It was a successful Global Month of Data Philanthropy for data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company, Aimia. Designed to provide charities with valuable analytics expertise that may otherwise be cost-prohibitive and out of reach, Aimia’s annual initiative helps them in a variety of ways – from improving their quality of services to optimizing communications and fundraising campaigns.
This year, with the help of over 300 Aimia volunteers, events supported eight charities in five cities across the world: London, Montreal, Minneapolis, Singapore and Dubai. All hands – and keyboards— were on deck and the data demonstrates it was another impactful experience. “We successfully used data to uncover actionable insights for non-profit organizations across the world, enhancing their ability to benefit from data-driven decision making and helping them improve the way they operate to ensure their communities will benefit from sustainable impacts on the long run,” says Alden Hadwen, Director, Community Engagement of this year’s efforts.
The London team, for example, provided data analytics expertise and revealed actionable insights to four charities: Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Arthritis UK, Step Up to Serve – a social action organization—and In Kind, an organization that helps distribute goods where needed. Volunteers also helped promote an innovative approach to digital literacy with a session for 45 local charities at the The Power of Data Mindsets and Possibilities Conference.
In Singapore, meanwhile, the team worked with Sustainable Cambodia, an organization that helps families in rural Cambodian villages achieve sustainability and self-sufficiency through wells, irrigation systems, schools, training and empowerment. Aimia’s volunteers evaluated the organization’s website and marketing communications with a goal to improve donor attractiveness.
The team soon discovered that the children who took part in Sustainable Cambodia’s programs had strong interests in IT and technology-related education. Knowing how difficult it is for these children to pursue higher education without any support, the Aimia team decided to offer webinars too geared at the student population, to introduce them to data analytics as a potential career path.
To celebrate Montreal’s 375th anniversary, Aimia offered a unique gift to the community, which would become a legacy for years to come. The team dedicated their data analytics expertise to a local non-profit, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership (PQDS), with one goal: to make the cultural centre of Montreal shine. Watch this video to find out more.
The data philanthropy event was particularly exciting in Montreal as it represented the first time that 21 cultural organizations came together to share their data. It also involved the bringing together of 120 volunteers from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver providing 48 hours of data analysis. In the end, 8.8 million transactions from 660,000 individual clients were analyzed with the goal of developing recommendations and optimizing activities to help identify potential areas of collaboration and promote the cultural value of the region.
On a side note, Aimia was also proud to inaugurate the IVADO Hub in Data Philanthropy with partner IVADO (The Institute for Data Valorisation) at the HEC Montréal (Aimia’s Deepti Kaul also hosted a Master Class session during the launch event). The hub’s mission is to support non-profit organizations and their social causes by enabling collaboration between professors, students and data science professionals and by tapping into new volunteering resources.
This year, the Dubai team, in partnership with their social media agency Rapp, continued the work they started in 2015 with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Taking an extra step forward this time around, the volunteers helped MSF with data capturing and modelling optimization, digital marketing and social media strategy, as well as customer survey development and analysis.
Upon analyzing 12,500 transactions from 6,000 donors, they were able to extract behavioral segmentation between corporate and individual donors. What’s more, the insights they captured from social media review and strategy will help MSF improve their registration process and drive engagement with the charity across the region. Their work is not yet done, though. MSF will continue to benefit from Aimia’s Dubai team, who will be analyzing the surveys developed during the Data Philanthropy event.
Finally, Minneapolis saw nine Aimia employees work their analytical magic with Open Arms of Minnesota, a charity that cooks and delivers over 600,000 free, nutritious meals to people affected by life-threatening illnesses in the Twin Cities (e.g., cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and ALS). The volunteers challenged the organization to improve their capacity to engage volunteers toward building a strong base and to adopt a more cost effective and easy access to information.
At the culmination of another successful Aimia Global Data Philanthropy, Hadwen is proud of the volunteer teams and their work around the world. “It’s so meaningful to witness how our donation of time and unique expertise generates long-lasting and sustainable impacts for the communities in which we live and work,” she says. “We can’t wait to get started again next year.”
To learn more about Aimia’s social purpose, you can also visit aimia.com/socialpurpose