What Data Foundation does

Data Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think tank founded in 2016 that advances evidence-informed public policy through open data advocacy, research, and coalition-building. Its primary constituents are federal data leaders—including Chief Data Officers, Chief AI Officers, Evaluation Officers, Statistical Officials, and Privacy Officers—along with congressional staff, researchers, and the broader data policy community organized through the 130+ member Data Coalition Community. The organization engages substantively with the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, the Financial Data Transparency Act, the GREAT Act, and the Public Trust Rule, providing analysis, advocacy, and rulemaking commentary to federal agencies including OMB, NSF, HHS, USDA, DHS, and DOI.

Its core products span digital knowledge repositories and portals, research publications, and convening platforms. The Evidence Act Hub (launched December 2025) centralizes federal evidence-building resources; SAFE-TRACK is a secure data tracking portal underlying the Evidence Capacity Pulse Report; and the Financial Data Transparency Hub supports FDTA implementation. The Data Foundation advocates for and supports the NSF-hosted Standard Application Process (SAP) Portal providing researcher access to confidential federal data. Research products include the annual Federal CDO Survey conducted with Deloitte and the Evidence Capacity Pulse Report, while the GHG Coalition, Datum Awards, People's Data 100, Data Coalition Community, and the "Data For the People" podcast form the convening and recognition layer.

The Data Foundation is funded through charitable contributions (one-time and monthly donations), tiered membership fees for the Data Coalition Community (Executive & Partner, Regular, and Associate), and likely research grants or contracts, though specific revenue and donor data are not disclosed. The organization distributes its content through free digital channels including its website, monthly newsletter, podcast, webinars, and events such as the annual Datum Awards ceremony and the RegTech Data Summit. It holds a 4-Star Charity Navigator rating and Candid Guidestar's Platinum Seal of Transparency, and is led by President & CEO Nick Hart, who holds a Ph.D.

Name

Data Foundation

Legal name

Data Foundation

Website

https://datafoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Data Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think tank advancing evidence-informed public policy through open data advocacy, serving federal data leaders, congressional staff, and a 130+ member Data Coalition community via research, digital platforms, and coalition convening.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Policy Research and Advocacy

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Professional Organizations (81392), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM), Data Governance Platforms (Policies, Stewardship, Workflows) (HDAEADAB), Data Sharing, Data Exchange & Data Marketplace Platforms (HDAEABAH)

Keywords

• Open data advocacy
• Evidence-based policymaking
• Federal data policy
• Data coalition research
• Government data infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable Contributions and Donations: The Data Foundation is a non-profit organization that accepts both one-time and monthly charitable contributions to support its mission. Donations are made by individuals and organizations supporting open data and evidence-informed public policy.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Data Foundation is a non-profit think tank that conducts research, advocacy, and convening programs to advance open data and evidence-informed public policy at the federal level. It sells no commercial products; instead it operates digital resource hubs (Evidence Act Hub, Financial Data Transparency Hub), produces annual research such as the Federal CDO Survey, runs the Data Coalition Community membership program, and administers recognition programs including the Datum Awards.

Product overview

The Data Foundation is a non-profit think tank that operates a portfolio of interconnected programs, initiatives, and resources focused on advancing data policy, evidence-based policymaking, and federal data infrastructure. The organization functions as a platform of programs including the Evidence Act Hub (a digital repository for federal evidence-building resources), the Financial Data Transparency Hub, three Centers (Climate and Environmental Data, Evidence Capacity, and Data Policy), and recognition programs like the Datum Awards and People's Data 100. Core research initiatives include the annual Federal CDO Survey and the Evidence Capacity Pulse Report. The Data Foundation also convenes the Data Coalition Community for membership engagement and hosts the Data For the People podcast. Specialized technical resources include SAFE-TRACK (a secure data tracking portal) and the GHG Coalition for greenhouse gas measurement coordination. These offerings are complemented by publications, blogs, events, and advocacy programs that serve federal agencies, data professionals, researchers, and policy stakeholders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Climate Data Collaborative: Center focused on climate and environmental data coordination and initiatives.
• Center for Evidence Capacity
• Center for Data Policy
• SAFE-TRACK
• Evidence Act Hub
• GHG Coalition
• Financial Data Transparency Hub
• The People's Data 100
• Datum Awards
• Methane Plume Technical Working Group
• Global Digital Single Market Data Alliance

