bar charts — Data Viz for Nonprofits

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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.

This is the fifth in a series of tips on different chart types. The idea is to fill up your toolbox with various charts to make better sense of your data. This week, I give you the bullet graph.

Active Ingredients (What is a bullet graph?)

A bullet graph is a bar chart with context. In the example below, the orange bars show the number of enrollees in the Child Health Plus Program in five New York counties. The black vertical lines and the gray bars provide context. Each black vertical line shows the (fictional) goal for each county. The dark gray shaded bars show 60 percent of the goal, and the light gray bars show 80 percent of the goal. So we can see that Queens has surpassed its goal whereas Kings hasn’t reached its goal but has surpassed the 80 percent mark. These gray bars are called “performance ranges” and can be any amount that makes sense for the data and organization. Sometimes these ranges are labeled poor, average, and great.

Data source: https://healthdata.gov/dataset/child-health-plus-program-enrollment-county-and-insurer-beginning-2009

Uses

Charting your data allows you to see the overall picture, patterns, and trends in your data. But without context, it’s difficult to really understand the implications of your data: where do you need to invest more time and resources, which groups might serve as models for others, etc. Bullet charts provide that context. You can quickly see which groups are meeting, exceeding, or falling below goals and by how much.

Warnings

As with bar charts, it’s usually best to display your bars in descending or ascending order. And use a limited number of performance ranges, usually no more than three.

Fun Fact

Data viz guru, Stephen Few, invented the bullet graph as an alternative to dashboard gauges and meters.

To see past data tips, including those about other chart types, click HERE.