DataArts partner, the National Center for Arts Research (NCAR) at Southern Methodist University, has created a new online diagnostic tool, the NCAR KIPI Dashboard, which enables cultural nonprofits to measure the health of their organization against the field. The Dashboard provides participating organizations with a series of KIPI scores on critical business metrics for cultural nonprofit management. KIPI stands for Key Intangible Performance Indicator. The Dashboard scores measure both tangible factors that affect performance, such as an organization’s age and marketing budget, and intangible factors, such as good decision-making and artistic expertise. KIPI scores range from 0-100 on financial and operating health metrics relative to peer organizations on a national scale. Organizations completing the CDP, which is the principal organizational data source powering the tool’s analytics, can use the Dashboard to examine five-year trends in their performance relative to that of peer organizations across nine key financial and management areas.

NCAR Director and DataArts Board member Zannie Voss said, "The Dashboard allows arts leaders to decide which performance indices are top priorities and determine from their scores whether they are performing well on these measures, or whether they have room for improvement. Dashboard scores can be valuable information to share with boards, staff, funders, and other key stakeholders. They are a tool that helps to focus resources where they are most needed, celebrate areas of success, and enable arts and cultural leaders to overcome challenges and increase impact."

The NCAR KIPI Dashboard draws its performance data from DataArts’ Cultural Data Profile (CDP), a standardized online form that cultural nonprofits nationwide use to submit information on their annual financial and programmatic activity. Each score is based on a level playing field and shows how an organization has performed relative to the field in percentile terms, i.e. a score of 60 means an organization performed better than 60% of similar organizations on that index. Dashboard scores are confidential, and each organization can only access its own scores. Organizations not currently part of the DataArts database may add their company information by completing a Cultural Data Profile. Once their data has been entered into the system and processed, they will be able to access their Dashboard scores.

DataArts’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Beth Tuttle,  said, “We are pleased that our partnership with NCAR has produced such an important tool to empower cultural managers with data-driven insights about their organizations’ performance relative to peers in the field. This is just the first of many initiatives that will leverage the reach of the DataArts platform across the cultural sector and activate the potential of shared data to advance the arts, culture, and humanities.”

Organizations that have completed a Data Profile may sign-in to the NCAR KIPI Dashboard to access and view their scores today. 

Register for a webinar to learn more about the new NCAR KIPI Dashboard and how to view your organization's scores.