How are you defining key data terms (like “longest partner”) in your visualizations?
Hi All—
As I’ve been experimenting with the new data visualization tool, I’ve realized how much the definitions we assign to certain terms can completely change the story our dashboards tell.
For example, I started building a chart to highlight our “Top 20 Longest Organization Partners.” My initial logic was to sort by the distinct year count to span an organization’s first and most recent award. However, that surfaced some organizations we haven’t funded in 10+ years — they technically have long histories with us, but aren’t what I’d consider active long-term partners.
This got me thinking outside of the tool and curious to know in general:
- How are others defining “longest partner” (or similar terms like “most consistent,” “most active,” etc.)?
- Do you weigh recency, frequency, or continuity when defining these kinds of relationships?
- More broadly, how are you approaching definitions for other data dimensions in your visualizations — such as returning vs. new grantee, top-funded organizations, repeat funding, or multi-year partnerships?
I’d love to hear how others are approaching these conceptual definitions — both for consistency across dashboards and to get inspired by different ways of thinking about the data we already have.
Thanks in advance for sharing your approaches or examples!
