Nuffield Foundation become the 100th funder to sign up to 360Giving

We are delighted to become the 100th funder to sign up to 360Giving. 360Giving supports UK grantmakers to publish information on who, where and what they fund in an open, standardised format to build a better picture of the funding landscape and boost its impact.

From its inception in 1943 the Nuffield Foundation has always taken great pride in publishing its grants data as part of our annual reports. Since 2010 we have also published information about our grants made, their outputs and, where available, the outcomes from them on our website, which has extended the reach of this information.

Innovative ways of using data can be just as influential on policy as research evidence itself. For example, we funded a project led by Professor Anna Vignoles from the University of Cambridge that brought together anonymised data on taxation and student loan records to examine long-term outcomes for graduates.

Published in 2016, the report highlighted the limitations of higher education as a driver of social mobility and continues to be influential in discussions of future funding models for higher education. But just as importantly, the project has influenced the Department for Education to develop an experimental data set known as Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO).

One of our strategic goals as a Foundation is to improve the accessibility, use and collection of evidence and data. Alongside the research we fund in our core funding areas of Education, Welfare and Justice we have established the Ada Lovelace Institute, an independent research and deliberative body with a mission to ensure that data and artificial intelligence work for people and society, and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, which aims to improve the use of data and research evidence in the family justice system.

Given our evident belief in the potential that comes from sharing data responsibly, it is an obvious step for us to join 360Giving and we hope to benefit in a number of ways:

• Gain new insights about our own data through it being played back to us through 360 Insights.
• See how our grant-making sits in the wider landscape, where the potential for collaboration and the gaps in our portfolio are.
• Reach a wider audience for our grant-making data, enabling more people to see what and who we are funding, to make new connections, and to encourage new applicants.
• Encourage other grant-makers to sign up and so extend the reach of 360Giving way beyond the 100 funders and 307,000+ grants that are currently registered.

Ian Hanham, Director of Finance and Information Systems at the Nuffield Foundation said:

“At the Nuffield Foundation, we have always been committed to publishing details of the projects we fund. 360Giving enables us to make this information more widely available, and for us and others to gain new insights into our funding within the context of wider charitable grant-making across the UK. We are delighted to be the 100th organisation to sign up, and look forward to seeing what can be achieved from this innovative approach to data sharing.”