Concept Mapping

Concept mapping is the process of correlating the data that you have in your organisation with the 360Giving Standard. It’s usually quite straightforward, and is an important step in making sure that your publication is useful.

First, get hold of all the data that you can that you hold in your organisation that relates to the grants that you make. You don’t need historic data or the very latest data at this point, but it’s important to know where data is available, and where to get it from. In a small organisation, this could be as simple as knowing who has the spreadsheet, or what you can download from Salesforce. In a large organisation, you might need to combine data from several sources.

Then, download the concept mapping template. This explains what each part of the 360Giving standard is for, and to what extent it’s part of the minimum requirements.

Once you’ve got those, you’re ready to get started! Working whichever way round you prefer, see where the data that you can represent in the standard exists in your data.

Most organisations don’t have all the data to publish using the entire standard, and not all parts of the standard are relevant to all organisations, so the goal here isn’t to have a full card - it’s to help you understand how your data and the standard relate.

You’ll probably come back to this document several times as you get a better understanding of both your own data and the standard, so don’t worry about making it perfect yet.

If you’re not sure what this looks like in practice, read Laura’s Story on the blog. If you need any help, contact the Helpdesk!