Giving Compass' Take:

• Kendra Schreiner and Jordan Junge explain how funders can help small charities effectively use data to increase their impact. 

• What worthy charities could be improved by access to data? 

• Find out how refugees could benefit from big data. 

Here at the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), we recently conducted a global scan highlighting how data is being used in different ways for social good, emerging challenges in the field, and how philanthropy can be and is engaged in this work.

In this critical moment, philanthropy needs to look for ways to engage smaller charities in this work — not only to keep them from being left behind, but also to ensure that their voice — and the voices of the communities they represent — are heard in the important debates around the ethical use of data.

For starters, philanthropy can help level the playing field by addressing some of the biggest obstacles facing small charities in using data for good, including often-prohibitive costs, a lack of human capital, insufficient leverage to form data philanthropy partnerships, and a difficult regulatory environment.

But there is hope.

Below, we highlight four examples of how philanthropy is supporting smaller charities to better engage in this work:

  1. Funding.
  2. Human resources and additional capacity.
  3. Access to data.
  4. Enabling Environment.

Read the full article about big data and small charities by Kendra Schreiner and Jordan Junge at Philanthropy News Digest.