For many organizations, the problem isn’t a lack of data. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Data exists everywhere, from fundraising systems, digital platforms, audience tools, spreadsheets, and dashboards. Every team has access to numbers and reports that help them understand their part of the organization’s work. But having data and having shared knowledge and insights are two very different things. This is where a nonprofit constituent data platform shines.
What most organizations are actually struggling with isn’t collecting information. It’s creating a shared understanding of what the data actually means.
Different teams run reports differently. Definitions vary depending on who is asking the question. Leadership meetings sometimes spend more time debating which number is correct than deciding what to do next.
We see this across organizations all the time. Data may exist everywhere—but shared knowledge is surprisingly rare.
That’s the challenge many nonprofit and public media organizations are trying to solve today. And it’s exactly the challenge WHYY, the Philadelphia region’s public media organization providing trusted journalism, education, and cultural programming, began tackling as they looked for better ways to understand and engage their audience.
The analytics problem most organizations don’t talk about
Public media organizations operate in one of the most complex engagement environments imaginable. Audiences interact through broadcast, digital platforms, streaming services, live events, newsletters, membership programs, and fundraising campaigns. Each of those touchpoints produces valuable data; however, the information usually lives in systems that were never designed to work together.
When that happens, answering even basic strategic questions becomes difficult. Who are our most engaged supporters? Where are our audiences located? How do content consumption and membership behavior intersect? Where should we focus our outreach and engagement?
Without a unified view, analytics tends to remain reactive. Teams pull reports when they need them, interpret them in isolation, and move on. Insights emerge in pockets, but they rarely become part of a shared organizational conversation.
That’s why WHYY—one of the earliest adopters of Unite Analytics—started exploring a different approach: building a unified analytical environment that could bring both the data and the conversations around it together.
From disconnected systems to a unified audience view
WHYY’s goal wasn’t simply to create more reports. What they really wanted was a clearer picture of the community they serve.
By bringing together Revolution CRM data, digital engagement data, PBS Passport, and WHYY Watch App viewership data, WHYY created a unified environment in which teams could finally see how different forms of engagement connect.
Instead of piecing together insights from multiple systems, they could begin looking at their audience holistically—how people consume content, how they support the organization, and where they are across the region.
But the biggest shift wasn’t the data itself. It was the way that data started changing how people inside the organization talked about their work.
Moving from “my report” to “our data”
One of the most powerful changes at WHYY has been the creation of shared metrics used across teams.
In many organizations, the same metric can produce multiple answers depending on how the report is run. Filters change. Definitions evolve. Spreadsheets get exported and modified. Over time, those small differences add up, and confidence in the data starts to erode.
At WHYY, key reports now serve as common reference points across the organization. When someone opens a report, they know they’re looking at the same numbers everyone else is seeing.
“When someone runs the donor count report, it’s the same number for everyone,” said John Hwang, Director, Data Analytics. “We’ve had managers, staff, and even our CEO referencing the same report.”
That shift—from individual analysis to shared insight—changes the nature of the conversation. Instead of debating which report is correct, teams can focus on what the data tells them and what to do next.
And in our experience, that’s where analytics really starts to create value.
Why analytics infrastructure matters more than most organizations realize
Most organizations eventually realize they need stronger analytics capabilities. The question becomes how they build them.
A common path is to stand up a custom data warehouse tailored to the organization’s needs. Those systems can be powerful, but they often depend heavily on the expertise of the people who built them. When those individuals move on, maintaining and evolving the system can become difficult.
WHYY has lived through that reality. It’s one reason they see Unite Analytics as more than just a reporting platform.
“Unite is an insurance policy for us,” said Anthony DePrince, Business Intelligence Analyst. “Instead of relying on a custom data warehouse that depends on one person’s knowledge, we know the reports we build today will still be running tomorrow.”
That idea—analytics infrastructure as something durable and sustainable—is becoming more important as organizations rely on data to guide more of their decisions.
Because the goal isn’t just generating insight today. It’s building a foundation that can keep evolving as the organization grows.
Making data part of everyday decision-making
Accessibility has also played a big role in WHYY’s experience with Unite.
Historically, analytics often meant distributing static reports via email—PDFs that some people read and others ignored. The information was there, but it didn’t always invite exploration.
With Unite, staff can access dashboards directly, adjust parameters, and explore questions on their own.
“The biggest impact has been accessibility,” Hwang explained. “Instead of sending static reports around, people across the organization can explore the data themselves and ask better questions.”
That accessibility has changed how analytics shows up inside the organization. Reports are now referenced in leadership discussions, internal planning meetings, and even board presentations.
When people can easily access the data themselves, it naturally becomes part of how decisions get made.
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Seeing the community in new ways
Some of the most compelling insights at WHYY have come from geographic visualization.
Interactive maps allow teams to see where supporters and audiences are located across the region—including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. And as Anthony DePrince pointed out during our conversation, maps tend to capture people’s attention immediately. Seeing engagement visually helps teams connect the numbers to real communities.
Those insights have already influenced how WHYY approaches outreach. For example, understanding audience distribution helped inform decisions about expanding engagement efforts in parts of New Jersey—an area where the organization discovered stronger support than previously recognized.
It’s a great example of analytics moving beyond reporting and into strategy.
The value of learning across organizations
Another aspect of modern analytics platforms that often gets overlooked is the ability for organizations to learn from one another.
Through initiatives like Epiphany Benchmarking, a co-developed initiative with Contributor Development Partnership (CDP), ROI Solutions clients gain access to reporting frameworks and insights informed by a broader community of nonprofit and public media organizations. That shared perspective allows organizations to compare trends, explore new strategies, and see how peers are approaching similar challenges.
In many cases, the most interesting insights don’t come from a single dataset. They come from the conversations that happen across the community using it.
Still just scratching the surface
Even with the progress WHYY has made, the team believes there is much more to explore.
“Every time we meet with the Unite team, it feels like we’re barely scratching the surface of what the platform can do,” DePrince said.
Across the nonprofit and public media sectors, leaders are starting to recognize that analytics aren’t just about dashboards or reports. It’s about building a shared understanding of the communities they serve. This informs the strategy behind CDP and ROI Solutions’ Audience Activation Platform, a curated constituent data platform for public media organizations of all sizes.
When that happens, data stops being something organizations simply collect.
It becomes something they use to guide decisions, shape strategy, and deepen their impact.
Let’s Talk!
Does WHYY’s story resonate with your organization? We’d love to explore solutions like this that can help to transform they way you work and think about your constituents and stakeholders. Let’s Talk!
