Candid

This grant essentially supplements an active general support grant to the Foundation Center, 2012-7346. The new grant was initiated in recognition of the Foundation Center becoming the implementing partner of the Reporting Commitment. As the implementer of the Reporting Commitment, the Foundation Center worked with 15 of the largest private foundations in the US on a pioneering open data project. As participants in the Reporting Commitment, 15 foundations agreed to publish their grants data at least quarterly in an open, machine-readable format. They also agreed to code their grants using a common geographic taxonomy that would identify the area served by the grant (rather than the location of the grant recipient). Many of the foundations required extensive upfront technical assistance and will continue to require support in order to fully implement the commitment. As noted in the AppSum for 2012-7346, the Foundation Center has historically been somewhat risk averse and defensive of their business model. In this case the Foundation Center took on considerable risk because the open data movement presents a potential threat to its business model. (The Center generates most of its revenue by selling subscriptions to a directory of foundation grants.) During the year long effort the Foundation Center expended significant internal resources and took on a challenging multi-foundation standards setting role. Given that this is exactly the sort of high-risk, sectorwide project we would like to see Foundation Center do more of, an increase in general support is recommended.