, compare groups and isolate the real impact of your work.
Discover your profile across the 7 dimensions of the Non-profit Data Wheel.
Free, self-guided, and you can fill it in with several people on your team. Rather talk it through? Start a conversation
Guidati dai dati: tools and resources for the social economy.
Paolo Palmerini · Pendragon · 2026 · in Italian
Why now
Why talk about data, and why now?
Every day, non-profit organisations collect valuable information: the people they meet, the activities they run, what changes in the lives of those they support. Too often, though, that data ends up in a file filled in for the donor, and stays there.
What managing data means
It does not mean buying complex software or hiring an analyst. It means knowing what to collect and why, keeping it tidy and safe, finding it when you need it, and using it to see whether your work is working. You almost always start from what you already have.
Why it matters
Data is how an organisation tells the value of what it does. When it is fragmented, every report becomes a race against time; when it is looked after, it becomes an advantage with funders, with partners and in the trust of the people you serve.
How it can change your work
- Planning that starts from the results of previous years.
- A report prepared in hours, not weeks.
- Decisions based on what really works.
- Work that stays even when someone leaves.
More time for the mission.
Why a questionnaire
Every organisation has different resources and priorities. Before proposing solutions, you need an honest, judgement-free picture of where you are starting from.
The work behind it
Building on the DAMA-DMBOK framework and a review of the leading international models of data governance and data maturity, we have developed a Wheel of ONPs consisting of seven dimensions and use language that is accessible to small and medium-sized ONPs.
Why a book?
We live in the digital age, yet the potential of data often goes unexplored in the social economy. "Guidati dai dati" sets out to close that gap, with a step-by-step path for bringing data analysis into the everyday work of a non-profit.
The seven dimensions
The Non-profit Data Wheel
Seven dimensions that together describe how an organisation collects, manages and uses its data. None counts more than the others: balance is what makes the difference.
Processes
Do you measure only what you do, or also the change you make?
Clear indicators, updated regularly and designed for you, not just for donors. That is how you move from counting activities to seeing impact.
Vision
Does technology serve your mission, or the other way round?
Choosing tools from real needs, knowing their limits, and investing in your organisation over time, beyond the single project.
Skills
Can your team turn numbers into decisions and stories?
Using the software is not enough: what counts is reading the data, interpreting it and communicating it to the people who support your work.
Data architecture
Do your tools talk to each other, or does every piece of data live in its own file?
When information is scattered across spreadsheets and systems, finding it costs time. Connected tools make data available when you need it.
Quality and security
Is your data reliable and protected in practice, not just on paper?
Clean, checked, traceable data. Beneficiaries' privacy treated as a form of respect, not only as GDPR compliance.
Leadership
Who leads the decisions on data, and what would remain if they left tomorrow?
A clear point person, with time and a mandate, and knowledge shared across the team, so the work done does not depend on a single person.
Data culture
Is data an extra burden, or a tool to help people better?
When the team sees what data is for, collecting it becomes part of the job. And mistakes become chances to learn.
Further reading
Guidati dai dati: tools and resources for the social economy
A step-by-step path for bringing data analysis into the everyday work of a non-profit.
The book (in Italian) guides people working in the social economy, from front-line staff to those in leadership roles, through the whole life cycle of data: from collecting good-quality information and handling it ethically and in line with GDPR, to exploratory analysis, visualisation and the basics of inferential statistics.
What you will learn
- Collecting and managing data ethically and with respect for privacy.
- Preparing, exploring and visualising a dataset.
- Measuring indicators, comparing groups and isolating the real impact of your work, with concrete cases such as evaluating an education project or a fundraising campaign.
Paolo Palmerini · Pendragon · 2026