What Nonprofits Can Learn from Evidence-Based Medicine

Nonprofits can transform their impact by adopting the same principles that revolutionized modern healthcare. In this thought leadership piece, Dr. Binay Shah, oncologist and co-founder of Binaytara Foundation, explains how evidence-based medicine (EBM) offers a framework for data-driven decision-making, strategic growth, and measurable outcomes in the nonprofit sector.

This article was also published on Forbes.

Running a sustainable nonprofit is a numbers game. And when it comes to numbers in nonprofit organizations, unlocking key insights that reveal opportunities for growth and improvement is critical for scaling impact.

As an oncologist, I relied on comprehensive diagnostic data to determine the best treatment for each patient. This same analytical approach has guided my leadership at Binaytara, a global oncology nonprofit focused on improving access to cancer care. Just as misreading patient data can cost lives, operating a nonprofit without an evidence-based strategy can mean organizational failure, and ultimately, fewer lives transformed.

Data-Driven Decision-Making: Lessons from Evidence-Based Medicine

The evidence-based approach to medicine began taking shape in the 1960s and 1970s, led by innovators like Suzanne and Robert Fletcher. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) emerged from a growing awareness that traditional clinical practices—often based on authority or personal experience—had serious limitations. At its core, EBM combines clinical epidemiology, critical reading of medical literature, and the use of scientific research at the bedside. It relies on structured tools like randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses to evaluate and apply evidence in patient care.

Using a similarly structured approach to that which underlies EBM is vital to the success and growth of nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits face several challenges, such as fundraising, making a tangible impact, and demonstrating that impact. Many of these challenges can be tackled by collecting and analyzing data carefully, then using those insights to make smarter, evidence-based decisions.

Why Nonprofits Need an Evidence-Based Framework

For nonprofits, smart data collection aids operational excellence. It helps leaders identify gaps and devise efficient solutions that extend organizational impact. For example, Corewell Health, a Michigan-based nonprofit health system, conducted a study that used predictive analytics as a powerful tool to forecast which patients faced the highest risk of hospital readmission. Over 20 months, their data-driven approach kept 200 patients from being readmitted and resulted in a $5 million cost savings. Not only did the insights gained from data save lives, but they also led to cost-efficiency, a major challenge when it comes to the financial sustainability of many non-profits.

Building Binaytara: Turning Data into a Roadmap for Growth

When I co-founded Binaytara with my wife Tara, our mission was clear: improve access to cancer care, both here in the United States and around the world. In smaller clinics in the US, I saw not only patients but also a broken system. The lack of access to cancer education and the slow adoption of medical innovation in clinics were glaring. We saw the level of care change dramatically depending on what neighborhood in New York we were in, and my clinic in rural Idaho was years behind the standard of care across the Cascades in Seattle which is home to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute and the University of Washington. Identifying these gap gave rise to a solution for the educational challenges I observed and laid the foundation for a sustainable model to run Binaytara.

We started small, just one conference in our first year, by tapping into our network of physicians locally. The oncology practitioners who attended gave us resounding feedback that education conferences like these were helpful. To make a larger impact, we had to grow. Each year, we collected data, analyzed surveys, identified gaps, and measured impact. That data became our roadmap. Today, our educational programs have expanded to more than 25 states across the U.S., hosting 59 conferences in 2025 alone, and we are not slowing down. Our 2026 strategic plan, grounded in what we have learned, aims to scale to over 70 continuing medical education conferences. To get there, we are optimizing our team structure and tracking everything, from enrollment to completion rates.

Measuring What Matters: Beyond Good Intentions

And here is what the data told us so far: conference enrollment plummets during the summer by 75% and during the end-of-year holidays by 30%. That was an interesting and actionable insight gleaned from our data analysis. Now we are rethinking when and how we deliver programs to stretch our resources further and get better outcomes for the communities we serve.

This data-driven approach aligns with the principles of EBM, which emphasizes making decisions based on measurable outcomes rather than assumptions. While for-profit companies would not dream of launching a product without testing it, some nonprofits routinely roll out programs affecting thousands of lives without measuring what actually works. EBM teaches us otherwise.

Consider the significant difference rigorous measurement made for a job training program serving underserved communities. Instead of just counting how many people attended classes, the usual nonprofit metric, administrators tracked what truly mattered: job placement rates, income changes, and the community's economic impact. The results were impressive and life-changing. Data showed 80% job placement rates, 30% average wage increases, and measurable local economic revitalization. Without systematic data collection, this program might have continued for years with good intentions but mediocre results, wasting donor dollars while participants remained underemployed. The evidence proves that the program worked, and it identified precisely which parts were effective. Data like this inspires action and brings funders to the table.

Learning from The Gates Foundation’s Multi-Method Approach

The world's largest private philanthropic foundation, The Gates Foundation, is an exemplar of how data-driven decision-making facilitates leadership oversight and supports an organization's effectiveness. Just as physicians never rely on a single diagnostic test to treat a patient and instead combine lab results, scans, physical examination, and patient history to reach accurate diagnoses, the Gates Foundation employs what they call "multiple measurement methods to draw conclusions" because "no one method of data collection or analysis is perfect" when dealing with complex human behavior and systems change. This approach recognizes that lives hang in the balance, shaped by multiple, intersecting factors.

When a doctor misdiagnoses due to incomplete data, a patient suffers. When a nonprofit makes strategic decisions based on limited or flawed measurement approaches, entire communities bear the consequences. As such, the Gates Foundation's systematic approach to using diverse data sources, including quantitative metrics, qualitative interviews, independent assessments, and real-time feedback loops, mirrors the comprehensive diagnostic approach that has improved patient outcomes.

The Ethical Imperative of Evidence-Based Leadership

At Binaytara, we systematically examine what the data is telling us: revenue trends across grants, donations, and sponsorships, monthly conference enrollment patterns, and digital engagement metrics by channel. These are the diagnostic tools that have enabled our organization to grow exponentially over nearly two decades, expanding from a handful of conferences to over 50 annually across 20+ states.

No oncology physician would treat a patient without first performing physical exams, ordering labs, and reviewing medical history. In the same vein, nonprofit leaders cannot afford to make strategic decisions in a data vacuum. EBM principles are the ethical imperative for any organization that stewards donor dollars and is accountable to the communities it serves.

Closing Thoughts: Measure, Learn, and Act with Purpose

In a sector where resources are limited and human needs are infinite, we owe it to those we serve to measure what matters, act on what we learn, and prove that our interventions actually work. The lives depending on our success deserve nothing less than the same rigorous, evidence-driven approach that we demand from doctors.

Dr. Binay Shah, oncologist and co-founder of Binaytara Foundation, explains how evidence-based medicine (EBM) offers a framework for data-driven decision-making, strategic growth, and measurable outcomes in the nonprofit sector.