December 13, 2024
Welcome to the Philanthropy Data Commons Newsletter!
Greetings!
We are thrilled to launch this newsletter series and connect with a growing community of sector leaders dedicated to reimagining how philanthropy works.
The Philanthropy Data Commons (PDC) is a shared sector-wide technical and data governance infrastructure that enables new ways of managing data and information as a collective asset; fosters trust among grant seekers and funders; and spurs more equitable access to resources in philanthropy.
The PDC launched in 2021 with one big idea: to ease the burden of applying for grants. It was conceptualized by the MacArthur Foundation, along with other funders and “changemakers” (organizations seeking grants), looking to democratize data sharing throughout the sector and create more access to funding for community-based changemakers. A small coalition of changemakers, funders, grants management system and data platform providers came together to pressure test the concept of the PDC. This was followed by an extensive pilot in 2022 and 2023 to test the viability of a data commons and develop a collaborative governance framework for the PDC.
This brings us to 2024, a pivotal year for the PDC as it transitioned from pilot to production. We have refined our strategic vision, set priorities, and established a governance structure grounded in a single data use agreement. Concurrently, we have been working on the development of our first application – “Exchange,” powered by the PDC, that enables funder collaboratives to more easily and consistently share up-to-date information about changemakers.
In Exchange, changemakers will control how their proposal data and organization data are shared, increase their visibility to and connection with more funders, and avoid duplicate or inconsistent data in disconnected systems. Also, funders will be able to easily and securely surface authorized proposals and information about changemaker activity and needs using their own existing systems.
We see Exchange as our first step toward demonstrating the PDC’s potential to foster an interconnected philanthropic community. But we envision PDC’s true capabilities to extend far beyond this, with the capacity to support a wide range of applications and tools that leverage philanthropic data to enhance collaboration, drive insights, and optimize resource allocation across the sector. To aid this larger vision, the PDC operations team has been actively exploring strategic partnerships and laying the groundwork for the initiative’s long-term sustainability and financial viability.
We know many others are working to disrupt how data is used, managed and governed in philanthropy. If you are engaged in similar work, we’d love to connect and find ways to partner, collaborate, and create greater impact together.
To learn more about our work, visit our website at philanthropydatacommons.org. We invite you to stay engaged, share your feedback, and let us know how the PDC might serve your organization’s needs.
Let’s shape the future of philanthropy together!
Regards,
Elizabeth Kane & John Mohr
PDC Co-Directors
Disclaimer: Currently, PDC is temporarily housed within Mac Services, an affiliate of the MacArthur Foundation. Mac Services retains full legal, fiscal and fiduciary responsibility for the PDC.