Products and services

• Evidence Act Hub A digital repository that centralizes federal evidence-building resources and documents related to the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, improving accessibility and oversight of federal data and evaluation activities.
• Financial Data Transparency Hub A resource hub providing analysis, fact sheets, and guidance on the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), including joint rulemaking efforts and implementation resources for financial data standardization.
• SAFE-TRACK Portal Secure Anonymous Federal Evidence, Data and Analysis Tracking portal used to compile the Evidence Capacity Pulse Report, documenting structural changes affecting America's data and evaluation infrastructure.
• Federal Chief Data Officer Survey Annual survey conducted in collaboration with Deloitte documenting how Chief Data Officers are managing organizational transitions and AI adoption across federal agencies, tracking trends such as AI use rising from 67% (2024) to 78% (2025).
• Datum Awards Annual awards recognizing civil servants for significant contributions to data and evidence initiatives that advance government data toward meaningful public good outcomes; since 2019, 29 individuals have been recognized.
• Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Coalition Multi-sector partnership convened by the Climate Data Collaborative to coordinate U.S. greenhouse gas measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification efforts across governments, academia, private sector, and NGOs.
• Data Coalition Community Membership Membership community of supporters offering opportunities to engage with and contribute to data policy efforts, including Executive & Partner Members, Regular Members, and Associate Members tiers with access to exclusive resources, preliminary analyses, and networking.
• Evidence Capacity Pulse Report Periodic report documenting changes affecting America's data and evaluation infrastructure, compiled using the SAFE-TRACK portal and tracking structural shifts in public and private sectors.
• RegTech Data Summit 2026 Annual summit focused on regulatory technology and data in financial services, offering sponsorship opportunities for industry participants.

Quantifiable outcome

• The 2025 Federal CDO Survey found AI use among federal organizations increased from 67% in 2024 to 78% in 2025, with 30% of CDOs now serving dual Chief AI Officer roles.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GHG Coalition MemberscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2025The GHG Coalition brings together expertise from governments, academic researchers, private sector innovators, and NGOs. Members include American Forests, Carbon180, Carbon Mapper, Carbon Removal Standards Initiative, ClimateTRACE, Crosswalk Labs, CTrees, Environmental Defense Fund, Keeling Curve Foundation, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, LumenUs Scientific, National Alliance of Forest Owners, ResilientPath Strategies, Spark Climate Solutions, and university researchers from Boston University, Columbia, MIT, Penn State, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Rochester, Carnegie Institution for Science, and Duke University's Nicholas Institute. Former federal officials from NOAA, NASA, NIST, NSF, EPA, USDA, DOI, DOE, White House Climate Policy Office, OMB, and OSTP participate.
• National Science Foundation (NSF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2025NSF hosts the Standard Application Process (SAP) Portal (sap.nsf.gov), which provides unified access to confidential federal data for researchers. The Data Foundation advocated for and supported implementation of this Evidence Act deliverable. NSF and the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy coordinated the SAP effort.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2025HHS, as the GREAT Act's designated standard-setting agency, jointly with OMB released Grants Standard Data Elements v3.0 expanding federal grant data standards to the NOFO stage. The Data Foundation provides commentary and analysis supporting GREAT Act implementation and engages with HHS on grants data standards policy.
• U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2025OMB works jointly with HHS on data standards (GREAT Act) and issued the Public Trust Rule under the Evidence Act. The Data Foundation actively engages with OMB on evidence-building policy, CIPSEA regulations, and federal data governance, providing comments on proposed rules and supporting implementation of the Evidence Act.
• DeloittecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025The Data Foundation collaborated with Deloitte to produce the 2025 Federal CDO Survey documenting how Chief Data Officers are managing organizational transitions and AI adoption across federal agencies. The survey is a flagship annual research product of the Data Foundation.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/data_foundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheDataFoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/datafoundation

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Data Foundation