Summary
McMaster University Libraries brought together community engagement workers, social justice advocates, librarians, researchers, and data management professionals to create a Toolkit for non-profit organizations on data management. The Toolkit includes guides and templates on managing community research data, keeping data safe, understanding roles in research partnerships, creating data management plans, and sharing and accessing data. Each section offers practical tips for small organizations, large organizations, and community-based projects without a single lead organization.
Policy & Practice Implications
- Community non-profits can use and adapt the Toolkit templates to plan for research or evaluation, and to collect and share data.
- Non-profit evaluators or community-engaged researchers can use the templates and sample questions to build trust, support transparency and keep clear communication about consent with community partners.
- Non-profit organizations can use the data management plan template and linked resources to better understand data safety, risk, and how to organize and manage their data.
Image source: Ross Burgess, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
