The Lookup Lab: Advanced Excel Skills for Grantmakers

This event is part of PEAK's Data Visualization Learning Series. Click here to learn more.

Grants professionals collect and manage vast amounts of data and are often tasked with organizing information from multiple sources into coherent reports for boards and senior leaders. In this hands-on lookup training, we're picking up where we left off at PEAK2025 with participants learning how to locate and combine datasets. We’ll cover the purpose and types of data merging, how to build unique lists, and how to use relative, absolute, and mixed cell references. Then, we’ll dive into lookup techniques within tables and across sheets. With tons of guided practice and grantmaking-specific examples, attendees will walk away with the critical, time-saving skills to confidently integrate complex datasets. 

By attending this workshop, participants will develop the following competencies: 

• Understand the purpose and types of data merging and when to use each lookup function—VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH—in real-world grantmaking scenarios. 
• Apply Excel lookup techniques—including the use of relative, absolute, and mixed cell references—to accurately combine grant-level and grantee-level datasets. 
• Streamline reporting and decision-making for grants professionals using Excel tables and cross-sheet lookups. 

Trainer

Ann K. Emery

Data Visualization Designer

Depict Data Studio

Date and Time

September 10, 2025

1:00 pm – 4:30 pm EDT

Event Pricing and Access

• Organization Members: $125 per session
• Consultant Members: $125 per session
• Individual Members: $200 per session
• Nonmembers: $200 per session

Participants can register for multiple sessions in the Data Visualization Learning Series. Please register for each session individually. Each session will be 3.5 hours with 2.5 hours of training to be followed by 1 hour of office hours for participants to ask additional questions, troubleshoot, and receive guidance from Ann.

Registrants will receive the Zoom information two days before the start of the session, as well as one hour before the start of the session. This session will be recorded and available for viewing for 30 days.