CLASSIE 2.1: new and improved

By Kathy Richardson, chaos controller of Our Community

This article is extracted from Our Community Matters.

Late last year, Our Community released a new version of CLASSIE, the data classification system that underpins an exciting array of data analytics projects.

With CLASSIE, Our Community aims to get government grantmakers, philanthropists, not-for-profit organisations, businesses, social investors, donors - anyone who's contributing money to create change - to start speaking the same language. It's the first crucial step in the march towards evidence-based practice and accelerated outcomes.

Our vision for CLASSIE is that ultimately, it will provide all those groups and individuals with information on what actually works. Which means donors will be able to see beyond the numbers - beyond which charity spent how much on how many blankets for homeless people, for example - and instead find out which outcomes were the most successful.

We're under no illusions about the difficulty of what we're trying to achieve with CLASSIE. Outcomes classification is the toughest nut to crack, and our international investigations reveal that no one has got there yet, though many are trying. We're confident we'll get there, and when we do, we'll see truly useful insights emerge, providing the underlying conditions required for a massive collective acceleration of positive social change.

Latest features

The newest release of CLASSIE (Version 2.1), now available in the SmartyGrants online grants management system, incorporates feedback received by grantmakers and others since November 2016. For example, we've added new subjects, such as:

• Business and industry > Research and development
• Music > Electronic music
• Diversity and intergroup relations > Reconciliation
• Diversity and intergroup relations > Social inclusion
• Community and economic development > Place-based interventions

And we've added new population groups, such as:

• Victims of crime and abuse > Victims of human trafficking
• Victims of crime and abuse > Victims of sexual abuse
• Victims of crime and abuse > Victims of domestic and family violence

You can view the full list of CLASSIE changes, download the spreadsheets, sign up for CLASSIE updates, or provide feedback on other changes you would like to see reflected in the listings at www.ourcommunity.com.au/CLASSIE, or by emailing classie@ourcommunity.com.au

MORE: if you need an explanation of what CLASSIE is, check out our video explainer:

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