You may have existing data in a CSV that you want to chart in the ImpactMapper chart tool. There are many cool charts that you can create by setting up your CSV data in a certain way.

This tutorial is divided into two parts. The first part demonstrates how you upload your CSV in ImpactMapper. The second part shows you various ways that you can structure your CSV data and its resulting chart/visualization.

There is a tutorial video for this section (Upload your CSV in ImpactMapper). You can skip reading this part and scroll down to view the tutorial video instead.

Once you dataset is structured in CSV, it can then be uploaded to ImpactMapper’s Chart tool.

First, go to the 'Chart' icon on the left sidebar.

Click ‘Create Chart’

You are directed to the Chart page where you can click ‘Upload CSV’ on the upper right corner of the screen.

A window pops up that allows you to go to the folder where your CSV data is saved. Select the CSV data you want to chart and click ‘Open’.

The resulting chart based on the CSV data you structured appears after clicking ‘Open.’ You can further customize your chart by clicking ‘Settings’.

To save your chart, hit the ‘Save’ button at the lower right of the screen. The name of the CSV file you uploaded becomes the default name of your chart.

You can change the default name by clicking the name of the chart at the upper left corner of the chart tool interface. A dialogue box pops up which allows you to change the name. Click ‘Change’and then click the ‘Save’ button after entering your new chart name.

Embedded in the ImpactMapper chart tool are various types of charts you can select from based on your data visualization needs. You can create charts such as Column, Stacked, Bar, Line, Area, Pie, Heatmap, and Bubble.

For further reference, below is a video demonstrating how to upload your CSV data in ImpactMapper

Below are various ways you can structure your CSV data with examples of the charts that are produced. You can use these common CSV templates and add your own data to get you started charting quickly.

1. Presenting trends of your funding/programs by location and year.

2. Presenting Dichotomous Data or data that are derived from two categories, levels, or options (i.e., Yes/No, Female/Male, etc.).

Data can be presented as column charts

Data can also be presented as stacked columns

3. Presenting data gathered through counting, scores or measures (Continuous Data).

4. Charting continuous data disaggregated by groups. Groups can be rating or ranks or characteristics such as age, height, etc.

See how CSV looks like in the video below:

5. Charting data showing frequencies.

6. Visualizing demographic data from multiple choices. Below are various ways the data can be charted

7. Visualizing data for donor share of funding per grantee.

8. Cross-tabulating two variables, such as Type of organization by Type of grant (new vs renewal).

In this particular example, the data is stacked by its percentage share, another feature of

9. Analysis of three variables, such as funding, region, and time.

See how CSV looks like in the video below: