Training for nonprofits
Purpose-built training programs to help your nonprofit use data, AI, and technology effectively.
Our trainings are grounded in years of hands-on work in humanitarian and social sectors. We focus on practical skills your team can use right away, designed for your challenges and resource constraints.
Explore our training programs
Data strategy: from data chaos to strategic impact
Make sensible decisions about data and technology so they help your mission instead of creating more work for your team.
Who this is for:
Directors, senior managers, funders, board members, and anyone making decisions about technology, budgets, and strategy.
Strategic planning: Taking stock of where you are
Assess how your organisation currently uses data, spot common problems like paying for tools you don't use, and figure out what would actually make a difference to your work.
Decision making toolkit: Making practical decisions
Choose between building skills in your team versus hiring help, evaluate whether a tool is worth the money, and decide which technologies genuinely support your mission.
Organisational change & culture: Getting your team comfortable with data
Build a team culture where people use data naturally in their work, without complicated processes or needing everyone to become a data expert.
Roadmapping & implementation: Creating a realistic plan
Build a practical 6-12 month plan with achievable steps that shows funders and your board how data will help your mission.
What you'll learn:
- Audit your current data use and identify what will actually make a difference
- Make confident build-vs-buy decisions and select tools that fit your budget
- Build a data-friendly culture without overwhelming your team
- Create a realistic data roadmap that demonstrates impact to funders
AI: Evaluating tools for ethics, security, and responsible use
Evaluate AI tools critically to protect your mission, values, and sensitive data.
Who this is for:
Leadership, program staff, or anyone making decisions about AI adoption for their organisation.
AI provider evaluation: Assessing credibility, technical claims, and value proposition
Identify red flags in AI marketing: missing benchmarks, vague technical information, teams without relevant expertise, price inflation, and unrealistic claims. Understand what questions to ask before adopting an AI tool.
Ethical alignment: Ensuring AI fits your values
Evaluate whether AI providers align with your mission: consider their involvement in surveillance, military contracts, or conflicts. Develop a simple framework to ensure your AI choices reflect your organisation's values.
Data protection: Ensuring data security and privacy
Assess what happens to your data with different providers. Learn which tools are safe for sensitive donor and beneficiary information, and practical steps to prevent data leaks.
Model benchmarking: Comparing AI options
Compare proprietary models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) with open-source alternatives (DeepSeek, Llama, Mistral). Understand the trade-offs in cost, performance, privacy, and ethics so you can make informed choices.
AI limitations: Knowing when not to use AI
Identify when AI is unreliable, inappropriate, or harmful: decision-making about vulnerable people, legal advice, sensitive case work. Set realistic expectations about AI capabilities and constraints.
What you'll learn:
- Confidently evaluate any AI tool for trustworthiness, ethics, and security
- Spot red flags in AI marketing: missing benchmarks, unqualified teams, vague claims
- Understand data security and privacy risks across different AI platforms
- Identify inappropriate use cases and AI limitations
AI: Practical applications
Get hands-on practice using AI to write stronger grants, clean messy data, and conduct research in less time.
Who this is for:
Fundraisers, program staff, or operations managers who want to use AI for practical tasks.
Deep research: Finding and verifying information faster
Use AI research tools to quickly gather background information, and contextualise data for grants, reports, and advocacy, while using effective fact-checking techniques to verify AI-generated information.
Grant writing support: Strengthening proposals while keeping your voice
Use AI as a brainstorming partner for grant proposals (structuring arguments, researching funders, drafting sections) while keeping your authentic voice and mission focus.
Data processing: Automating cleaning and analysis tasks
Use AI to clean messy data, standardise entries, and summarise long reports or survey responses, freeing up your time for higher-level analysis.
What you'll learn:
- Confidently use AI to research and fact-check information for grants and reports
- Accelerate your grant writing by using AI for brainstorming and drafting, without losing your unique voice
- Automate tedious data tasks like cleaning data and summarising text
- Develop a practical understanding of AI capabilities and limitations
Data analysis for program evaluation
Make sense of your program data, understand what's working, and show funders evidence of your impact.
Who this is for:
Program managers, monitoring staff, or anyone analysing outcomes and reporting to funders
Data preparation: Cleaning and exploring your data
Clean and prepare your data for analysis: learn practical techniques for fixing errors, handling gaps, and organising information using Excel, Metabase, or Python, applied to real nonprofit data like attendance records or volunteer hours.
