NeighborWorks Umpqua Kickstarts New Data Analytics Business for Nonprofits and Small Businesses Across the Country

Rural nonprofit NeighborWorks Umpqua is excited to announce the organization’s newest social enterprise:  Muninn Analytics. Muninn Analytics is a data analytics business that is dedicated to helping nonprofits and small businesses become data-driven, efficient organizations. According to a recent study from IBM, 78% of nonprofits with access to these types of services reported higher effectiveness in performing the mission of the organization. With growing pressure from boards, competition, and grantors for increased data analytics and measuring, nonprofits are poised to become big investors in the industry. Unfortunately, budget, technology and talent are big barriers for nonprofits and some small businesses.

“We know how hard it is to find quality services and tools for data analytics when you are a nonprofit,” said Merten Bangemann-Johnson, Chief Executive Officer for NeighborWorks Umpqua. “When you are an organization that has been around for 20, 30, or more years in your community, you tend to have a lot of data that is captured on paper that would fantastic to interpret. The problem is the time and resources spent on such an endeavor would be cost-prohibitive. When we thought about the struggles we faced with data and analytics and trying to learn from our historic data, we started reaching out to other, like-minded organizations and discovered an inherent need for this service. Unfortunately, finding a storied organization that provided this at a price point that is attractive to nonprofits and small businesses was very hard. That’s where the idea for Muninn Analytics came into play.”

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For-profit institutions, like many Fortune 500 companies, utilize analytics to improve processes, procedures, and service delivery thanks to the involvement of subject matter experts and many tools. With these data experts, these companies see their investment paid back many times over in profits for the company. Muninn Analytics provides these tools at a sliding scale rate that matches cost with the size of the organization. By providing these tools at a price that a specific organization can afford, Muninn Analytics is democratizing the tools of Big Data with help from Data Analyst, Mark Plane.

“I am excited to bring my expertise and passion for the field to an entirely underserved demographic,” said Data Analyst, Mark Plane. “Data has incredible potential. It can not only tell a story about one’s past, but it can create a roadmap for an organization’s future! You can take the lessons learned from your data and turn them into lasting, effective change. Muninn Analytics helps nonprofits and small businesses by providing professional tools at a fraction of the cost. Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn from their data and with Muninn Analytics, you will finally be able to afford the leap into becoming a data-driven organization.”

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Mark Plane has degrees in Anthropology, including a Ph.D., with experience in scientific research and publication. In addition to a background in standard research and statistics, Mark has developed expertise in Python programming, machine learning and predictive analytics, text analytics and natural language processing, web scraping, interactive data visualization, and other tools from the world of modern data science.

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