The availability and volume of data can be staggering. Many non-profits find themselves overwhelmed when trying to make sense of the data they’ve collected and underwhelmed with the resources they have to do so. To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of our top five Excel features to collect, organize and visualize your data in order to produce actionable insights.
- VLOOKUP: Look up the value in one column and return a corresponding value from another column
- Data validation: Control what a user can enter into a cell
- Macros: An action or a set of actions that are automated for tasks you do repeatedly, that you can run as many times as you want
- Pivot Tables and Charts: View relationships between variables
- Slicers, filters and timelines: Features that can be used in pivot charts to graphically display data
Before you begin using Excel as a data analytic tool, it’s crucial to identify what you need from your data and plan accordingly. Clearly define each need by thinking through the basic questions of who, what, where, when, and why. Once you have a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve and who your audience is, you can decide which of these Excel features is best suited to structure your data and produce the information that you need.
We Can Help You Master Excel
CCNY Excel training programs are designed specifically for non-profit audiences with relevant best practices and we can tailor these to fit your budget and mission. We have years of experience training people how to gather, organize, analyze and communicate data in a way that helps them turn insights into actions.
Our Excel trainings cover:
- Data discovery (Data inventory analysis)
- Cleaning and organizing data
- Communicating data through visualization
- Using Excel to make pivot tables, pivot charts, vlookups, macros
Let us teach you to use the very same tools we employ in our own evaluation and analytics projects. For more information, e-mail info@ccnyinc.org or call (716) 855-0007, ext. 317.