Nonprofits, here are 8 questions I want you to ask about data equity.
Let me set some context where I am coming from.
See, this is the ‘why’ of my work I live every day – to commit to aligning the lived and learned experiences of communities represented, counted, measured, and reported in data.
Very early in my work, I realized that to stay true to this ‘why’, I need to acknowledge the difference in the understanding, language, and concerns of every nonprofit around data equity. I need to be able to listen to the uniqueness of our contexts around data equity.
So, I designed “Data Equity Consultation” – a chunk of my time to be the listener and advisor on all unique shapes and forms of data equity.
I have spent those hours in advising on
Analyzing DEI data
Collecting demographic data in the new CRM
Setting up provincial (and possibly national) level demographic data
Building inclusive teams for Responsible AI
Designing in-house data ethics committees and how to operationalize them
Redesigning dashboards after CRM transition – not for the charts but for the fundamental data equity questions
This is the source of these 8 questions.
All those conversations have had these 8 fundamental core questions – maybe in different words, but with the same intentions.
So, if you are not asking them already, now is the time.
Data Equity is about actively de-weaponizing your data so your entire community can safely engage with it, through it.