Budget data is another staple in our data pantries. We need our staff, board members, funders, clients, and other stakeholders to understand this data. But many of them are not comfortable with financial spreadsheets. Here are some ways to present budget data that allow others to gain quick insight and, perhaps, dig deeper. These examples all come from the public sector but are easily applied to a nonprofit organization’s budget.
2016 U.S. Budget
The Obama administration made the Byzantine federal budget accessible to the world through this simple treemap. We can see where the lion's share of the money goes and which areas receive relatively little funding. Click HERE to see the interactive version which provides more information when you scroll over or click on a rectangle. Treemaps are easy to make in Tableau, Excel, and other apps.
Source: Obama White House Archives
School District of Philadelphia Budget
I find this sunburst chart daunting in static form. But check out the interactive version HERE. If you scroll over the inner ring, you can see that 96 percent of funds went to school budgets. Then move to successive outer rings to see how school and administrative budgets break down into smaller categories. You can build sunburst charts in Excel and other apps.
Source: Code for Philly
Oak Park, Illinois Budget
This interactive area chart showing the Oak Park, IL budget emphasizes change over time in the area chart at the top. But you can click on any year to see how the budget broke down by funds in the bar chart below. If you click on the downward arrow next to a given fund, you get even more detailed information on that fund. You can build this type of interactive viz in Tableau.
Source: BudgetOakPark.com
To see past data tips, including tips on other types of pantry staple data, click HERE.
Let’s talk about YOUR data!
Got the feeling that you and your colleagues would use your data more effectively if you could see it better? Data Viz for Nonprofits (DVN) can help you get the ball rolling with an interactive data dashboard and beautiful charts, maps, and graphs for your next presentation, report, proposal, or webpage. Through a short-term consultation, we can help you to clarify the questions you want to answer and goals you want to track. DVN then visualizes your data to address those questions and track those goals.
