A racial justice case study about the power of data. 

A foundation that moves resources to support movement building assists multiple partners and grantees. They wanted to build a data infrastructure to help them understand which ones were experiencing the greatest wins, so they could replicate those. And, for the things that weren’t working, they wanted to help coach those grantees toward successes that would work in the nonprofits’ favor. 

It’s tricky, though. Because of power imbalances. Large foundations have endowments in the billions. This was a smaller one, but they were still sitting on almost $50 million of assets. As a condition of receiving funding, they asked small nonprofits run by women, Black people, and other under-resourced communities to fork over data on the populations they serve—often including their personal stories, outcomes, and demographics. This is standard practice, as funders use it for research or to make wider decisions about communities based on observed and perceived patterns.

Yes, data-driven decisions matter. As NGOs, foundations, and other large domestic and international organizations increasingly turn to citizen data, it has become even more important to make sure communities themselves have input on what’s happening to their data. They deserve the ability to correct misrepresentations and to provide free, prior, and informed consent. That’s why we were excited that this particular foundation wanted us to work directly with their grantee-partner nonprofits.

We worked with nearly two dozen grantee-partners on various data initiatives, starting by training them on data ownership and stewardship. As one example, we worked to strengthen peer-to-peer messaging strategies, help them mobilize community voices in support of their missions, and understand the importance of collecting their stories, owning data locally, and anonymizing it on digital platforms.

For all of the grantee-partners, we co-established robust metrics systems that equipped them to build credibility, attract independent resources, demonstrate their impact, and create the feedback loops needed for continuous improvement. Such data infrastructure helped compound their work across generations, rather than starting from scratch with each new campaign or initiative—or simply forking their data over to others.

Here’s the story about one of the grantees we worked with.

Before We Started

Let’s be real—you can’t talk about sexual and reproductive health without talking about race. From historically unethical medical practices to today’s maternal health crisis for Black American women, race shapes every aspect of healthcare access and outcomes in the US.

A grassroots nonprofit organization led by and for Black American women and girls was doing extraordinary work across multiple fronts: Black maternal and infant health, breast health initiatives, civic engagement, voter education, beauty justice, environmental justice, and community care. Their influence extended far beyond their local headquarters, reaching Black communities nationwide through digital organizing, policy advocacy, and on-the-ground mobilization during critical election and census cycles.

They had strong numbers showing that what they were doing was working, but they couldn’t tell that story compellingly because the data was fragmented across different systems. Peer-to-peer texting campaign data lived in Hustle’s text marketing platform. Names of breastfeeding workshop attendees were scribbled on paper sign-in sheets. Social media metrics were tracked in Sprout Social and other platforms, but weren’t comprehensively analyzed for impact. Phone banking records were logged inconsistently, with one team rewarding depth (more than one conversation with the same household) and the other striving for reach (fewer conversations with more people). Work plan data was spread across different teams within the organization. Campaign-specific information from General and Primary elections and the related Issue Education civic engagement campaigns was stored in various spreadsheets with uneven documentation styles, reflecting various employees’ personal record-keeping methods.

Our foundation client supporting their work could do so much more (and demonstrate their impact better) if they had that data evaluated, standardized, interpreted, and contextualized both within the nonprofit’s local and the foundation’s broader national frameworks.

Without proper data infrastructure and interpretation, the full scope of their impact risked being underreported or misunderstood—and outside their purview.

We were a uniquely well-matched partner because we understand data justice, civic power, digital engagement, Black American women’s organizing, and reproductive justice. We also understood that the organization itself, not the foundation nor the platforms they used for their work, should own their movement-building data. Foundation aside, in general, it’s vitally important to ensure that Black American women’s organizing power is accurately accounted for and replicated for social change.

What Changed

From Fragmented Data to Comprehensive Documentation

We cleaned and standardized their data ecosystem by verifying phone calls, text messages, workshop attendees, door knocks, volunteer shifts, census pledges, and other data. In our experience, dirty data is a symptom of operational gaps: missing standardized operating procedures, training needs, weak workflow and information-flow implementation, and other structural issues. We flagged gaps and recommended processes to put in place that could help create an even more complete, coherent picture of their organizing efforts’ impact

From Questionable Numbers to Verified Impact

We flagged numbers that seemed like outliers, anomalies, and otherwise verified the data’s accuracy. We pushed back on the foundation’s initial inclination to dismiss impressive reach as errors, and we confirmed what was actually true: their organizing was extraordinary. We compared their totals to other grantees, demonstrating that they met and often exceeded other organizations’ reach.

From Undercounted to Accurately Represented

We integrated their data into a broader national report, showing how Black women and girls were making sure their communities are heard, protected, informed, and mobilized during increasing attacks on the community:

• 350,000+ voters engaged through comprehensive outreach
• Nearly 30,000 reproductive justice advocates identified and mobilized
• 25,000+ census pledges secured, ensuring Black community representation
• More than 64,000 voters reached by phone
• Over 3,000 new voter connections established
• More than 27,000 residents provided with COVID safety information

By co-building with the foundation, the nonprofit, and by extension the community, we demonstrated how multi-issue approaches serve the community holistically, and how Black women’s organizing is central to both local and national electoral outcomes. 

The Lasting Impact

It’s important that Black-led organizations—and funding initiatives targeting Black American communities—are supported by partners who understand the intersections of race, health, civic engagement, and movement-building. Our work highlighted the importance of making sure data is analyzed, contextualized, and owned by the communities at the center of the work. The nonprofit’s work simultaneously addressed voter suppression, reproductive injustice, environmental racism, and health inequities. 

By demonstrating that this single organization outperformed nearly every other grantee while serving multiple intersecting justice issues, we challenged narratives about “capacity.” Black-led grassroots groups are under-resourced yet often outperform. We certainly witnessed, documented, and appropriately shared this in our work.

When Black women organize, they transform democracy. Throughout this collaboration, the voices of 350,000+ Black voters, nearly 30,000 reproductive justice advocates, and tens of thousands of community members were counted and honored in movement work. Black data matters, Black organizing matters, and Black women’s leadership shapes the future.

Ready to make a lasting impact? Partner with us on your citizen data, data analytics, and other data justice projects.