Many datasets, analytical tools and large data repositories are available online. Below, we feature Q&As with experts and stories about data, as well as some of the free resources that might interest scholars, practitioners or students of the nonprofit sector.
Articles
Data resources available free online
The is an open-access data resource of detailed information on a wide range of development, humanitarian, human-rights and gender-equality projects in Canada and the world, whether driven by Canadian funding or through Canadian organizations and their international and local partners. The leads it. The resource allows users to search, understand and improve the delivery of progressive programming for greater impact. In addition, the allows users to visualize aggregated data provided in the Project Explorer. Leveraging information and evidence generated directly from the sector, this database connects users with timely information and multiple resources.
The was a five-year study that examined the history of state funding for social movements in Canada. It produced a of federal government records and of records from British Columbia and Nova Scotia regarding grants to organizations for Aboriginal peoples, the environment, human rights and women.
The Pew-Templeton examines world religion, including population distributions, restrictions on religion, religiosity, and other attitudinal measures across nations. The site includes visualizations, country-level analyzes, and links to source data. Pew also provides useful for the study of religion. These datasets include surveys conducted in the US and Europe, surveys focused on particular faiths and data on the presence of religious restrictions.
In 2020, the European Social Survey (ESS) published a report on in 27 European countries and created an that provides the used in the report. These are part of the , located at the German Institute for Economic Research. Survey results include respondents鈥� attitudes toward their societies and political systems, their prospects in society, and their beliefs about equity. Data documentation includes required weighting mechanisms, response rates by country, and notes on data usage.
As part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project, maintains a searchable of Canadian charities鈥� annual tax filings. The search function allows users to select based on size (in revenue), location and other categories. It provides visualizations of top-line financials, historic data, gifts received and made, as well as searchable trustee data for Canadian charities. Perhaps most importantly, this database includes up to 17 years of data per organization, allowing users to examine charities鈥� financial histories beyond the five years available through the of the Canada Revenue Agency (although this source includes the most recent available data).
The International Aid Transparency Initiative enhances the transparency of global development and humanitarian efforts. IATI has resources for both new and sophisticated users, including a with tools for visualization and project summaries that contain information on the nature of projects funded, funding periods, and project locations. For more advanced users, IATI also maintains a data registry and a documented API for structure queries with the capability to export data in a variety of formats.
The is a group of organizations, experts, practitioners and scholars working to increase access to data. The group’s website provides research-ready datasets, and . The research blog, administered by scholar Jesse Lecy of Arizona State University, highlights new developments relevant to nonprofit data, including tools for text analysis, new databases and studies of interest.
As part of the , Rene Bekkers, Evelien Boonstoppel, Arjen de Wit Suzanne and Felix Claire van Teunenbroek provide datasets about giving and volunteering in the Netherlands from 1995 to the present. The data is the result of multiple waves of representative samples and includes information on household giving, individual giving, and volunteering, as well as attitudinal and demographic data.
Ji Ma from the University of Texas has created a tool for in the United States. The tool analyzes text with machine learning to categorize charities in the US, and it improves on existing taxonomies by recognizing the dynamic nature of charitable organizations and their capacities to engage in operations beyond one traditionally defined area of service.
is a repository of open data assets in a wide range of areas, from to . They include many excellent sources of Canadian data in domains ranging from Agriculture to Healthcare to Transportation.