GuideStar and the Foundation Center Announce Strategic Partnership to Deliver Much-Needed Data, Resources to the Social Sector

Washington, DC—September 25, 2013—GuideStar, the leading source of nonprofit information, and the Foundation Center, the leading authority on philanthropy, today announced a partnership designed to build the capacity and effectiveness of the social sector. This alliance will leverage the organizations’ unique strengths and complementary missions to support the field in new and innovative ways.  

GuideStar and the Foundation Center share a commitment to advancing knowledge for the public good and a belief in the transformative power of data. Both are experts in their own right when it comes to gathering, organizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and sharing data, and each has developed myriad tools and resources to deliver data as knowledge to the field. GuideStar is the central hub of data about U.S. nonprofit organizations and disseminates its 1.3 billion pieces of data primarily through digital platforms and application programming interfaces (APIs). The Foundation Center serves as the definitive source of information about foundations and their grantmaking, which is accessible online and via a worldwide network of funding information centers.

“GuideStar and the Foundation Center each serve as strategic partners for those in the social sector working to create a better world,” said Jacob Harold, president and chief executive officer of GuideStar. “Now we also stand as partners to each other, so that we can learn from our respective successes and experiences, build our own capacity through collaboration, develop joint resources to serve the sector better, and deliver more solutions to strengthen nonprofits’ and grantmakers’ impact.”

The partnership will include efforts to:

• expand the availability of resources for the field by disseminating training, data tools, and knowledge services;
• align both organizations’ data collections to uncover new insights that will benefit the sector;
• champion transparency and data sharing so nonprofits and grantmakers are better equipped to make strategic decisions about their work; and
• empower individuals and organizations to explore, combine, and learn from data in new ways by delivering an increasing amount of information in formats that are accessible, open, or free.

More immediate activities will include an Independent Sector conference session on using Big Data effectively, at which both organizations’ leaders will appear together; joint promotion of new, freely accessible APIs; and an upcoming series of blog posts that highlight the importance and relevance of data as building blocks of positive social change.

“The Foundation Center and GuideStar are embarking on a new kind of partnership,” said Bradford K. Smith, president of the Foundation Center. “As more and more nonprofits and grantmakers join us in sharing data, spreading solutions, and telling their stories, a virtuous circle is emerging. Working together will help the social sector work better.”

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Media Contacts:

Lindsay J.K. Nichols 
Communications Director 
GuideStar 
(202) 637-7614 
lnichols@guidestar.org

Cheryl Loe
Communications Project Manager
The Foundation Center
(888) 356-0354 ext. 701 
communications@foundationcenter.org

About GuideStar

GuideStar, www.guidestar.org, connects people and organizations with information on the programs and finances of more than 1.8 million IRS-recognized nonprofits. GuideStar serves a wide audience inside and outside the nonprofit sector, including individual donors, nonprofit leaders, grantmakers, government officials, academic researchers, and the media.

About the Foundation Center

Established in 1956, the Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's Web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 470 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and around the world. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230.

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