A Simple Guide for Village Data Collection

In Fall of 2024, graduate students from UMBC’sEntrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership program took on a project driven by the Maryland Department of Aging (MDOA) and the Washington Area Villages Exchange (WAVE). Their task was tocreate a comprehensive resource to help "villages" (nonprofits supporting older adults) effectively collect and report on data to support village members. This effort was aimed at enabling theseorganizations to better assist older adults in their goal of “Aging in place.” The result of this collaboration was the Village Data Collection Solutions Toolkit. This document offered detailedguidance on assessing an organization’s current data collection status, in addition to the best practices for safeguarding memberdata.