Project: Sharing Social Investment Data
City: Manchester   Grant £30,000   

Open Data Services (ODS) is a values-driven worker co-operative which helps people create, publish and use open data for social impact. They provide technologies, support, and services relating to the production, standardisation and use of open data in the social sector.

The aim of this project is to push for greater openness of data in the social investment sector, with an expected public benefit from learning more about how to deploy funds effectively to communities in need. Building on a pilot with Power to Change, ODS will publish a fully documented data model, compatible with the 360Giving Data Standard, and will work with a number of social investors to publish data in this format. The project has two components: 1) Outreach and engagement of social investment intermediaries; and 2) development of a technical specification standard for data sharing.

The intent is to develop clear, commonly-agreed standards to increase data reporting, availability and transparency across the social investment market, as is currently being tested for grant-making via 360Giving. With access to improved information, Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) should be able to benchmark the range of finance on offer to find the right funding, at the right time and the right price.