More concrete data would improve development investment results

Apr 3 2013

Victoria Vrana, senior program officer on the Charitable Sector Support team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog that "comprehensive sources of hard data on the issues, the solutions, and the organizations working to meet the tough challenges of our time" would assist donors, "non-profits and [non-governmental organizations (NGOs)], media, policymakers, and most importantly, beneficiaries of services" to make decisions that would improve investment results. Using the magazine Consumer Reports as an example, Vrana writes, "The social sector is full of passion, commitment, dedication, vision, and hard work, but resources are scarce and limited. Making data and information easier to use and more connected will give us one more powerful tool in the toolkit" (4/1).