PDC Data Categories Overview

The Philanthropy Data Commons handles data from a variety of different source systems and remains flexible in handling different types of data regardless of source naming differences. One key aspect to the handling of data is to attribute a data category to the fields we use to store, display, share, and send data across the sector.

How PDC data contributors might name or label data elements on their systems is important. But, rather than PDC attempting to mandate rules or standards on naming, we can bridge various standards through our ERD model in addition to the understanding of how the source data can be mapped into categories.

The tables below show the current PDC data categories we attribute and track to Base Fields throughout the platform.

Organizational Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data that is publicly available about the organization associated with the proposal record	Default: Required	Mission and Vision Statements, organization history, government ID, general contact info, General Leadership, General Board data
Limited Access	Data associated to the organization that is not publicly accessible	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Org demographic information, additional location data, Internal staff specifics, organization budget information.

Project or Initiative Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with the specific project(s) or initiative(s) referenced in the proposal	Default: Shared Recommended, but Optional	Title or summary of project, general description, high-level goals, etc.
Limited Access	Data associated with the specific project(s) or initiative(s) referenced in proposals	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Specific project details, specific goals, target audiences or beneficiaries, Specific contact information

Needs Assessment Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with the proposals supporting summary or general justifications or rationale of the work	Default: Shared Recommended, but Optional	Problem statement, context, general stats, external public references
Limited Access	Data associated with the proposals that might be more sensitive in nature	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Specific demographics, community information, audience context

Methodology & Approach Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with the proposals that provides summary on tactics or approach	Default: Shared Recommended, but Optional	Summary of action, timeline, external references to public assets
Limited Access	Data associated with proposals that has details on methodology, tactics, tools, or other specifics	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Plan of actions detail, Specific innovations, and specific techniques or handling, team details, activities, strategies

Budget Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with proposals with summary budget information or major amounts	Default: Shared Recommended, but Optional	Top-level amounts, budget timeframe, key amounts for summary view
Limited Access	Data associated with proposals that provides deeper details on budget categories, breakdowns, scenarios, or other details of interest	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Second and third level budget details, specific programmatic details on cost, staff costs, budget metrics

Evaluation Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with proposals that states general approach on evaluation and learning approaches or handling	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Summary or highlights of evaluation methods, declaration of any commonly understood methodologies.
Limited Access	Data associated with proposals that details learning and evaluation information and specifics	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Specifics around formulas, subjects, metrics, timeframes, goals, findings, challenges

Sustainability Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with proposals with a summary or general statements on sustainability	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Summary on any sustainability broad strokes, references to any know models or methods used
Limited Access	Data associated with proposals that details sustainability models, categories, planning and or other details	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Possible details of formulas and considerations, specifics around existing revenue, donors, challenges, plans

Partnerships & Collaborations Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with proposals that states other organizations or collaborators are involved	Default: Shared Recommended, but Optional	List of key partners, references or links to other related organizations or initiatives
Limited Access	Data associated with proposals that provide details or elements around and beyond the basic statements of involvement	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Details on related partnerships, types of relationships, durations of relationships, commitment budgets, key staff to the collaborations

Impact & Outcomes Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
General Information	Data associated with proposals that addresses outcomes and impact framing	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Summary of key impacts and outcomes, references to methods to be used, summary of possible results
Limited Access	Data associated with proposals that might expand and add details to outcomes and impact framing	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Details of impact and outcome goals, challenges, outlier issues, challenges, discovery specifics

Technical Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
Limited Access	Data associated with the proposals that relates to the data and systems handling	Optional to share all identified in this category per proposal or specific elements	Any fields or data elements that are used to mark systems checks or technical aspects of the handling or tracking of the proposals between systems

Uncategorized Data

Sub-Category	Description	Sharing Options	Examples
Limited Access	Data associated with the proposals PDC was unable to initially associate or triage with a known data category.	Default: NOT SHARED Optional to share would be on the organization staff to enable	Data elements that cannot be determined through previous learning or triage so it will default to “other”, file attachments, file links that are not able to be associated to data categories

Last Updated: March 18, 2026