Our blog
Posted on
May 8, 2024
The Nonprofit Case for Data Warehouses
In the digital age, data is the lifeblood of every organization, including nonprofits. Yet, many find themselves grappling with dispersed data sources stored across various systems, hindering their ability to harness insights effectively. This is where the concept of a data warehouse steps in...
What is a Data Warehouse and is it the right option for your organization?
Posted on
April 18, 2024
Sustaining Data Governance: The Crucial Role of Tools and Technology
Posted on
March 15, 2024
Tools and Technology in the Execute and Build Phase
Posted on
February 16, 2024
Posted on
July 6, 2020
5 Mistakes That Kill Survey Data (and How to Avoid Them)
Whether you are getting feedback from program participants, members, donors or other stakeholders, an online survey can be the easiest and most efficient way to do it. Of course, online surveys are not a one size fits all solution for collecting data to answer your burning questions, but they can be a cost effective method to gather certain data for your organization. No matter your field or audience, you have to follow some best practices if you want to make use of your data.
Posted on
June 29, 2020
Give Us Your Tired
Nonprofits are in survival mode. You work every weekend, you give everything to your clients and leave nothing for yourself, you can’t give anymore and yet it’s not enough. Systems don’t work, the team is unhappy, and the community isn’t sure we’ll be there when they need us. There’s never enough time or money to fix it, so we just hold on until tomorrow.
Posted on
June 22, 2020
Ask These 5 Questions Before Changing Databases
You want data at your fingertips, when you need it, in the right format. Who doesnt? But often when you go to get reports, the data is siloed and you cant bring it together, or some of its missing, or its not accurate, or you dont know what to make of it. Maybe you think technology is the answer. Its understandable. Machine learning. Artificial intelligence. Big data. There is all this amazing technology out there that can make cleaning, analyzing and reporting on data so much easier.
Posted on
June 15, 2020
What is Sketchnoting and Why Should You Try It?
Tired and unfocused during long meetings? Im going to help you with that. Last week, I had a seven hour Zoom conference call, with about 20 people in it. (I know. I know.) It was necessary, and all parties were actively engaged, and needed to be. This was an authors retreat for a large research project, where Inciter is serving as the data visualization team. It was important that I stay engaged, not space out, and listen to the findings, the nuances, the decisions people were making.
Posted on
June 8, 2020
Data Cleaning in Excel 101, Part 8: Final Summary & Data Cleaning Guide
This is the eighth and final post in our Data Cleaning in Excel blog post series. As the series comes to a close, wed like to take an opportunity to organize and recap material weve covered. Well review some of the useful Excel functions weve used, and provide some guidance for incorporating the techniques into your data cleaning routine. Every dataset has its own issues. Our posts in this series have been written to address ad-hoc common problems.
Posted on
June 2, 2020
Data Cleaning in Excel 101, Part 7: Managing Blank Cells
In this part of our data cleaning series, well be focusing on managing blank cells. There isnt a singular approach to handling blank cells in your dataset. Because there are numerous reasons why a cell might be blank, context is key when determining how to fill them. Sometimes, youll need to fill every blank cell in your data with the same constant. Other times, youll pick up clues as to what should be there from the surrounding data.
Posted on
May 27, 2020
Data Cleaning in Excel 101, Part 6: How to Remove Duplicates
In this part of our data cleaning series, well help you find and remove duplicate entries in Excel. Repeats are a very common data entry mistake or error from a data pull. Duplicates in your data can create a variety of unfortunate consequences in administrative duties and analysis. Worst of all, they lead to a real misrepresentation of your results. This is Part 6 in our Data Cleaning in Excel 101 series.
Posted on
May 18, 2020
Data Cleaning in Excel 101, Part 5: Numbers That Don't Act Like Numbers and Leading Zeros
Ever try to do a calculation with numbers in Excel and get an error or the numbers don’t seem to be adding up? Ever fight with ZIP code formatting? Below you can find some methods of dealing with numbers that just aren’t acting like numbers. Well also review some instances in which youll actually want Excel to store numbers as text, and how to convert them. This is Part 5 in our Data Cleaning in Excel 101 series.
Posted on
May 12, 2020
Data Cleaning in Excel 101, Part 4: More Uses for Flash Fill
Having the right data in the right columns to meet specific requirements for your analysis plays a major role in the data cleaning process. In Parts 2, 3, and 4 of our Data Cleaning in Excel series, well show you how to solve common issues by utilizing both standard and Excels powerful Flash Fill shortcut. Part 2 focuses on splitting data from one cell to multiple cells. Part 3 covers the opposite: combining data from multiple columns into one column.
Let’s work together!
Most nonprofits spend days putting together reports for board meetings and funders. The Inciter team brings together data from many sources to create easy and effortless reports. Our clients go from spending days on their reports, to just minutes.