Data visualisation

@olliecarrington

Oliver Carrington

Impact & Evaluation Manager,

Imperial Health Charity

How funders can use it for

insights & communication

@imperialcharity

What is data visualisation?

• A catch-all term for presenting information

in a visual way

• Aim to be a clear & engaging way to help

people better understand data

• It isn’t new, but the public has an

increasing appetite for it

Data viz gives life to stats

Types of data visualisation

Three key types:

1. Static images, charts & infographics

2. Interactive dashboards

3. Animations & videos

Dashboards

Charts

Animations

Dashboards

Charts

Animations

Dashboards

Charts

Animations

How can funders use it?

Two top reasons:

1. Communications & policy—help explain

or highlight our complicated work

2. Find insights & trends from grants—help

us make decisions

Insights

Comms

Green Funders – Where the green grants went edition 7

https://www.greenfunders.org/where-the-green-grants-went-7

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales - 2018 Impact Report

https://www.lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk/2018%20%20Impact%20Report.pdf

Insights

Comms

Guys and St Thomas Charity - Tableau dashboard Southwark health data

https://public.tableau.com/profile/rob.parker7879#!/vizhome/Spacethefinalfrontier/Introduction

David Kane and 360Giving - Who is funding with who?

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/155633/

Software

Check out the chart maker directory: www.chartmaker.visualisingdata.com/

Do it well: Find the story

• Ensure the data is credible

• Start with a research question

• Let the data guide you—use conditioning,

filters & pivot tables to spot patterns

• Develop the data—change groupings, add

in averages, difference between values

• Sketch it out first—without restrictions

Don’t give too many messages in one chart

Refocus the data to highlight a key message

Do it well: Design tips

• Design is not just for external audiences—

for colleagues you also need to make it

clear & keep them engaged

• Keep it simple—a bar chart is often best

• Everything has to be deliberate, justifiable

& explainable

How to improve this Excel chart…

3D charts are misleading

Always start a bar chart Y-axis at zero

Delete any ‘chart junk’

Label directly on your chart

Horizontal bars can fit long category names

Reduce the gap width to look less ‘Excel-y’

Order by size (or time/age groupings)

Colour should be used deliberately

Colour can draw people’s attention

Re-title your chart with the key message

Resources

Nightingalewww.medium.com/nightingale

Guardian Data Blogwww.theguardian.com/data

The Puddingwww.pudding.cool/

Blogs

Resources

www.datastori.es www.dataviztoday.comwww.storytellingwithdata.com/

podcast

Podcasts

Resources

www.flickr.com/gp/167769222@N02

Charity DataViz

examples

My Flickr account

of charity dataviz

examples to help

spark new ideas

Case Study: How to plot your

grants against deprivation

Patrick O’KellySenior Grants Officer

The Clothworkers’ Foundation

@okellypjO

@clothworkersfdn

@ClothworkersFdnwww.clothworkersfoundation.org.ukCharity No: 274100

• Medium-sized capital funder

• UK-wide

• Disadvantaged communities

@ClothworkersFdnwww.clothworkersfoundation.org.ukCharity No: 274100

Are we doing what we set

out to do?

@ClothworkersFdnwww.clothworkersfoundation.org.ukCharity No: 274100

• flourish.studio

• 360Giving Data

• English Indices of Deprivation 2019

public.flourish.studio/visualisation/668825

@ClothworkersFdnwww.clothworkersfoundation.org.ukCharity No: 274100

• Our grants reach most areas of England

• Over two thirds of our grants reached the

50% most deprived areas

• Open data: our data is more accessible

(potential applicants, grantees, funders)

Is it useful?

@ClothworkersFdnwww.clothworkersfoundation.org.ukCharity No: 274100

• Only shows area-based disadvantage

• Uses registered postcode of the charity

Limitations?