Keynote Speaker — Building trust in Big Data: Big Data Analytics for Evaluation

Peter York

Peter York is Principal and Chief Data Scientist at BCT Partners. He has over 20 years of experience as a consultant and researcher in the evaluation and nonprofit fields, as well as a national spokesperson for social impact and impact measurement issues.

He has spent the last nine years developing analytic techniques that leverage machine learning algorithms and big data to create predictive, prescriptive and rigorous evaluation (causal) models and tools for social change agents in many fields, including nonprofit capacity building, child welfare, juvenile justice, workforce development, adult justice, adult protective services and child mental health.

Examples of some of his related publications include: Predictive and prescriptive analytics, machine learning and child welfare risk assessment: The Broward County experience; and Measuring Results and Impact in the Age of Big Data: the Nexus of Evaluation, Analytics, and Digital Technology

He led the development of BCT’s national Equitable Impact Platform (EquIP), a big data platform combining IRS 990, American Community Survey and geospatial data to assess, evaluate, and study the nonprofit sector’s contribution to equitable community improvement.

In addition to his data science work, he has spent the past 20+ years designing and leading numerous research and evaluation studies with private philanthropies, corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.

He has authored book chapters, academic and professional articles, and a book on the topic of evaluation – “Funder’s Guide to Evaluation: Leveraging Evaluation to Improve Nonprofit Effectiveness.” He is a popular speaker on evaluation, capacity building and data science/analytics, presenting regularly at professional conferences.