There is a Chicago School of Data emerging— one that places data at the service of people. The Smart Chicago Collaborative has been researching Chicago people & organizations who do this work. Analysis as of October 28, 2014 of the Chicago School of Data Census form responses (https://smartchicago2012.wufoo.com/forms/chicago-school-of-data/).

1. Chicago School of Data Census Form
Created on October 28, 2014
Organizations
We received responses through our census data form from 226 different
organizations. These organizations include:
· #33cc77
· 741 Collaborative
· Access Community Health Network
· Active Transportation Alliance
· Adler Planetarium
· After School Matters
· AIDS Foundation of Chicago
· Albany Park Theater Project
· Alliance for Illinois
Manufacturing/NORBIC
· Alphonsus Academy and Center for
the Arts
· American Red Cross
· Andersonville Chamber of Commerce
· Archdiocese of Chicago
· ARkay Solutions
· ArtReach at Lillstreet
· Arts Alliance Illinois
· Association House of Chicago
· Back of the Yards Neighborhood
Council
· Baxley’s Village
· Bethel New Life
· Big Shoulders Fund
· Bottom Line
· Breakthrough
· Bridge Communities
· BUILD
· Catalyst Group Global
· Center on Wrongful Convictions
· Chicago Federation of Labor Workers
Assistance Committee
· CHANGE Illinois
· Changing Worlds
· Chapin Hall at the University of
Chicago
· Chatham Business Association, SBDI
· Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice
· Chicago Architecture Foundation
· Chicago Arts Partnerships in
Education
· Chicago Botanic Garden
· Chicago Cares
· Chicago Children’s Museum
· Chicago City Data Users Group
· Chicago Commons
· Chicago Community Data Project
· Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
· Chicago Heights Veterans Center,
Department of Veteran Affairs
· Chicago Jazz Philharmonic
· Chicago Jobs Council
· Chicago Justice Project
· Chicago LGBT Homeless Youth Task
Force
· Chicago Lights Tutoring and Summer
Day
· Chicago Public Library
· Chicago Public Libraries Archer
Heights Branch
· Chicago Public Library Foundation
· Chicago Public Schools
· Chicago Run
· Chicago Sinfonietta
· Chicago Teachers Union
· ChildServ
· Christopher House
· Citizen Advocacy Center
· Citizen Schools
· City of Chicago
· City Year
· Civic ArtWorks
· Co-Knowledge
· Communications, Languages and
Culture, Inc
· Community Media Workshop
· Council for Adult and Experiential
Learning
· CR Threads LLC
· Crain’s Chicago Business
· Creative Partners
· CREED Consulting

2. · Crown Family Philanthropies
· Data Science for Social Good
· DataMade
· Datascope Analytics
· Deborah’s Place
· Delta Institute
· DePaul University: The Red Line
Project
· Doejo
· DonorFuse
· DonorPath
· Donors Forum
· DuPage Children’s Museum
· DuPage Federation on Human
Services and Reform
· Education Systems Center at
Northern Illinois University
· Emphanos
· Enlace Chicago
· Family Focus, Inc .
· Family Resource Center on
Disabilities
· Family Shelter Service
· First Folio Theatre
· Foresight Design Initiative
· Foundations of Music
· Free Spirit Media
· FUSE
· Gary Comer Youth Center
· Get IN Chicago
· Golden Apple Foundation
· Greater Auburn Gresham
Development Corporation
· Hadiya’s Promise
· Halcyon Theatre
· Harvard University
· Have Dreams
· Healthy Schools Campaign
· HHCS
· Housing Options for the Mentally Ill
· Hoyne Associates, Inc .
· IBM
· Illinois Campaign for Political Reform
· Illinois Institute of Technology:
Boeing Scholars Academy
· Illinois Legal Aid Online
· Illinois Mentoring Partnership
· Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory
Council
· Impact Engine
· Ingenuity
· Institute for Housing Studies
· Institute for Justice Clinic on
Entrepreneurship
· Jane Addams Resource Corporation
· Joyce Foundation
· Kartemquin Films
· Kelly Hall YMCA
· La Casa Norte
· LAF
· Lakeview Pantry
· Lawyers’ Committee for Better
Housing
· Leyden Family Service and Mental
Health Center
· LISC Chicago
· Literacy Works
· Loaves and Fishes Community
Services
· Logan Square Neighborhood
Association
· Lumity
· Media Burn Independent Video
Archive
· Mercy Housing Lakefront
· Metropolitan Planning Council
· Microsoft
· Midwest Pesticide Action Center
· Mikva Challenge
· Metropolitan Planning Council
· Museum of Contemporary Art
Chicago
· Museum of Science and Industry
Chicago
· Namaste Charter School
· National Hellenic Museum
· National Latino Education Institute
· Neighborhood Housing Services of
Chicago
· Network for College Success
· Network for Teaching
Entrepreneurship
· New Life Centers of Chicagoland
· North Lawndale Employment
Network
· Northwest Side Housing Center
· Northwestern Memorial Hospital
· OAI, Inc .
· Oak Park-River Forest Community
Foundation:
2

3. · Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry
· Office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel
· One Million Degrees
· Onward Neighborhood House
· Openlands
· OrangeBoy, Inc .
· Partnership for a Connected Illinois
· Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
· PODER
· PositivEnergy Practice
· Project Exploration
· Project Tech Teens
· Public Good Software
· Puerto Rican Cultural Center
· Respond Now
· Restoration Ministries, Inc .
· Rogers Park Business Alliance
· Safer Foundation
· SBS Computer Center
· SGA Youth and Family Services
· Shimer College
· Skill Scout
· Smart Museum of Art
· Social IMPACT Research Center at
Heartland Alliance
· Socrata
· South Asian American Policy and
Research Institute
· South Suburban Mayors and
Managers Association
· St. Agatha Family Empowerment
· St. Pius V Church
· Stern Consulting
· Streetsblog Chicago
· Strengthening Chicago’s Youth
· Su Casa Catholic Worker
· Symbol Training Institute
· Technology Access Television
· The Ark of St. Sabina
· The Cara Program
· The Chicago Public Education Fund
· The Children’s Place Association
· The CivicLab
· The Resurrection Project
· Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
· United Way of Metropolitan Chicago
· Unity Park Advisory Council
· University of Chicago Consortium on
Chicago School Research
· University of Chicago Medicine Urban
Health Initiative
· University of Illinois - Chicago
· UNO Charter School Network
· Urban Gateways
· Urban Initiatives
· We the People Media/Residents’
Journal
· West Humboldt Park Development
Council
· Windy City Habitat for Humanity
· Women Employed
· Woodstock Institute
· World Business Chicago
· YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago
· YMCA of the USA
· Young Chicago Authors
· Youth Outreach Services
· Youth Service Project
· Zealous Good
How does your organization use data? (Check all that apply)
The number represents the number of times a response was selected.
186 – Measuring impact (reports to funding agencies, reports to donors, etc.)
157 – Advocacy and outreach (e.g. reports, press releases, etc.)
176 – Understanding the needs of the people served
152 – Research
123 – Operations
112 – Donor development
120 – Resource allocation (staff, funding)
40 – Other (this includes: targeting, UX research, convening, helping other organizations)
3

4. Data & Tools
What are the top three source of data you use as an organization?
The number represents the number of times a response was mentioned.
103 – Survey data
63 – Internal data
59 – U.S. Census data
25 – Education data
21 – Chicago data portal
20– Chicago Public Schools data
18 – Outside research
12 – Labor/employment data
7 – Inter-organizational sharing
7 – Health data
7– Housing/property data
6 – Criminal justice data
5 – County data portal
5– Food/environmental data
4 – State data portal
3 – Arts/cultural data
3 – Elections or voter data
3 – Charitable giving data
3 – Transportation data
Is there data that you want to use but can’t because it costs too much?
Here are some data and data tools that participants indicated were cost prohibitive.
Tools:
· ArcGIS
· ETO
· Equifax
· Foundation Center
· Tableau
· Twitter Firehose
· WealthEngine
Data:
· Achievement of students
· Dun & Bradstreet
· Credit scores by census track
· Local market information
· Patron statistics
· Voting/election data
· Web data/Log Data
Is there data that you want to use but you can’t because you can’t get permission
to use it?
· 311 call data
· Academic journals
· Assessors data
4

