Communities

Some things you can never fully plan for. Smart phones. The pandemic. Artificial intelligence. The breadth and depth of federal funding cuts.

The impact on our lives and our communities has exceeded expectations, even among the experts.

Staying abreast of trends and measuring the possible effects of change has never been more important. And never before have we had access to such powerful tools to aid us.

There’s no longer any reason for costly comprehensive plans to be thick publications that gather dust on shelves. They should be living documents – available and relevant not only to government commissions or nonprofit boards, but to the people they serve.

This page provides some insights into ways planning could and should work. The map above demonstrates how data and mapping can be melded into an engaging presentation of county population changes, from one census to the next. Roll your mouse over the counties for more data. Use the slider to move from one decade to the next. Data can be mapped at a wide range of geographies, including counties, cities, towns, villages, coverage areas and census block groups.

While the map looks at past patterns, the AI-assisted simulators listed below offer predictive modeling, zeroing in on factors such as remote workers, housing and other features of community life. Clients of Nonprofit Pivot receive in-depth data and forecasting tools tailored to their needs.

We want to help make comprehensive planning an ongoing process that helps communities and nonprofits adapt to and take advantage of rapid change. Please try our free simulators, and contact us for more information. 

The New Residents Simulator projects the impact of stay-at-home workers, a trend that began long before Covid-19, but certainly accelerated with the pandemic. We’ve also added a section for the number of tourists who move to a community they visit. You can change outcomes by changing the entries for each data line. (Click the ? icon for source information.)

Run Simulation