September 29, 2022 - 1:00 pm

Over the last decade, the number of publicly available, interactive, user friendly databases and indexes has increased rapidly.

On the one hand, this gives nonprofit professionals, grantmakers, elected leaders and concerned citizens new power to measure everything from a community’s “walkability,” to its availability of affordable child care, to its share of affordable housing. On the other hand, this inundation of information can be overwhelming, with the quality of a seemingly endless number of measures varying considerably.

This session will help you find and use high quality publicly available data on a wide range of social conditions affecting Rhode Island.

The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy at Brandeis has explored more than 75 national rankings and indexes to determine ones that are particularly relevant and valuable to inform and improve grantmaking decisions.

Drawing on the Center’s recent curation of social sector indexes, Director Susan Eaton will provide an overview of existing publicly available measures and indexes, simulate data production, and answer any questions attendees have about finding and using data relevant to the communities they care about.

Join us to explore some of these helpful indexes and learn more about resources that can help strengthen your grantmaking.