About 

The fellowship seeks to educate grantor agencies and grantee entities on the need for a common, standardized data structure for grant reporting. The research has resulted in papers that help illuminate how standardization could transform federal grant reporting from documents to data.

Across all modes of government reporting and compliance, it makes sense to replace document-based information flows with standardized, open data. Open data is cheaper to generate, store, and analyze than unstructured documents.

The federal grant industry uses a complex array of forms, filings, and systems to administer over $600 billion in federal grants each year, more than 80% of which are distributed to state and local governments. Most grant reports are document-based: grantees must compile and submit forms to apply for, receive, and report back on grant awards. Even where grant information is submitted electronically, the lack of a standardized data structure means every submission is unique and information cannot be automatically delivered to all the people and entities who need it.

The Grant Innovation Fellowship began in 2017, thanks to the generous support of Workiva and StreamLink, and most recently MorganFranklin Consulting.

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Research 

Blog

Featured
To Fix Federal Grant Reporting, Standardize the Data!
To Fix Federal Grant Reporting, Standardize the Data!

The U.S. federal government awards more than $600 billion in grants each year to state agencies, local and tribal governments, and nonprofit organizations. To track grantees’ use of taxpayers’ money, federal grants trigger a complex array of reporting requirements

Postcards from the Edge (of Grant Data)
Postcards from the Edge (of Grant Data)

It’s been an interesting three months. As I’m in the midst of the long slog to the final draft of our first paper on grant data, I thought I’d let others do the talking this time. Below, anonymous and in no particular order, are some of the more interesting, insightful, or colorful comments from the past three months of conversation with current and former state and federal employees, foundations, technologists, researchers, and members of the nonprofit community.

State and Local Challenges in Grant Data
State and Local Challenges in Grant Data

In 2016, the federal government disbursed $651.7 billion in grant awards. Of that, 84% went directly to state and local governments in the form of either mandatory (also known as ‘formula’) or discretionary (‘block’) grants.

Inaugural Grant Innovation Roundtable – January 12th, 2017
Inaugural Grant Innovation Roundtable – January 12th, 2017

On January 12th, almost 50 stakeholders from all across the Federal grant sphere met at the Gates Foundation to discuss the state of data in grant reporting. For the first time, representatives from multiple federal grantor agencies and departments joined nonprofit researchers, members of the public sector, and technologists to share experiences, challenges, and opportunities to harness data for the public good.

 

Roundtables

On January 12, the Grant Innovation Fellow convened a Roundtable with stakeholders including government, tech sector, grantees, and philanthropic and non-profit organizations. Read the recap blog here!

 

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