Amaka Nwagbara, Member Engagement Manager at the Royal Statistical Society, talks about how statisticians are supporting voluntary organisations to use data for well informed decisions through their Statisticians for Society initiative.
Statisticians for Society is a pro bono initiative which aims to connect professional statisticians with voluntary organisations that need help collecting, analysing and presenting data. The initiative was set up by the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) in 2017 to enable its member statisticians to donate their time and skills to good causes. It is free and open to voluntary organisations that are based in the UK with an annual income of under £1 million.
Since its launch, over 100 organisations have been matched with statisticians, who are aiding them to fulfil their charitable aims and objectives.
RESPONDING TO A NEED
The RSS is a charity and membership organisation that promotes the importance of statistics and data. Our vision is a world where data and evidence are at the heart of decision making. As the sector continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we are working with organisations that don’t have such expertise in-house or can’t afford to employ a statistician.
Many are looking to secure new funding, set up or improve their systems and processes, change their strategy, understand their service users and showcase their effectiveness to trustees and beneficiaries.
Therefore, we have become adept at working with voluntary organisations to formulate their data problems and help them to understand what a statistician could do for them.
This could be anything from survey design and analysis to research or even cost-benefit analysis assessments, but what we want to do is empower organisations to use data to meet the needs of the communities they serve.
This element is key to what we do and our processes are designed to work collaboratively. We want it to lead to long-term relationships between participating organisations and their volunteers.
COME TO OUR VIRTUAL EVENT AND FIND OUT MORE
We are hosting a virtual event on Friday 10 June at 1 pm to raise awareness and showcase how we have already supported voluntary organisations. It will feature a Bangor-based charity, Ensemble Cymru, with a mission to champion chamber music in Wales.
Discover how a statistician worked pro bono to help them understand their audience, the types of people not attending their events, and how to secure new audiences for their performances across Wales. Book your place.
If, like Ensemble Cymru, you want to use data and evidence for decision making, you can get in touch with us by completing our enquiry form.