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Data are the new platform for change

Lucy Bernholz

• 1 min read

I had the great honor of spending a day learning with several Internet entrepreneurs, leading online giving marketplace managers in the UK, Dame Stephanie Shirley - the UK Ambassador for Philanthropy, and several scholars at the Oxford Internet Institute on Wednesday, 14 April. You can find the slides from the presentation here and the text of the presentation here and here. I will post video as soon as I get it.

Here is the basic argument:

  • Data are the new platform for change
  • Data and technology and social enterprise are not coincidental trends in philanthropy; they are linked
  • These two trends are fundamentally disrupting the types of enterprises that produce, and are privileged for producing, social goods.
  • These new enterprises are bringing with them demand for new types of governance
  • Changes in the enterprises and governance structures are changing how we finance social goods
  • Changes in enterprises, governance, and finance demand new regulatory structures, tax and corporate privileges
  • Taken together, this all leads to fundamental disruption of how we produce, distribute, and finance social goods.

That the speech coincided with the opening of the Skoll World Forum 2010 was key. It was also remarkable that Guidestar International and TechSoup Global went public with their merger on Wednesday, and that the Foundation Center and Grantsfire announced their alliance the same week. The day of open data in philanthropy - of data as the platform for change - is upon us.

I'm delighted that we will be able to pursue these issues of Open Data and Philanthropy with colleagues in DC and around the country via live stream in a first-ever event on May 10. I am working with the New America Foundation, HAND Foundation, and Sunlight Foundation to host a "datajam brainstorm" on open data and philanthropy. More details soon.

Enjoy!

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