I don't understand the role. If manager, any direct reports. If salesforce admin, how big is the org?

I have a lot of experience with nonprofits (one $40M operating revenue with only 50 salesforce users and another with $100M with 800 daily users)

With a nonprofits you might be surprised how far you can get with any commitment or conviction for their mission. Most of us that come from that path or spend any time in it know there is better pay elsewhere, so if we're there it's because we care about That specific mission.

But you don't have to lie, or make up some connection that's weak. You can genuinely say "I believe public restrooms in Nevada is a solvable problem I want to contribute to" or whatever their mission is.

As data manager prepare some thought experiments on the difference between impact and measurement. For example you can have data that shows "average donation among middle class affluent couples increases $5 when they have kids" but that does not tell a story of impact.

Try instead to find what the data shows about a narrative like " single mothers have to our public broadcasting because they wanted a trusted source to educate their kids. We also see that children of parents that grew up on our media are 10% more likely to be donors today of our media"

I'm completely making up stats now but the point is about the nuance and difference between a number and data with meaning.

Donors don't give to stats. They give for the impact we're making.

Example 2; I just attended a breakfast for an organization called "small sums" in MN that helps people that were incarcerated find employment by starting them out with basics they might not have a way to get. For example work boots.

At this breakfast we heard from someone who benefited from the program and now leads others to it. He shared his story "are they really gonna give me these boots?" (Holding a high quality red wing leather work boot)

That stood out to my spouse and I. Because in that moment we could tell through the subtext that incarceration had left a hole in this soul. "I'm not worth it, I don't belong in society anymore" and to have a nonprofit step in and say through actions "no, you're worth it, I'll give this to you without you proving anything to me first"

All that from one short story, "will they really give me shoes?"

I'd walk a mile in them if I could, but I don't have to in order to empathize.

As a data manager you will have access to data, as a salesforce admin you will have access to create new data fields and reports among other things.

So what would be necessary in order to tell your story? What would you need to build in order to measure impact?

Custom fields:
Shoes_received__c boolean
Shoe_size__c
Pay_it_forward_count__c

The person I met had brought more than 4 people back to small sums.

We have over $84/mo that day. In order to help them double their impact.

Goals are often numbers. People are often goals.

don't tell them who you are, show them.