Open data in grantmaking — making information about grants publicly available — is increasingly recognised as a transparency and accountability standard for funders, particularly those spending public money. The Open Data Institute, 360Giving in the UK, and NZ government open data initiatives have all contributed to growing expectations that grantmaking data should be accessible.
For funders in New Zealand and Australia, publishing grant data has real benefits: it demonstrates public accountability, enables sector analysis, supports applicant decision-making, and contributes to a public record of philanthropic investment.
Core grant data. The minimum set for meaningful transparency:
- Grantee name
- Grant amount
- Grant purpose/description
- Grant start and end date
- Programme/fund name
- Geographic location
Enhanced grant data. Additional fields that enable richer analysis:
- Sector or category classification (arts, environment, social services, etc.)
- Geographic coordinates (for mapping)
- Outcome area classification
- Grantee characteristics (organisation type, size)
- Application reference number
Outcome and evaluation data. The most ambitious open data practice includes what grants achieved, not just what was funded:
- Self-reported outcomes from grantee reports
- Evaluation findings
- Impact metrics where collected
Accountability for public money. Gaming trusts, community trusts, and government grantmakers are stewards of public funds. Publishing grant data demonstrates that funding decisions are transparent, fair, and aligned with stated purposes.
Sector intelligence. Aggregate grant data tells a story about where funding is flowing, which sectors and communities are well-funded and which are underfunded, and how funding patterns change over time. This intelligence benefits funders, applicants, and sector researchers.
Applicant decision-making. Potential applicants who can see where a funder has made grants in the past — what types of organisations, what amounts, what purposes — can make better decisions about whether to apply and how to frame their applications.
Reducing information asymmetry. Currently, applicants often have limited information about a funder's priorities and decision-making beyond the published guidelines. Grant data makes implicit priorities visible.
Funder coordination. Multiple funders operating in the same space can see each other's grant data — enabling coordination, reducing duplication, and identifying complementary opportunities.
Research and evaluation. Academic researchers, policy analysts, and sector researchers benefit from access to systematic grant data for longitudinal research on philanthropy, civil society, and social investment.
360Giving (UK). A widely-adopted standard for charitable giving data. While UK-based, 360Giving's data standard has been adopted internationally and provides a clear schema for publishing grants data.
IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative). For funders with international development components, IATI is the standard open data framework.
NZ government open data standards. New Zealand's government open data framework provides guidance on data formats, licensing, and publication requirements for public sector funders.
Open licensing. Published grant data should use open licences (Creative Commons CC BY or equivalent) to enable reuse without barriers.
What NOT to publish. Certain data is inappropriate to publish even in an open data context:
- Information provided in confidence (some application data)
- Personally identifiable information about individual grant recipients
- Financial information about individual grantees beyond the grant amount
- Information that could create safety or security risks for grantees
Anonymisation and aggregation. Small grants to individuals (scholarship programmes, individual artist grants) may need to be anonymised or aggregated before publication.
Consent and notification. Funders should notify grantees that basic grant information will be published — most funders include this in their grant agreement terms.
Data quality before publishing. Published data should be accurate and complete. A commitment to open data publishing creates an incentive to maintain data quality in the grants management system.
Tahua's reporting and data export tools make it straightforward to produce grant data exports suitable for public disclosure, in formats compatible with open data standards.