Click on the arrow below to watch the video
If your Centre already collects easily accessible demographic data, review this data over the last financial year or a 12 month period. This will populate Table A and help you identify the main demographic profile of who uses your organisation.
For Centres who do not yet collect this demographic information, you can use your knowledge of who uses your Centre based on observation.
Completing this table will indicate who is currently accessing your Community Centre. It will tell you who in the community you are reaching successfully through current programs and events, volunteerism, partnerships with other organisations, and facility hire.
As approaches vary in the way Centres collect and record Centre User data we have provided some options on how you can approach Table A.
Click the headings below for more detail
This article from the Community Toolbox Kit outlines how to develop an observational system for collecting participant data.
Identify the main demographic trends that have emerged from the data in the Table A (or from your own organisations records or data base) and enter this information in Table B.
It’s also worth noting here any Emerging Groups – this is where your Centre has begun to make connections with groups that are not captured in the dominant profile of Centre users, but are representative of other groups within the community that you might want to strengthen connections with in the future. This could be the large number of families that hire your facilities for children’s birthday parties or a culturally diverse community group that uses your hall each Sunday for religious gatherings.
When you have summarised the key trends, does anything surprise you about the data you have captured on your Centre-users? Or does it confirm what you already know?
Share your considerations in the comments section at the bottom of this page.
Summarising the data from your centre’s database or Table A does involve some basic mathematics! A percentage calculator might help.
Click the headings below for more detail
If you do not have any data of your own to practice with, below you can download Table A and Table B with the example data used in the video.
Download Table A – Example Data below and, using the instructions above, summarise the data into a blank Table B. Then you can check your answers against Table B – Example Data below.
Click on the Next Topic button below to continue.
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