Creating Visual Thinkers in the Fundraising Research Community

Ask a group of researchers whether they consider themselves visual thinkers. Most will answer “yes” without really considering what this means. Why is this so?

Maybe it’s because people “with vision” are admired among their peers. Perhaps visual thinkers are superior problem solvers and thus rise to the top positions in an organization. Although it’s hard to say why, people like to be known as visual thinkers.

It’s unfortunate, then, that some researchers aren't given the opportunity to share new ideas, develop effective business practices, or adopt new tools that embrace visual thinking and communication in their shops. This seems unusual given today’s ever-expanding volume of data and focus on organizational performance.

• Describing the connection between vision and cognition
• Introducing the concepts of data visualization
• Presenting visual examples of good and bad choices for reporting and graphical displays
• Demonstrating new techniques for effectively analyzing and displaying data