In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Jeff Jowdy speaks with David Lawson, co-founder and CEO of NewSci and author of Big Good:Philanthropy in the Age of Big Data. With over 25 years as a fundraising and tech entrepreneur, David Lawson focuses on bringing actionable insight to the nonprofit arena. In his conversation with Jeff, David defines big data and explains how nonprofits can manage and use the data that they already have to build their culture of philanthropy. David answers:

·     What is big data and what does it mean for nonprofits?

·     How can an organization get started with collecting and analyzing all of the information that classifies as big data?

·     How can nonprofits use the information they’ve collected to develop a personalized fundraising approach?

About our guest

David brings more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur focused on providing actionable insights and technology to the philanthropic community.  In 1997 he founded Prospect Information Network (P!N) which became the largest wealth screening company and received the InfoCommerce Model of Excellence Award before being purchased in 2004. In 2013 he co-founded NewSci, LLC.to bring artificial intelligence, Big Data, and cognitive computing to the philanthropic community. NewSci was one of the first companies to develop a commercial application using IBM Watson. David is a recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple for Teaching Excellence and APRA Distinguished Service Awards. David is the author of Big Good: Philanthropy in the Age of Big Data & Cognitive Computing.  David is also the Co-Founder ofWorkingPhilanthropy.com and is Chair of Domi Education, a business incubator in Tallahassee. 

Twitter: @lawson_david 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dlawson/ 

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