Using the power of data science to unlock solutions to society’s most pressing problems
Founded in 2020, data.org seeks to democratize and reimagine data science to tackle society’s greatest challenges and improve lives across the globe. As a platform for partnerships, data.org brings together philanthropy, private sector technology, academia, and social impact organizations to build the field of data science for social impact. Success in building the field requires focused, funded initiatives, conceived and executed with partners bringing a broad range of perspectives and expertise in different sectors.
Learn More- $24 million
Through 2021 data.org secured $24M in funding to be catalyzed for building the field of data science for social impact. This includes programmatic funding for new initiatives Epiverse and the Capacity Accelerator Network, as well as follow-on funding and technical assistance for the data.org Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge.
- $10 million
In January 2021, data.org announced eight awardees of the $10M Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge. Funded by The Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the global Challenge was created to kickstart breakthrough data science ideas and advance existing innovative social impact projects to lift up all segments of society.
- 1 million
Aligned with data.org’s vision to reimagine data science to tackle society’s greatest challenges is the recognition of the need for more data talent and more data capacity within organizations. With a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, data.org’s Capacity Accelerator Network commits to training 1 million purpose-driven data professionals by 2032.
Our 2022 initiatives:
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Epiverse: Distributed Pandemic Tools Program
Epiverse is a global collaborative to create the distributed data analysis tools as a transformative public good. Epiverse is developing a trustworthy, open-source software ecosystem to power pandemic preparedness and, in the future, address a broad range of social challenges. -
Capacity Accelerator Network (CAN)
The Capacity Accelerator Network is committed to creating both more data talent and more data capacity within the social sector. Starting with a global agenda setting exercise, CAN is working with partners to help social impact organizations become data-driven, and to build their infrastructure, operations, strategy and culture. -
Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge
Funded by The Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the data.org Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge was created to kickstart breakthrough data science ideas and advance existing innovative social impact projects to lift up all segments of society. data.org continues to engage with eight awardees to advance partnerships and catalyze follow-on funding and technical assistance.
At data.org, we are placing bold bets to deploy the power of data science to solve some of society’s biggest challenges, from the pandemic, to climate change, from social justice to financial inclusion.
Danil MikhailovExecutive Director, data.org
Data.org has identified three approaches to reach its mission:
Prove the Cases
data.org works to support specific initiatives that leverage data science to improve the lives of people. data.org will invest in targeted experiments to advance the frontier of data science use in the social sector, ensuring best practices are widely available, and that they catalyze investment.
Example investments include: $10 million to eight awardees harnessing the power of data science to help people and communities thrive from data.org’s Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge. Awardees include: GiveDirectly, Community Lattice, and Fundacion Capital.
Strengthen Capacity
data.org supports a pipeline of initiatives and organizations seeking social outcomes that need the talent of purpose-driven data professionals to advance their work. data.org elevates social sector organizations’ capacity to utilize data science through trainings and talent-matching to reach their goals more quickly and at scale.
Example investments include: launching the Capacity Accelerator Network (CAN). Through CAN, data.org is partnering on the creation of several hubs in early 2022, and working with universities around the globe to identify a common core curricula to support data science for social impact.
Transform the Commons
data.org believes that the field of data science has the potential and the responsibility be deployed in tackling the most pressing challenges of our day.
This will require a commons with public goods to help organizations learn; investment in new datasets and tools to unlock innovation in areas of high potential impact; and both campaigns and convenings to mobilize and change the behavior of funders, nonprofits, and technology companies to make the use of data science effective and pervasive in the social sector.
Example investments include the Epiverse initiative, where data.org is working with academia, governments, international organizations and others to create open-source, privacy-preserving tools with the potential to transform the social impact sector. data.org is building out its own digital platform to provide guides and resources for the social impact organizations seeking to become more data-driven.
Our Goals
We are focused on building the field of data science for social impact alongside a global community of organizations seeking to advance the sector.
- $24million
to catalyze building the field of data science for social impact
- $10million
to support the work of Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge awardees
- 1million
purpose-driven data professionals by 2032
With data.org, we are building on a rich history of data and technology for social good led by the groundbreaking work of the ONE Campaign.
The original DATA.org launched in 2001 when a group of innovative social entrepreneurs, together with anti-poverty advocates and philanthropist and rockstar Bono committed to alleviating debt, AIDS, and trade inequalities in Africa. In what ultimately became the ONE Campaign, they galvanized support for poverty alleviation by focusing on data-driven, evidence-based approaches to development.
Inspired by their achievements, we partnered with the MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth to jointly commit $50 million to relaunch data.org as a platform for partnerships to build the field of data science for social impact.
Recent Updates
Data.org: Our Renewed Commitment to Building the Field of Data Science for Social Impact
For over a hundred years, data has helped The Rockefeller Foundation diagnose root causes to problems and surface solutions that improve lives. Data drove the development of Public Health, Social Security, the Green Revolution, and Impact Investing. Today, advances in data gathering, management, and analysis have led to a data science revolution. The private sector […]
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