April 9, 2025
We are back with some exciting updates from the PDC!
Over the past four months, we have been hard at work turning the vision of the Philanthropy Data Commons (PDC) into reality—and today, we’re thrilled to share a major milestone.
In our last edition, we introduced Exchange—the first application powered by the PDC, designed to help funders share up-to-date information about grantees more easily and consistently. Now, we’re excited to announce that we have taken a significant step forward.
Introducing Exchange Alpha: A Game Changer for Funders & Changemakers
🚀 Exchange Alpha is here! We’ve built an early-stage, minimum viable product (MVP) that brings the vision for Exchange to life and takes a huge step toward solving one of philanthropy’s biggest pain points – the disconnect between funders and changemakers.
🔹 As a changemaker, you don’t always know which funders are actively seeking proposals or how their priorities shift over time.
🔹 As a funder, you have specific funding priorities, but limited time and visibility to find high-impact organizations that align with your goals.
💡 What does Exchange Alpha do?
In this first iteration of the application, we have developed foundational features to facilitate structured interactions and smarter matching between funders and changemakers. By providing a structured way for funders and changemakers to connect, we aim to reduce inefficiencies, improve transparency, and help funding flow more effectively. Specifically, this Alpha version of Exchange enables:
🔹 Early-stage data-sharing capabilities that lay the groundwork for funder collaboratives to exchange insights while respecting privacy and data governance best practices.
🔹 Search capabilities for funders to identify relevant changemakers based on their funding priorities.
🔹 Greater visibility for changemakers by allowing them to share standardized, up-to-date information with funders actively seeking new grantees.
This is just the beginning. With real user engagement, we can refine these features, expand integrations, and ensure Exchange delivers maximum value to the sector. But to truly unlock the power of Exchange, we need YOU.
The Future of Exchange & The PDC: Why We Need Early Adopters Now
The next few months are critical for defining the future of Exchange. Our top priority is onboarding real users to test its capabilities and demonstrate its power in action.
We need foundations, funder collaboratives and philanthropy serving organizations to join us—share data, test the platform, and help shape its evolution. By doing so, you will be at the forefront of a movement that challenges outdated systems and builds a more connected, responsive, and effective philanthropic sector.
The PDC’s potential is limitless—but only if we build it together. Here’s how you can join us:
📅 Schedule a Demo to see how Exchange works and explore opportunities to collaborate.
📣 Spread the word—share this newsletter with funders and changemakers in your network.
🔔 Follow us on LinkedIn for updates on our progress.
📩 Questions? Ideas? Want to collaborate? Reach out to us!
If you’ve been waiting for the right time to get involved, this is it. Let’s build this movement together!
Best,
Elizabeth Kane & John Mohr
PDC Co-Directors
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👋 Out in the Field: PDC at Conferences Near You!
Over the past few months, the PDC team has been on the road, connecting with peers, sharing our progress, and learning from others across the sector. In March, our Co-Directors had the opportunity to attend the PEAK Grantmaking Conference in New Orleans and the Microsoft Global Nonprofit Leaders Summit in Bellevue—two powerful gatherings where we met fellow funders and changemakers and sparked important conversations about the future of data in philanthropy.
📸 Here’s a quick peek at our recent travels:
PDC Co-Director John Mohr joined Sam Caplan from Submittable and Angela Randle from The Coca-Cola Company in a breakout session on “Leveraging Technology for Equitable and Inclusive Grantmaking” at the 2025 PEAK Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
PDC Co-Directors John Mohr and Liz Kane joined Woodrow Rosenbaum from Giving Tuesday and Kate Ruff from Common Approach for Impact Measurement for a fireside chat at the Microsoft Global Nonprofit Leaders Summit in March.
Coming up next, we’re excited to join Good Tech Fest and the Leading Locally Conference to continue the dialogue on how shared data infrastructure can create a more equitable, collaborative sector. ✨ Catch us at the next ones—and let’s connect!
Advisory Board Member Spotlight:
In this edition of PDC Connect, we’re shining a spotlight on Michael Thatcher, CEO of Charity Navigator and a dedicated member of our Advisory Board. Michael has been a steadfast advocate for greater transparency and accountability in the nonprofit sector, and his commitment to the PDC is rooted in that mission.
“Today, changemakers (nonprofits) spend an inordinate amount of time applying for and reporting on grants with enormous amounts of redundant effort that are not program related. The PDC offers an opportunity for changemakers to control how their data gets used and reused in a way that could significantly reduce useless and redundant effort. It will increase access and discovery of application and performance data to intermediaries and funders, fostering a more effective ecosystem for all parties involved. Charity Navigator joined the PDC in 2022 to help make it a reality. We have nearly a twenty-five-year history of increasing transparency in the sector and leveraging public data to provide ratings, information, and resources to millions of donors and hundreds of thousands of changemakers. We believe that the PDC will increase the quality and quantity of truly meaningful data which is essential to our own evolution and the quality of our work.” — Michael Thatcher, Charity Navigator
Disclaimer: Currently, PDC is temporarily housed within Mac Services, an affiliate of the MacArthur Foundation established in the early 1990s to oversee select charitable initiatives identified and approved by the Mac Services Board of Directors. Mac Services retains full legal, fiscal and fiduciary responsibility for the PDC.
