One of the secondary data sources we use frequently here at Corona is data from the U.S. Census Bureau – more specifically, the American Community Survey (ACS). Where the Decennial Census only collects basic demographic information (age, gender, race, etc.) from all residents every 10 years, the ACS collects a much more in-depth set of data from a sample of residents on an annual basis. This data allows us to conduct very complex analyses on topics such as health insurance, education, disabilities, work status, and much, much more. For example, in the past few years, Corona has used ACS data to do things like:

• project housing demand for a local government in a rural Colorado county.
• characterize barriers of low-income populations to work, such as disability, single-parent situations, language, education, and other issues.
• develop a profile of children of migrant farm workers for the Colorado Dept. of Education to help assess their educational needs.
• develop profiles of college students to understand, among other things, the migration patterns of freshmen (big economic impacts there).

Unfortunately, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to eliminate the American Community Survey entirely. While the measure has yet to be debated in the Senate, the implications of eliminating the ACS are dire. Without the ACS, organizations of all shapes and sizes (government, nonprofit, and private alike) would be unable to make informed decisions nearly as quickly or cost-effectively as is possible with the ACS today. And it’s not just local governments and private/nonprofit organizations – the federal government itself uses ACS data to allocate more than $450 billion annually in program funds to state and local governments.

We encourage you to reach out to your Senators to voice your support for the American Community Survey. For those of you who are in Colorado, we have linked to the contact pages of their websites and provided their phone numbers below:

Senator Michael F. Bennet - 202-224-5852
Senator Mark Udall - 202-224-5941

If you’re thinking something along this line, you’re doubtlessly not alone. We very frequently work with organizations of all kinds that don’t know what to do with all of the information they’ve collected over the years, and still keep collecting.

Now that's a lotta data.

This is true especially these days, when we’re overloaded with ways to reach out to and hear from our customers, members, donors, or whoever our audience is. We’ve been trained to think that information is power, and of course it is – but you have to know what to do with it. You still must use it wisely. Don’t think that just because you have a ton of numbers, it’ll be easy to draw conclusions. You must be aware of the ironies of having too much information. Respect the data!

Maybe this indicates the up-and-coming importance of firms that have experts in analytics. Well okay, they’ve always been important, but now perhaps we’re approaching their time in the spotlight. You know the analytic experts I’m talking about. They’re the ones who analyze down every chunk of information they can find, considering it from so many angles it makes your head spin, but they love it. And they come up with some amazing findings.

Maybe you do indeed already have plenty of information but you need to better understand what it’s telling you. Some firms are learning how to do this and it’s giving them a competitive advantage. As you come to realize this for your organization, don’t disregard the benefits of working with a research firm that has a strong analytics staff. They will be fully capable of providing you with insights culled from your existing data.

I’m thinking this myth is actually PLAUSIBLE. Once you dig out from beneath all of your data, let us know what you think.

Read the first episode here.

A recent survey from Deloitte found that one in five U.S. residents say they have either cut the cord (i.e., cancelled cable or satellite service) or are thinking about doing it. Nine percent of survey respondents indicated they have recently “cut the cord” while another eleven percent are thinking about it. Cord cutters are turning to services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, to name a few.

Interesting and a considerable percentage, but probably not true.

The problem?  The TV industry reported flat subscriptions last year.  As this article notes, even with a large margin of error, the numbers don’t work.

What happened?  Assuming the TV industry is not misleading their subscribers (a 10% drop would be hard to hide in earnings reports) or there isn’t a flood of new subscribers hiding the cutters (though the article seems to discount that, too), the one culprit is likely poor sampling.

The survey was administered online, and while more and more Americans are online, biases are still likely.  While they didn’t reveal how they sampled respondents online, my initial guess is that they skewed towards early adopters and people with faster, more consistent access to the internet.  The exact population you would expect to be shunning cable in favor of online options.

If you’re not really surveying a representative sample of the population you’re interested in, then you’re not really surveying them.

Working with big databases is hard work.  It’s not just the mechanics of data manipulation and calculations, but also knowing where the data come from, what they mean, and how to interpret them.  You have to have a feel for data, and the ability to recognize the little clues that point to problems.  Mistakes happen, and kudos to the National Association of Realtors for finding these problems, fixing them, and being forthright about the changes that we’ll be seeing in their numbers.  And if you sold your home twice in their database, we hope you can get back some of those Realtor fees.

