Organizing Public Data to Describe Civil Society
By Romina Farias, Research Director at Cemefi (Mexican Center for Philanthropy); Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, Executive Director, Nigeria Network of NGOs; Carlos Gonzalez, Executive Director, MAKAIA (Colombia); Mike Yeaton, Data Commons Program Manager, TechSoup
Today we are announcing that the four partners identified here are publicly sharing our first set of data describing the nonprofits we serve on the Data Commons for Civil Society platform:
- MAKAIA: Nonprofit counts in Colombia by department (state), year of commencement, and primary Sustainable Development Goal alignment
- NNNGO: Current nonprofit counts in Nigeria by state and thematic focus
- Cemefi: Current nonprofit counts in Mexico by state and thematic focus
- TechSoup: Global nonprofit participants in our donated and discounted technology programs by year and country
In an era of unprecedented challenges, from climate change to global inequality, the data held by civil society organizations (CSOs) is more vital than ever. This data has the power to transform how we address critical issues, improve aid effectiveness, and empower communities. For governments, this data offers insights to improve policymaking. For aid agencies, it enables more effective resource allocation. For nonprofits, it strengthens advocacy and demonstrates impact.
The Need for Citizen Data
The United Nations Copenhagen Framework (PDF) recognizes that citizen contributions to data “fill critical data gaps for marginalized groups, ensuring that their experiences are reflected in data and statistics and advancing fairness, inclusiveness, openness, accountability and transparency in statistics and in public policy.” CSOs play a critical role in this process as they directly engage these communities and are more trusted (PDF) than government, business, or media. As the framework says, “[w]hen citizens, communities and CSOs engage in the production of data at their own initiative, with full control over the process, and with the intention to use the data as an instrument to drive change, they are exercising this power.”
A first step in collecting and sharing citizen data is developing an understanding of technology-enabled civil society organizations. For that reason, we have shared statistical aggregates of the organizations using locally relevant taxonomies. Going forward, we will enhance this data to share more of what we learn through serving them with our programs.
A Data Commons for Civil Society
The TechSoup Global Network (TSGN) partners are uniquely positioned to help unlock this hidden data from nonprofits. Through our programs, we are a trusted partner to over 280,000 nonprofits globally each year, and we have directly engaged over 1.5 million organizations in over 200 countries to date. We already hold a rich set of data about civil society’s global need and use of technology, and we have a growing knowledge base about their missions, obstacles, and impact. Just as CSOs are trusted by those they serve, TSGN partners are trusted by CSOs around the world.
To make this data accessible and useful, TechSoup is adding it to the datasets available in the Data Commons for Civil Society. Data Commons is an open-source platform developed by Google to make public data accessible. With support from Google.org, the Data Commons for Civil Society operates as an independent open data platform specifically for nonprofits. This platform connects nonprofit data to a vast array of public data sources, dramatically increasing potential applications. The platform is managed with specific considerations for nonprofits: first by permitting noncommercial use only, and second by understanding each data contributor’s requirements and providing appropriate context and framing. No personally identifiable information is ever shared, and the role of data steward is taken seriously.
Here is a sample of the queries that are possible in the Data Commons for Civil Society:
- Global: Map of Organizations Served by TechSoup 2011–2023
- Colombia: Timelines of Annual GDP Growth Rate and Newly Registered Nonprofits Focused on Poverty Reduction
- Mexico: Scatter Plot of States by Life Expectancy vs. Health-Focused Nonprofits
- Nigeria: Scatter Plot of States by High Heat Event vs. Climate-Focused Nonprofits
As leaders of these four organizations, we are excited to announce this important step towards unlocking global civil society data to help us drive progress on issues like poverty, inequality, and climate change and to shine a light on the crucial work done by millions of CSOs around the world. Sharing the data we have about civil society is a first step — there will be more coming. Next will come the hard work of supporting our members as they share their data. Together, we can unlock the potential of CSO data to create a more just and sustainable world.
To get involved or learn more about the Data Commons for Civil Society, please reach out to us at datacommons@techsoup.org .
