Case Studies in Data Storytelling: Unpacking RMMFI's Successful Approach


Data storytelling is an essential tool for organizations seeking to communicate their impact and engage their team. In July 2023, Paul Collier invited Theresa Rinne-Meyers and Linda Xiong from the Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute (RMMFI) to share examples of data storytelling from their organization. Theresa and Linda illustrated RMMFI’s approach by describing the process used to create the org's first Impact Report, and their approach to hosting internal program retrospectives.

External Storytelling at RMMFI

RMMFI, a grassroots organization supporting entrepreneurs, shares data through typical channels, including grant reports and through their website. In 2022, they recognized the need for a centralized, compelling narrative to showcase their impact. Last year marked RMMFI's first attempt at creating an impact report, and it proved to be an important milestone for their data storytelling journey.

RMMFI’s 2022 Impact Report has three pillars: Ownership of Self, Ownership of Wealth, and Ownership of Community Health. These were the same three pillars reflected in RMMFI’s Theory of Change. Structuring their impact report in a similar way helped ground the impact report in RMMFI’s longer-term impact strategy.

When designing the report, Theresa (RMMFI’s Director of Impact) emphasized that they considered the needs of multiple stakeholders, not only funders. They wanted to create a report that was inspiring and relatable to entrepreneurs, helped volunteers understand their contribution, and build trust among funders and program partners.

Throughout the presentation, Theresa highlighted some key features of the report:

  • Personal: RMMFI's CEO delivered a personal video message in the report, speaking to the viewer and introducing the report’s theme of: "Listening, Learning, and Innovating for Results."

  • Relatable: The report combined data visualized through charts alongside entrepreneur stories, humanizing the numbers.

  • Scaffolding Information: After the video, the report introduced RMMFI’s Theory of Change and shared some high-level impact statistics. Then, the report went into more depth about the impact RMMFI is making on each of the three pillars of ownership.

  • Transparent Financials: RMMFI included financial results for 2022, and compared these financials to their Social Return on Investment analysis. This SROI analysis illustrates the long-term economic benefit of investing in RMMFI’s programs.

  • Asset-Based: The report leveraged asset-based language, focusing on entrepreneurs' successes rather than their obstacles.

When creating this report, RMMFI engaged a diverse team of staff members (including many who had previously participated in RMMFI’s programs) to avoid blind spots and balance the needs of the report’s various audiences. This resulted in working through many iterations of the report over a period of two and a half months.

Theresa also shared their vision for RMMFI’s second Impact Report, coming in late 2023. They plan to enhance the report with interactive data visualizations and engage entrepreneurs more in the drafting process. Additionally, they intend to release a Spanish version of the report to meet the needs of their diverse community.

Internal Data Engagement at RMMFI

Internal retrospectives are a key practice for data engagement among the RMMFI. These retrospectives help teams reflect on each program RMMFI facilitates (for example, their Business Launch Bootcamp) by reviewing data from program surveys, pre-post assessments, and mentor evaluations. Linda Xiong, RMMFI’s Impact Manager, leads the internal retrospective process. The retrospectives encourage data-informed decision-making and builds accountability and ownership among team members.

After a program wraps up, Linda collects data from various sources and summarizes it into an executive summary. The Google Sheets analysis template Linda created is simple, visual, and easy to replicate from program to program. By leveraging a template, Linda needs only an hour or two to gather data, clean the results, visualize the data, and share this with the rest of the program staff. Staff members have time to review this data before the meeting, and come prepared with their reactions.

During the retrospective, Linda takes a few minutes to present the data. Then, she facilitates a conversation around two key questions:

  1. What went well, and why?

  2. What can be improved and how?

An open discussion follows, where team members share their lived experiences from the program, insights from the data, and propose action steps. During this, Linda serves as a notetaker while allowing the team members involved in the program to debrief and share their reactions.

Linda shared that over time, the RMMFI team has become more comfortable with reviewing data, and has become more engaged in retrospectives. Internal retrospectives have become a habit, supporting a culture of reflection and improvement among the team. As the team has grown, the team has also found more capacity to take action on ideas from retrospectives, creating a virtuous cycle of learning and growth.

Additional Resources and Reading

RMMFI’s data practices show what’s possible when a small team is committed to learning through leveraging data. While Theresa and Linda are the only data staff among a small team (34 at the time of this blog), they have led RMMFI in harnessing the power of data and collaboration in ways that many larger organizations can only aspire to.

If you’d like to view the full “Case Studies in Data Storytelling” webinar, the recording is available on Youtube. In addition, we discussed several other resources in this event:

We invite you to stay in touch with Theresa, Linda, and Paul on LinkedIn. Theresa and Linda aren't for hire (unfortunately) but are open to chatting about opportunities to collaborate with RMMFI. Finally, if you'd like to talk with Coeffect about providing data coaching or training for your organization, put time on Paul’s calendar here.

Paul Collier