The Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University has launched a new effort to serve as one-stop shopping for research data to assist organizations in Grand Rapids.
Donna VanIwaarden, a professor in the School of Public and Nonprofit Administration at GVSU, has been appointed to the new position of assistant director at the Center for Philanthropy. Her primary responsibility will be to coordinate the Community Data Initiative.
The Grand Rapids metropolitan area has many public, private, and nonprofit organizations devoting resources to building and maintaining a healthy community, says VanIwaarden. These organizations need access to data for needs assessment, grant proposals, baseline indicators, and outcome measurements. But they often find it difficult to acquire useful data.
Van Iwaarden adds that GVSU could serve as a single repository for data that local organizations may acquire through their own surveys and research, data that could be useful for other organizations. She and Dott Freeman, director of the Center for Philanthropy, see Grand Valley serving as a clearinghouse for technical assistance in locating, collecting and interpreting data. They have already established relationships with 15 local organizations to begin an inventory of existing data sources, including the Kent County Health Department, the Family Independence Agency, Grand Rapids Public Schools, the Right Place Program, and Metro Council, among others.
VanIwaarden will work half-time at the center and continue to teach. Her teaching, publication, and research interests include program evaluation, health policy and administration, the managed care of institutionalized elderly persons, and long-term care. She has served on the boards of various public and non-profit organizations.
