On 6 October the Washington DC-based Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and New York-based Foundation Center announced a new partnership to improve the quality and effectiveness of grantmaking through the strategic collection and sharing of data on philanthropy.

The Forum is a national network of 34 geographically organized philanthropic associations that together have a membership of more than 5,500 participating organizations, making it the largest network in American philanthropy.

The Forum’s mission is to leverage the collective knowledge of its association members so that each can be the highest quality provider of philanthropic support services in their regions, while a Foundation Center priority is to empower donors with the knowledge tools they need to be strategic.

The partnership will entail establishing platforms and systems for collecting data contributed by Forum members and translating it into knowledge services that will benefit not only the Forum membership but the broader philanthropic sector. This current data will be accessible to all members through an interactive mapping platform that will help to inform funding decisions and track trends in each region. The partnership will thus tap the unique strengths of each organization in order to achieve shared goals.

To read the full press release, click here.

This partnership complements Foundation Center’s ongoing work with the WINGS Philanthropy Data Network to promote global standards for the collection and sharing of data on philanthropy, through its participation in the development of the Global Philanthropy Data Charter. It is also working with WINGS member organizations to align data collection strategies across regions, so that information about philanthropy can be meaningfully aggregated across multiple countries. This will facilitate the sharing of knowledge among regional foundations.

To learn more about the WINGS Philanthropy Data Network, click here.

On 8 October, Foundation Center launched Foundation Maps, a data visualization platform that gives users the ability to generate maps and charts revealing connections between funders, their grants, and their partners around the corner and around the world. Foundation Maps covers more than 3 million grants totalling more than $220 billion made by over 33,000 foundations to nearly 300,000 recipients around the world.

To read the full press release, click here.