Coaching Leadership on Collecting, Understanding, & Using Data

Easterseals Crossroads began in 1936 when Mrs. William E. Gavin headed a club of 12 teenagers with disabilities with the main goal of socialization. In 1939, the group became formally organized under the leadership of The Indiana Society for Crippled Children. A year later, it became an affiliate of what is now National Easterseals. Today, Easterseals Crossroads works with children and adults with disabilities and special needs—and their families—to promote growth, dignity, and independence by providing appropriate and progressive services in central Indiana.

In delivering these services, Easterseals collects and uses a substantial amount of data. However, collecting data, navigating required databases, and understanding how to apply that data to inform strategic decisions often presents challenges—ones we’ve seen across many of our nonprofit partnerships.

To support Easterseals Crossroads in building data fluency across its teams, Bridge Builder Strategies developed a coaching guide and conducted an initial training session with their program directors. The guide focused on three core goals: why data usage is essential, how to collect data and work within the existing systems, and how to translate that data into strategic insight and action.

We began with an organizational analysis and survey to inform the design of the guide. From there, we collaborated with Easterseals leadership to expand the guide into a full training toolkit tailored to their team’s needs. That toolkit became the foundation for a training session with program directors, followed by a survey to assess the experience and identify gaps. Based on those findings, we designed and led a second training session to deepen understanding and address remaining needs.

Today, our partnership with Easterseals Crossroads continues. We are working together to strengthen internal capacity, deepen the use of data in decision-making, and build a lasting framework that supports their mission with clarity and confidence.