Shaping data culture is one of the most effective things you can do to improve the impact data has in your organisation. Yes, it's hard. But it is possible, with the right techniques and a strong vision of where you want to get to. That's what we teach in our new Building Data Culture course.

The organisations we see doing well with data ALWAYS have strong data cultures. If you’ve ever experienced the struggle of getting teams to take shared responsibility for data, to stop working in silos and to drop the fear of embracing data, this course is for you. Still time to book buff.ly/Mf7Eu9x

Data: 'Fragmented', 'Fearful', 'Inefficient', 'Lacking focus on the people it serves'. Does this sound familiar? When we got our Nonprofit Datafolk Club together to talk about their experiences of data culture, these are some of the themes that emerged.

How do you identify your audience for data storytelling and what kind of prior knowledge would you assume they have? What makes a good data story/visualisation? What are some brilliant examples of data-driven stories? Our Nonprofit Datafolk Club got together recently to discuss: buff.ly/f63zwbM

We’ve been named a Finalist at the British Data Awards 2026 🤩 The British Data Awards is an annual quest to discover and celebrate data success stories in the UK. We're told a record 462 nominations were submitted this year, so we’re especially delighted to be chosen as a Finalist.

Last few weeks to catch old training course prices. The April Data for Leaders course is the last chance to catch lower prices. When we scheduled courses for the next financial year, we made the difficult decision to increase prices to cover our costs. buff.ly/6xB2klh

If you're a leader looking to improve how your organisation 'does' data, where do you start? Our research reveals some important insights into what drives data maturity. This article distills down some of the key things the research tells us about what leaders need to focus on: buff.ly/tXAvVsK

How do you build data culture? We've long felt that culture is one of the most important factors in getting better at data. And it's also one of the hardest to crack. Our associate Jay Dev has written about tips for building data culture in your organisation: buff.ly/awepZCr

The March newsletter is out: 🏗️ Tips on data culture 🎯 What leaders should focus on to improve data maturity 📖 Data visualisation and storytelling 🧑‍🏫 NEW data culture course 👩‍🏫 Training for leaders 🎫 Free events 💭 Other bits of news to inform and amuse our fellow data folk Catch up: buff.ly/pQBksG1

What advice would you give to other women getting into data? We're a women-led social enterprise helping organisations get better at data, and a high proportion of our team are women. But, despite this, 'data' is still considered a male-dominated profession.

What advice would you give to other women getting into data? It's International Women's Day soon. We're a women-led social enterprise helping organisations get better at data, and a high proportion of our team are women. But, despite this, 'data' is still considered a male-dominated profession.

Free online workshop: Thu 12 Feb, 1-2pm The cobwebs are well and truly blown away and we're scheduling a raft of free events for 2026. Join us for the first Nonprofit Datafolk Club of the year: Data visualisation and storytelling. buff.ly/u0PefwM

Recently we've been taking stock and looking back at the impact we've had. Our 2024-25 Impact Report looks at how we delivered our Theory for Change in 2024-25. Sian's blog summarises what we did, the impact we had and some of our plans for the future: buff.ly/fPg50V8

Did you miss our latest newsletter? In this issue: 💥 Our impact 📈 State of the Sector: Data Maturity 2025 👩‍💻 CRMs in nonprofits 👩‍🏫 Training for leaders 🎫 New free events (with more on our website) 💭 Other bits of news we found to inform and amuse our fellow data folk Catch up now: buff.ly/SDEYg7b

Many of our community in Wales will be familiar with our Welsh language mapping project: Mapio Cymru. The team has recently published guidance on how to identify the name of a feature in Welsh. This has been a long time coming, after lots of consultation with interested people and organisations.

Nonprofit Datafolk Club: Randomised Festive Fizz We know how much our community love to connect with others in the 'data in nonprofits' niche. In this online networking event we'll be converting our randomised coffee trial to a festive fizz event. 11 Dec, 1-2pm, FREE Book here: buff.ly/wxOayZ2

It's #SocialEnterpriseDay and we're proud to be a social enterprise, part of a growing movement of businesses explicitly setting out to do good. So what is a social enterprise? The image explains how we make an impact as a social enterprise. Hats off to all the other social enterprises out there!

A few months ago, we tearfully said goodbye to our wonderful Analytics Engineer & Product Lead, Libby Harkins, as she went on a new adventure. Luckily we're still very much in touch and she found time, alongside studying for a Master's, to blog about what she learned at Data Orchard. buff.ly/2NcrS8S

In September, our Nonprofit Datafolk Club got together to talk about how they're using (or planning to use) AI, safe AI and worries about developments. Read our writeup of the discussion and be sure to join us on 11 December for our next online meetup! buff.ly/ePuuDdZ

AI and its influence have been spreading like wildfire. We've been reassessing what this means for us, our products and services, our clients, and the nonprofit sector as a whole. We've shared an update on our thoughts and plans, along with our top picks of reading and resources. buff.ly/8D6rWbE

Join us tomorrow, noon Last chance to book to see our juiciest State of The Sector report yet! This year, for the 1st time, we'll share global x-sector comparisons of changing trends, challenges and hot topics. Get early sight of the findings and bring your curiosity for the Q&A! buff.ly/F7qKNrw

One week to go until the launch event - sign up now!! For the last 5 years, we've been taking the anonymised data our Data Maturity Assessment collects and using it to paint a picture of how the nonprofit sector's doing with data. It's uniquely revealing about how data use is changing sector-wide.

During Black History Month, we celebrated Black Icons in Data. Our final icon, W.E.B Du Bois, was the father of data visualisation, a leader of the early 20th Century Black protest movement and a groundbreaker in using data to illustrate inequality.

