Listening to the Today programme earlier this month, I was struck by a feature on New York city’s ground-breaking ‘Big Data’ initiative, which will see the city open all its data to the public. In a revolution of accountability, the city passed a tough law that requires all agencies to release thousands of pieces of data for public consumption and analysis.
This got me thinking about the opportunities for such a revolution here. In our increasingly public world, data is no longer something that should just be collected, but a tool to be analysed, discussed and used for the benefit of all. Transparency is no longer something to be aspired to, but something expected. And whilst the government has been pushing its transparency and open data agendas for some time (see news Shakespeare: legislate on data), it hasn’t yet gained much traction outside the civil service.
Even within Whitehall, much of its focus has been on the spending of public funds, rather than on their distribution.
Imagine, though, if all the public bodies, departments, local authorities, foundations and grant-makers that distribute money opened up their data so people could see, collectively, where funding goes; what kind of organisations and places are benefiting; where the investment hot and cold spots lie; and where there’s an opportunity to share and learn from that data – to collaborate where useful, to complement where not, or simply to do your own thing whilst understanding what’s happening elsewhere.
But why am I interested and who am I to say? Well, I’m new... and four weeks into my role as chief executive of Big Lottery Fund – an organisation that funds some 12,000 projects a year across the UK, with grants totalling around £700 million – I believe we have the chance, perhaps even a responsibility, to dip our toe in these transparent waters and see what happens.
Increased openness and transparency can improve grant-making for all funders, be they government departments, public bodies, foundations or trusts. For the most part, funders don’t yet share data. But if we did, we might be able to make significant improvements to how we decide what and where to fund; how we measure and track our impact; and the value we achieve for each pound we award.
Because funders don’t systematically share data, it is almost impossible to find out where and how others’ money has been invested. So there is no strategic map of who funded what, where and when. The Indigo Trust is leading some great work in this area, looking at how funders and trusts can be encouraged to publish and help build this map, creating a shared understanding of the what and where of funding.
Our understanding of funding’s impact could be changed beyond recognition by opening up the large amounts of data held by funders. This is already happening in the international aid sector, where organisations publish to the International Aid Transparency Initiative standard. The recent announcement that the Gates Foundation will publish to the standard is great news in building a shared understanding of impact through data.
I recommend readers listen again to the Today programme feature. But whatever Frank Sinatra said, it’s not up to you, New York – it’s up to all of us. And in a time of limited funding and increasing need, we all share a responsibility to open up, share, learn and be accountable so that we can maximise the benefits of our shrinking funding resources.
Dawn Austwick is chief executive of the Big Lottery Fund