Making Space for Better Coordination Between Nonprofits

Ana Ranković
11 hours ago
4 min read

Welcome to Making Space, our newsletter for nonprofit leaders navigating the real and challenging work of becoming more data-driven.

In this issue:

Beyond the Silo - Why do organizations working in the same area often have little visibility into each other's efforts? How to build a data-sharing platform.
Critical Cartography Feature - Mapping the toll of urban renewal in Providence
Awesome Nonprofit of the Month - NY Appleseed

Let's get into it.

Olivia & Charles from North Arrow

The Nonprofit Coordination Gap and How to Close It

The Problem: Nonprofits operating in the same area often work in silos, leading to duplicative efforts and blind spots that leave critical needs unmet due to a lack of real-time, shared data.

Coordination tends to rely too heavily on personal relationships and informal channels like group chats and text messages. When a volunteer or staff member leaves, those communication lines often go with them. And when conditions on the ground change quickly, information doesn't always keep up.

Without a shared, up-to-date view of what's happening across nonprofits, the overall work becomes less efficient. Organizations end up responding based on incomplete information, even when collectively they have what they need to act more effectively.

The Solution: A Shared Coordination Platform

What these coalitions need is a lightweight data-sharing tool that gives everyone a shared view of what's happening where, updated by the people closest to the work.

In practice, that means:

a common way to report observations across organizations so information isn't locked in individual inboxes or group chats
a centralized, map-based view that makes the community needs and resources to meet those needs visible at a glance.

The tool should be simple enough for coordinators with limited time, to avoid adding administrative burden. And when the work involves sensitive populations, it should include data security features.

The goal isn't to replace direct communication. It's to add a layer of structured, shared information so teams can prioritize better and respond faster.\

One Coalition Doing It Well: Coordinated Migrants & Asylum Seekers Support in Paris, France

For years, coordination between Paris-based nonprofits supporting migrant camps relied on personal WhatsApp networks. It worked, but inconsistently, and when a key volunteer left, communication channels could disappear overnight.

Working alongside Data for Good, a French volunteer collective of tech experts who dedicate their skills to building open-source citizen tech solutions for social challenges, we helped design the Migrant Camps Map: a centralized information infrastructure that turns field observations into actionable data. By replacing fragmented chats with standardized mobile surveys and a secure, map-based dashboard, we’ve created a shared operating picture.

As volunteers across organizations deliver medical, material or food services at locations around the city, they report what they see and the unmet needs in a templated way. Instantaneously, the results feed into a centralized, map-based dashboard where all participating organizations can see conditions across locations, filter by need level and type, and plan better. In minutes, and in real-time, operational teams can:

Identify where to direct their teams next and what to pack
Know exactly who to ask for additional information
Ensure the security of their teams with up-to-date access guidelines

The result is a highly secured reporting structure that no longer depends on "who knows whom," allowing for faster prioritization and stronger data-backed advocacy.

Read the full case study → Beyond WhatsApp: The Nonprofit Coordination Gap

🔦 Critical Cartography Feature - Mapping the toll of urban renewal

Urban renewal was a sweeping post-World War II federal program that displaced an estimated 1.36 million people nationally, with the burden falling disproportionately on working-class communities of color whose neighborhoods were systematically targeted for clearance. Now, the Providence Preservation Society's Guide to Urban Renewal in Providence documents what that looked like in one city through a series of interactive maps tracing the 17+ distinct renewal projects that transformed Providence between 1950 and 1975. Those maps reveal a staggering local toll — over 3,000 buildings demolished, more than 5,000 households displaced, and roughly 9% of the city's landmass redeveloped — bringing spatial clarity to a neighborhood-by-neighborhood reckoning with displacement and the lasting reshaping of Providence's urban landscape.

🦄 Awesome Nonprofit of the Month - New York Appleseed

New York Appleseed is a nonprofit that advocates for integrated schools and communities across New York City and State. Their work spans policy advocacy, community organizing, and research, all in service of making schools more diverse, equitable, and representative.

Policy organizations like New York Appleseed face a particular challenge when it comes to data: the day-to-day work of changing policy is hard to quantify. Reporting only on whether legislation passes or fails doesn't capture the effort involved in raising awareness, organizing stakeholders, and building coalitions over time.

We worked with them to build a high-level impact framework that tracks impact events along the entire pipeline of policy change, from sending newsletters to delivering legislative testimony. We paired that with a simple data collection tool and a custom dashboard that brings it all together. New York Appleseed can now communicate the scope and value of its work to funders and use the same data internally for program development.

➡️ Learn more about their work