What does Canadian research say about nonprofits and data?

Future Proof, from the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience, is the widest Canadian study we know of. It reports that only 14% of Canadian nonprofits say their organization is fully integrated digitally, while 81% of nonprofit workers believe digital skills are essential. Nearly half describe their organization's digital skills as basic or just starting out.

Only 0.8% of nonprofit staff hold technology roles, against about 5% in other industries, and those who do are paid about 33% less, over $30,000 a year. The top skills gaps it names are privacy and data security (32%), data-informed decision-making (24%) and data management (23%).

That is why Mission is built the way it is: the insight is built and delivered, not dug for. A charity should not need a data analyst on staff to know which supporters need a call this week. Our own look at 42 Canadian charities' public board reports points the same way.

• What 42 charities' board reports show
• The pathways