5. · CDOT and CTA camera feeds
· CPS data
· County property data
· Court Data
· HMIS data from City of Chicago
· HUD homeless data
· Juvenile Crime
· Library/Computer usage data (detailed stats, computer usage in branches,
library cards, number of patrons registered)
· Pesticide use
Is there data that you want to use but can’t because it’s too hard too work with?
· Analytic Software
· Census data
· City of Chicago portal data
· County property data
· Customer data trends
· Constituent data
· CPS data
· Federal spending in Illinois
· GIS data
· HMDA/Foreclosure activities
· Mapping data
· PDF files
Is there any other data that you want to use, but can’t for some reason?
Here are some responses we received:
“We would like to gather data on our participants employment and/or
education after they leave our programs. We want to know best practices on
how to do this, other than relying on calling the participant.”
“It would be great to have access to more comparative data. For example, how
are similar organizations performing? What are their best practices? Not only
in terms of data collection but also how these practices translate into more
effective services.”
“We have a lot of good data, but we want to go deeper. We do not have the
resources to conduct very large-scale surveys or other research methods in
order to get to this level.”
5

6. “It's safe to say that none of us here has the training for IT or database
development or management. I know we are only utilizing a small percentage
of what our databases are capable of.”
“We are trying to strengthen our database, so that we can capture better stats
that show our impact verses solely attendance data.”
“Long-term engagement data on alumni of our programs - i.e, voting habits,
college-going and graduation rates - so far we collect this via self-reporting,
but we're interested in collecting this objectively.”
“The tools and software needed to manipulate and manage the data is needed.
For example, a longitudinal database to help us manage the data will be
helpful. After initially looking into this it would cost us over $25K to build one
from an existing tool.”
“We are currently implementing a new participant management system. Once
it is launched, we look forward to tracking our work against others, utilizing
external data sets, and fine-tuning internal predictive analytics.”
“We serve our audiences online. Therefore, we can gather a tremendous
amount of data on the number of uses, location, etc. But we have no data at all
on how often our site is used in colleges, for research, in public schools, etc.”
“We will ultimately need longitudinal data from middle school through post-secondary
to show long term impact of our program, but that data is very
difficult to access and pull together currently.”
“We would like to gather data on our participants’ employment and/or
education after they leave our programs. We want to know best practices on
how to do this, other than relying on calling the participant.”
“We would like to use more ROI data but need to develop internal mechanisms
to capture this with so many variables. Would like access to broader ROI data
for workforce programs locally and nationally.”
Which of the following data tools does your organization used in the past 9
months? (Check all that apply)
The number represents the number of times a response was selected.
203 – Desktop Spreadsheets (Excel, Numbers)
141 – Online Spreadsheet (Google Docs, Fusion Tables)
123 – Website Data Analysis Tools (Google Analytics, etc.)
152 – Online Surveys (Google Forms, Survey Monkey, Wufoo, etc.)
6

7. 116 – Proprietary CRM/Database Tools (Salesforce, Oracle, Highrise, Access, etc)
69 – GIS & Mapping Tools (AcrGIS, CartoDB, TileMill, etc.)
44 – Proprietary Analysis Programs (Stata, SAS, SPSS, Matlab, etc)
46– Open Source Databases (MySQL, PostGRES, MongoDB, etc.)
35 – Proprietary Data Visualization Tools (Tableau, etc.)
34 – Open Source Data Analysis Tools (R, Python, Pentaho, etc.)
12 – Open Source CRM Tools (CiviCRM)
Challenges
Which are some of the greatest challenge your organization faces in using data?
17 participants did not understand how data can further their mission. 43 out of
226 participants did not list a greatest challenge.
The number represents the number of times a response was selected.
123 – Unable to dedicate the time to data work given other demands
96 – Staff lack the necessary technical skills (computer literacy, data
management, data analysis)
69 – Unable to gain access to the data we need
62 – Unable to afford the tools we need to make use of data
58 – Not sure where to find or how to collect the data we need
42 – There is no software/website/tool that meets our data needs
25 – Other (responses: Data literacy among users, staff shortages, dedicated staff
resources, lack of time)
17 – Not sure how data can further our mission
What skills does your organization currently lack, need help developing, or had
the most trouble hiring/retaining talent?
The number represents the number of times a response was selected.
138 – Advanced data analysis (big data, predictive analytics, etc.)
128 – Data visualization & communication/Data storytelling
102 – Data management, storage, and retrieval (Working with databases, web data,
data sets from third parties)
86 – Data cleaning and preparation
71 – Basic data analysis (Knowing how to ask and answer basic questions using data)
59 – Basic data literacy (What is data and how can it be used to help the organization)
32 – Basic Excel/Spreadsheets
16 – Basic computer literacy
15 – Other
7