David touches on changes in the market research industry that he is seeing and how those shifts have impacted our work here at Corona Insights.

Read his interview here.

This year, all bets are off! There are over 900 participating nonprofits across the state. Corona Insights is pleased to see so many past clients and colleagues on the list: 9Health Fair, Bluff Lake Nature Center, Center for African American Health, Center for Work Education and Employment, Clinica Tepeyac, Colorado Youth at Risk, Denver Children’s Advocacy Center, Denver Public Schools Foundation, Family Tree, Metro Volunteers, Mile High United Way, Nurse-Family Partnerships, Qualistar Colorado, Rebuilding Together Metro Denver, Rocky Mountain PBS, The Children’s Museum of Denver, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, and Warren Village… just to name a few!

Check out the Colorado Gives Day website to find your favorite nonprofit. Or, discover a new one to support! You have from midnight to midnight to contribute.

The title of Karla’s presentation is From Parable to Eureka – A Journey of Talent Discovery.  With her usual spirit, Karla will share her lifelong journey to discover  her true talent and make it manifest in her life and work.

Bringing creative problem solving to 21^st century issues requires the ability to connect, to conceptualize and to communicate.  Over the years, Karla has developed a talent for spotting strategic opportunities that influence positive action .  That skill is called associative thinking and is a cornerstone of strategic leadership. Through this TEDx presentation, she hopes to help members of the audience name and claim their unique talents and bring them to the world.

Join the TEDxWomen conversation and hear Karla speak on December 1, 2011 from 3:00pm – 8:30pm at the DU Daniels College of Business. Click here to purchase your ticket.  Follow the discussion on Twitter at @TedxCPark and #TedxCPark.

Ah ha!  A nonprofit business model is a description of how an organization operates.  How simple is that?  Haven’t we been describing our models all along?  Nope.  Not really.

Publications, such as the Nonprofit Quarterly, and consultants like yours truly have brought the concept to the forefront.  Why?   Sustainable nonprofit organizations in today’s world are designed upon a fundamental premise – a business model that works.

A working nonprofit business model must be designed well – and with intention.  I believe philosophical clarity is the starting point.  This meaningful foundation keeps us from “chasing the money.” Instead, we are answering fundamental questions:

• What philosophy guides our programming?
• Does our funding model support annual operations and long-term growth?
• How can we consciously design our funding to fit our programs and engage the community with our mission?

As a framework for nonprofits, Corona Insights’ offers the Synergistic Business Model, which has three basic components – programs, financial resources and community engagement.  After all, what is the nonprofit sector if it isn’t serving community?  Sounds pretty logical to me.

To learn more about the Synergistic Business Model, click here.

Too many nonprofits – and the same is true for businesses and governments – have business models that simply don’t work any longer.  The media is filled with stories of unsustainable institutions, whether they are cities like Denver (reliant on sales tax), the legal profession (deliver services in the billable 15 minute increment), or nonprofits (dependent upon contracts or grants from sources in decline).

Ultimately, it’s not a matter of what we call it but how soon can it be addressed.  We can argue the term – I don’t like it; it sounds too corporate; how do we define it?  Or, we can get to the work at hand, namely designing nonprofit organizations that align with today’s realities, demands, and opportunities.  Let’s embrace the nonprofit business model with the best of intentions in service to communities and customers.

The Sustainability Study Committee was asked to serve as a think tank and consider all options to create a sustainable business model for the organization.  It is widely recognized that the national orchestral industry was and is going through major change, with many organizations facing decline and others attempting turnaround.  I maintained during the sustainability process that the Colorado Symphony could be the organization to create the new business model for its industry.

True organizational turnaround is tough.  The process is jarring and the result uncertain. It is a process that requires collective courage and shared belief in a better future. A wise person said, “Faith is going to the edge of all that you are and taking one more step.”  The symphony is at the edge; we’ll see where the next step takes them. We wish them good luck going forward, as we all want to see the organization thrive.

We have enjoyed working with the Colorado Symphony and continue to believe that the organization has great potential for sustainability in service to the community.