It's Halloween, so we're wondering... When it comes to nightmare data disasters, what keeps you up at night? When this was the focus of discussion at one of our Datafolk Club sessions, there were lots of things people said they lost sleep over...

During Black History Month we're celebrating some incredible Black Icons in Data. We've written about seven icons who are both outstanding data professionals AND remarkable role models. And we've been spotlighting each of them this month. Our final icon is W.E.B Du Bois.

During Black History Month we're celebrating some incredible Black Icons in Data. We've written about seven icons who are both outstanding data professionals AND remarkable role models. And we're spotlighting each of them this month. Today's icon is Dr Donald Palmer.

During Black History Month we're celebrating some incredible Black Icons in Data. We've written about seven icons who are both outstanding data professionals AND remarkable role models. And we're spotlighting each of them this month. Today's icon is Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE.

During Black History Month we're celebrating some incredible Black Icons in Data. We've written about seven icons who are both outstanding data professionals AND remarkable role models. And we're spotlighting them all this month. Today, the spotlight's on Nira Chamberlain OBE.

During Black History Month we're celebrating some incredible Black Icons in Data. We've written about 7 icons who are both outstanding data professionals AND remarkable role models. We're spotlighting each between now and the end of the month. Today's spotlight is on Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE.

During Black History Month we're celebrating some incredible Black Icons in Data. We've written about seven icons who are both outstanding data professionals AND remarkable role models. And we're spotlighting each of them between now and the end of the month. Today's spotlight is on Fash Fasoro.

It's Black History Month and we're celebrating some incredible Black Icons in Data. We've written about seven icons (both current and historical) who are both outstanding data professionals AND remarkable role models. We'll be spotlighting each of them here between now and the end of the month.

An intriguing piece here, on why open-source technologies have become essential in modern data strategies. With 39% of firms lacking robust data governance and over a quarter lacking full data management strategies, it emphasizes the risks of unchecked data buff.ly/ozRNzqd

This is a great article which echoes what we cover in our Data for Leaders training course, and the themes we're building into our new Building Data Culture course. buff.ly/C7WJoqj

The State of the Sector. For five years running, we've been taking the unique info in our Data Maturity Assessment and using it to paint a picture of how the nonprofit sector is doing with data. The anonymised data is SO revealing when it comes to priorities and how things are changing sector-wide

Timely research from the VCSE Observatory here on how the VCSE sector collects, uses, and shares data and evidence. Many of their findings align with what our own research on data maturity shows. buff.ly/iVfAc9b

Are you joining us for Datafolk Club this Thursday lunchtime? We'll be discussing all things data sharing, including how and when to share data and what platforms or dashboards can help to bring data together and make it easier to share. See you there! Register here buff.ly/DKw4k9u

Since 2020, the City Bridge Foundation @citybridgefndn.bsky.social , London’s biggest independent charity funder, has been on a data improvement journey. Read their story for some inspiration for your own data journey💡

What's our impact? At Data Orchard, we help lots of clients to explore, define, and articulate the impact they have in the lives of the people and places they serve. And it's important we take the time to understand the difference we make too. Read about our impact here: buff.ly/fAkUEsb

Data, data, everywhere, nor any drop to drink... Excuse us, it's #NationalPoetryDay If this feels like your organisation, flooded with an abundance of raw data that's collected but often difficult to process or convert into actionable insights, maybe we can help.

It's International Podcast Day and we thought it was a good opportunity to share and applaud some of the podcasts our team love to listen to...

Our Data Maturity Assessment was the first of its kind and is always being improved. We’ve just completely refreshed it to meet high accessibility standards. Is it now the first DMA to be so accessible? We think it looks rather good regardless. Read about the latest improvements: buff.ly/EfEl5iI

Our fifth State of the Sector Data Maturity report is on its way! We did say we'd give ourselves a break from producing a State of the Sector report this year but, hey, five years is a big milestone and it seems a shame to let all that data and insight go to waste. So get ready for the next report.

Welcome Miguel! We're delighted to welcome Miguel Roca-Terry - our new Analytics Engineer - to the Data Orchard team. Miguel is a former data journalist for the BBC and ONS, and many more things besides. Read our Q&A to help get to know him a little better. buff.ly/gbCQzP6

Tomorrow's International Day of Clean Air... And here's a big shout out to two wonderful charities - Trees for Cities and Cool Earth. A while back, our Hannah Khwaja wrote about why we chose to support them both as part of our environmental policy and carbon reduction plan. buff.ly/fip1GoG

This is interesting on people's use of chatbots for therapy: buff.ly/Aeq8zII Don't forget, our next Nonprofit Datafolk Club discussion is about AI in nonprofits. It looks set to be one of our most popular events yet so make sure to sign up if you haven't: Thu 11 Sep | 1-2pm | FREE buff.ly/LNVF5Vp

We've had a bit of a run on booking for our next Data for Leaders course recently and are pleased to see a nice mix of senior leaders signed up, with what seems to be an unintentional focus on health and young people. Still time and space for you, if you think joining this cohort will be useful.

Messy data isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a barrier to insight. Preparing it well means understanding context, fixing structure, and putting monitoring in place so analysis is built on trust, not noise. Clean data is the foundation of reliable decisions. 👉 Read more buff.ly/WoOFJko #DataQuality

📢 The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued new guidance on securely disclosing documents to the public — with a clear focus on reducing the risk of accidental data breaches. Practical, actionable advice from the ICO can be found here: buff.ly/rNzt557 #CyberSecurity #databreach

"Too often, organisations respond to data friction by adding more tech. But without a coordinated cultural shift, even the most advanced platforms may struggle to deliver impact." Interesting article from @diginomica, about why culture is the hidden barrier to data success: buff.ly/78wBgEs

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