AP Perspectives—The View From Via Del Mirlillo: Show Me the Numbers

A recent AFP Member Spotlight highlighted Shay Andrews, MPA. Shay is the database coordinator for the Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth. When Shay was asked if he was doing anything innovative at his organization that other fundraisers could benefit from, he replied:

“I like to think that something innovative is accomplished daily, but if I had to pick a groundbreaking project, it would be my use of data dashboards and visualizations. There are many times when fundraisers discuss metrics with a board member, donor, or other departments, and the story gets lost in the spreadsheets and numbers. That’s where I step in. I think my superpower is using data visualization tools to help tell my organization's story in an impactful and understanding way. People often quote, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but my twist is that a picture created from data is worth a million. If an organization can utilize data visuals, it can empower them to make data-informed decisions and draw constructive insights.”

I agree 100% with Shay and have fought a continuing battle over the years to break away from the usual spreadsheets, pie charts, and other typical ways to present data to key audiences. I was not a numbers person. When our 8th grade teacher introduced algebra to the class, I rebelled in my head. “How can you have letters when you do math? Where are the numbers?”, I thought. In graduate school I took statistics from a professor who held a Ph.D. in statistics from Stanford. When we entered the classroom the first day, the blackboard was covered with information. My roommate was also in the class and asked the professor if that was what he would cover. “No,” he replied, “That is what I expect you to know before we start the class.” Gulp! Have you ever had a stat exam with essay questions?

But to get back to Shay’s point, we frequently resort to the usual ways to display and show others important numerical information. The accountants and other numbers-oriented people love to see our charts and spreadsheets, and often ask for even more numbers while others may glaze over or ask for verbal descriptions of “what it all means.” During my work as staff, a consultant, or a volunteer with various organizations I’ve tried to encourage them to move beyond the usual ways and get a little creative. To repeat a key point Shay made, “…a picture created from data is worth a million [words.]” 

I am currently on a committee where our meetings are held on Zoom. Key development information is primarily presented in a series of spreadsheets with an occasional chart. For example, the uses of funds raised for various programs and purposes is a spreadsheet with the list of uses in the first column, the amount raised to date for each in the second column, and the goals for each in the third column. Sometimes there are also comparative information for the previous year in the spreadsheet. But my view is the programs and purposes are to benefit people. Is there a picture that could incorporate much of this information but show a person or people? Maybe a picture of a person who benefits from these areas with the information in bubbles around them? Or maybe there are other ways to incorporate a picture or pictures of people with eye-catching graphics. 

When doing presentations and workshops on development, I often used pictures to make points rather than charts and spreadsheets. One of my favorite graphics was a photo of a very large (maybe 8 – 10 feet high) wooden piggy bank sculpture in a park – great for talking about having reserve funds. My presentation “Sharks, Black Swans, & Coconuts”, which was based in part on Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable”, used pictures to present many of his points. As I’ve said elsewhere, PowerPoint and similar presentation programs can encourage the preparer to use bullet points or paste charts and graphs into the slides rather than encouraging a more flexible approach of incorporating pictures to make key points. One of my slides talked about the problem of induction: going from specific instances to reach general conclusions. My chart (yes, I had a chart) had a vertical axis labeled Optimism and a horizontal axis labeled Time. The only line on the chart slanted upward. I explained in the presentation “You get food and beverages every day. You are treated to a warm place to live. You have many friends, all living in equally good conditions. Life is good and you’re happy as is everyone around you.” But suddenly the Optimism line takes a vertical dive. A picture of a turkey appears – it’s almost Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite books about depicting numbers graphically is “The Visual Display of Quantitative information” by Edward Tufte. I also see that he has other books out, including “Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative”, “Beautiful Evidence”, “Seeing With Fresh Eyes: Meaning, Space, Data, Truth”, and “Envisioning Information”. I have not read these other books, but I can almost guarantee that any one of these books will change your thinking about presenting information. Tufte presents both the theory and practice of the many ways visual information can be shown. There are numerous examples from many countries and many eras. To me, one of the most interesting uses of graphical design presented in the book is a mid-1800s depiction of Napoleon’s march on Moscow (page 176). This graphic by Charles Joseph Minard is an example of one of Tufte’s key principles: “Graphical elegance is often found in simplicity of design and complexity of data.” The lower graphic depicts huge amounts of information in a combination map/troop strength/directions taken during the advance and retreat, but does so with minimal use of color. Almost anyone can understand beyond the numbers what is being presented. Tufte presents many examples of good and bad data graphics as well as analysis of them and key principles for better presenting critical information.

Now, let’s take this a little further. When I was living in Chicago, I got to know John Massey, one of the leading graphic designers in the country. John is unique — he could take a complex idea and create a graphic that displayed it in a simple and appealing matter. If you want to see some of John’s works, go to the Art Institute of Chicago’s website. Notice the poster for the March of Dimes Superwalk — simple, pleasing, attractive and the key information is included. There are several posters for the American Library Association. These express a simple idea but show the importance of libraries in life. John often made important information fun. Look at the Chicago has a great lake poster: what does it say to you? The Lincoln Park poster is another example of John’s ability to condense a lot into a simple graphic and a few words. Maybe there are some lessons there for us all?