Statistical foundations: Key concepts for program evaluation
Grasp the key statistical concepts you actually need: know when to use averages versus medians, how to spot meaningful patterns, and how to avoid common mistakes when analysing program data.
Impact evaluation: Proving your program works
Learn practical evaluation methods: compare before/after outcomes, distinguish correlation from causation, conduct cohort analysis, and determine whether your programs actually create the changes you claim to funders.
Integrated workflow: Putting your analysis skills together
Use real nonprofit datasets to practice the full process: from cleaning data to analysis and presentation. Gain confidence using these tools and techniques through hands-on exercises.
What you'll learn:
- Clean and organise messy nonprofit data so it's ready to use
- Apply practical analysis techniques to evaluate program effectiveness
- Understand whether your programs are creating real change
- Avoid common statistical mistakes that undermine your findings
- Gain practical skills with tools like Excel, Metabase, and basic Python
- Present compelling evidence of your impact to funders and supporters
Data management: Implementation
Get hands-on practice setting up a database, creating forms, and building workflows that make your data work for you.
Who this is for:
Staff responsible for managing data, spreadsheets, or databases.
Data migration: Moving from spreadsheets to a proper database
Practice moving your existing data into a structured database, cleaning up errors, and making sure information is linked correctly (like connecting volunteers to the events they attended).
Views: Creating tailored interfaces for your team
Build different views (like filtered lists, kanban boards, calendars, and forms) and tailor them to specific team roles and workflows.
Forms: Enabling robust data collection
Create online forms for collecting information from volunteers, beneficiaries, or the public, while maintaining data security and compliance.
Access controls: Protecting sensitive data
Control who can see, edit, or delete different types of data so sensitive information stays protected while staff can access what they need.
Automation: Connecting your database to other tools
Link your database to other systems (like email platforms, donation processors, or your website) using automation tools.
What you'll learn:
- Migrate data from spreadsheets into a structured, linked database
- Create custom views and forms tailored to your team's specific workflows
- Configure access controls to protect sensitive data
- Connect your database to other tools like email platforms and donation systems
Analytics and impact measurement
Turn your data into actionable insights with dashboards, KPIs, and compelling stories of your impact.
Who this is for:
Program managers, M&E staff, or anyone tracking outcomes and reporting to funders.
Mapping your data landscape: Understanding what data you have
Map out all your information sources, from donor databases to website stats, and identify where you're missing crucial data that could prove your impact.
Defining KPIs: Choosing numbers that actually matter
Identify the key metrics that show whether you're achieving your mission (not vanity metrics that look good but mean nothing). Learn how to track progress in ways that help decision-making.
Building dashboards: Useful insights for every team
Create clear dashboards using accessible tools like Metabase, PowerBI, or Google Sheets. Design different views for different people: simple summaries for boards, detailed views for operations staff.
Data storytelling: Turning numbers into narratives
Transform your data into compelling narratives that demonstrate your impact to funders, board members, and supporters, without overwhelming them with noise.
What you'll learn:
- Map what data you're collecting and pinpoint where you have gaps
- Choose meaningful metrics that align with your mission and satisfy funder needs
- Build real-time dashboards that provide useful insights
- Create compelling data stories that show your impact to different audiences
Digital security
Secure your accounts, protect your data, and train your team to spot common threats.
Who this is for:
Staff with admin access to organisational accounts (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, databases, websites).
Personal security foundations: Protecting your digital identity
Set up two-factor authentication and password managers for your accounts. Learn basic security habits that protect both personal and work information.
Organisational accounts and permissions: Locking down organisational systems
Secure your organisation's Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, social media, and donor databases. Control who has access to what and check which external apps are connected.
Infrastructure security: Securing websites and backups
Protect your website with security updates, firewalls, and monitoring. Set up automated, encrypted backups for critical data with proper offsite storage.
Threat detection and response: From phishing to data breaches
Learn how to identify security risks, check if accounts have been compromised, and create simple plans for responding to incidents like phishing emails or data breaches.
What you'll learn:
- Set up two-factor authentication and password management across your team
- Configure security settings in commonly used nonprofit software
- Secure your website and set up reliable automated backups
- Identify security vulnerabilities in your systems
- Detect compromised accounts and respond to security incidents
- Train your team to recognise phishing and other common attacks
Ready to get started?
Request informationAll trainings are online-only and last 2-4 hours.
Maximum 8 participants per session.
Group training: 4-8 participants, discounts based on group size and organisation revenue.
Reach out
Connect with us to find out how we can help you use data and AI for greater impact.
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