The Foundation Center and Its Record Retention Policies
I've been working on a project that has required a lot of time in the Foundation Center’s online databases (both for grant makers and grants). The Foundation Directory Online, as noted on the Foundation Center’s website, provides detailed information about more than 95,000 U.S. foundations and corporate donors and 1.7 million grants. Two issues have come up recently and only came to light after some significant inquiries, which I wanted to review here and seek some guidance on.
One, the Foundation Center has a policy -- unpublished as best I can tell -- to remove records after a period of 5 years. In this case, the historical data for what is commonly considered to be the online encyclopedia for grant makers and grants only goes back to 2003. Once the 2009 is complete and final, that data will be removed from the database accessible to subscribers (deep down, I'm hoping the Center is keeping the data and not outright deleting it).
Two, the Foundation Center has a policy (again, unpublished) to remove records of founders that have closed operations or merged. Thus, historical records of grants issues by the Peninsula Community Foundation and the Community Foundation Silicon Valley prior to their landmark merger in 2006 do not exist. Nor does the Foundation Center have any records of the Beldon Fund’s grant making activities; apparently, once it closed its doors the Beldon Fund’s records were removed. In Beldon's last year of grant making (2008) it awarded nearly $10M in funds. The only historical record of those transactions is now on the Beldon Fund website.
So, my questions are:
1. Where should one go now for historical grantmaking data both for grants issues beyond five years ago and for institutions that are not longer in operation?
2. Why does the Foundation Center have these policies in place?
3. Why is the Foundation Center not more transparent about these practices?
Tags: Foundation Center, Taxonomy, Data, Grants, History
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The Foundation Center
Adin,
Hello from the Foundation Center. Thanks for your kind words about our “online encyclopedia for grant makers and grants.” You’ll be pleased to hear that we maintain a research database that includes grant records that go back to the early 1980s and the records of foundations that have dissolved or merged. We provide custom research for those interested in this type of historical data. I’d be happy to refer you to our research department which handles these types of inquiries. You can also learn more about this service at http://www.foundationcenter.org/grantmakers/db_searches.html.
Because Foundation Directory Online (FDO) is an online database product designed primarily to help grantseekers find sources of funding, it focuses on more recent grants, which, based on feedback from subscribers, are most relevant to their needs. (Depending on your subscription plan, you have access to as many as 1.8 million grants from 2003 – 2009.) For the same reason, we do not display in FDO records for grantmakers that are no longer in existence – you can’t get a grant from a foundation that is no longer in business.
We try to describe all of the parameters of Foundation Directory Online in our marketing materials available online. You can see our FAQs and our product descriptions, respectively, at https://fcsecure.fdncenter.org/fdo_signup_prof/faq.php#01 and https://fcsecure.fdncenter.org/fdo_signup_prof/register_detail.php.
That said, we’ll continue to review stated policies and procedures relating to FDO and all of our products and services in the interests of clarity and transparency. Our goal is to make these resources as useful as possible to our audiences, so we’re very interested in receiving feedback about the information presented.
As you may know, we recently launched a new data visualization tool designed with grantmakers in mind, Philanthropy In/Sight, at http://philanthropyinsight.org, which allows users to map grantmaker and grants data to assess needs and giving impact around the globe. FAQs on this product may be viewed at http://philanthropyinsight.org/FAQ.aspx/. Early input from beta testers and other users is driving internal discussions about how to best match In/Sight’s data to the needs of grantmakers and others using this tool. Therefore, we find the points you’ve made about the scope of data needed for various research purposes—particularly how to handle foundations like Beldon or JEHT who have recently ceased their operations—very useful.
I hope this helps answer your questions. Please feel free to contact me if you still have questions about our data and policies.
Thanks,
George Ford
Product Manager, Online Subscription Services
gef@foundationcenter.org