Our partnership with Team Rubicon started in early 2017 with a conversation about a vision. From the very first meeting the team’s vision was to gather the organization’s data generated from multiple disparate systems and make it available to the public to be able to review the entire operation of the organization.
This accountability and transparency is built into the fabric of the organization – founded by and fueled by military veterans who operate in civilian life similarly to when they served – with a sense of duty, service and honor. The Team Rubicon leadership understood that to best exhibit its core values in mission and deed, data transparency could not be an afterthought. Instead through its Open Initiative, Team Rubicon is leveraging data to drive every mission and is at the core of everything they do.
Beyond the cultural alignment around the importance of data, the story of Team Rubicon and Qlik is unique in a vital way. It’s in how together we’re changing the way that the nonprofit sector reports data and value through 100% transparency, with the aspect of value – not pure donations and giving – being essentially different. If you listen carefully, they’ll ask you to consider “investing” in Team Rubicon.
In their world, driven by the unpredictability of natural disasters, they must create the machine before the storm hits. Team Rubicon wants donations to become something bigger, ready to have an impact in the wake of disaster.
Qlik is investing! We believe the time, software and consulting we provide now is just that – an investment in the Team Rubicon mission and a contributor to a longer vision and strategy. In turn, we see through their Open Initiative that Team Rubicon is generating value, because we see the data on how time and money are having a multiplier effect. We also are able to help them make the corrections they need to ensure the best impact.
By calculating and showing the initial value and multiplier effect of volunteer hours, in-kind donations and every $1 donated, Team Rubicon is demonstrating to its entire community the value of their investment, like how any public company reports to shareholders. Team Rubicon wants to show how that demonstration of faith translates into real world value to families, communities, and the private and public sectors.
For example, Team Rubicon can easily calculate how many houses they’ve repaired or how many volunteers they have trained. Most nonprofits provide this type of reporting. Team Rubicon is taking the next step and demonstrating the value of those houses repaired and what the value of those volunteer hours translates into real dollars. Real dollars that are saved by insurance companies and state and federal support agencies (i.e. taxpayers), and real emotional value brought through the support to families and communities who are sometimes rebuilding their entire lives.
This vision of how to evolve NGO reporting for real transparency and value drives the Team Rubicon and Qlik relationship, and is truly a new and different way for NGOs to use data. We look forward to continuing our investment and partnership with Team Rubicon and seeing the value of that investment grow over time.
