Data Foundation

I'm grateful to Federal News Network for publishing my op-ed on why America needs a national data strategy. Generative artificial intelligence has made public data more valuable and more sensitive. States and localities are building their own data capacity and taking on more leadership. Private and philanthropic money is pouring into data projects that blend public and private data. Public expectations about privacy continue to evolve as more data becomes available and is increasingly combined across sectors. A shared vision has to reach beyond Washington into the broader ecosystem of state, local, and tribal governments, researchers, businesses, nonprofits, and the public, and it should be shaped by every layer of our society. That means asking how data should work for everyone and offering clear stewardship, shared commitment, measured progress, sustained investment, and a plan for the future. What should a national data strategy get right? I'd welcome your thoughts in the comment. https://lnkd.in/eAUjet39

🏆 The Data Foundation is a finalist in three categories of the 6th Annual Anthem Awards, and we need your vote by October 29. Two entries recognize our Center for Climate and Environmental Data and its Senior Director, Sonia Wang, for building cross-sector partnerships that make climate and environmental data usable. That work includes the Greenhouse Gas Coalition, which now has more than 80 members from more than 35 organizations. The third entry recognizes the Data Foundation's nonpartisan research and tools on federal data infrastructure. Those range from six annual federal Chief Data Officer Surveys to Evi, the AI assistant our Center for Evidence Capacity built to search federal evidence-building documents. How to vote (the video walks you through it): 1. Go to https://lnkd.in/eCb5XcJP and open each category link. 2. Scroll down to find our entry. 3. Click "celebrate," then "confirm." That's your vote. You can celebrate one entry per category, so it takes three votes to support all three entries. Voting closes October 29, and winners will be announced November 5. Thank you for your support! #AnthemAwards #OpenData #ClimateData

The Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) joint rule took effect October 1, but that was just phase 1. 📊 Each covered agency still has to put the standards into practice and harmonize internal data for reporting. On Wednesday, November 4, at 2 P.M. ET, the Data Foundation will host a webinar taking stock of where the FDTA stands and where it goes next. Why it matters now: 🔹 Private markets are opening to everyday investors 🔹 AI tools amplify whatever data they're fed 🔹 If the trend toward lighter reporting continues, FDTA principles offer a way to preserve data quality Speakers: 🎤 Thomas Dunlap, Senior Fellow, Data Foundation and Founder and Managing Partner, DIACSUS 🎤 Ashley Nelle-Davis, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Management, Data Foundation 🎤 Peter Warms, Head of Business Development, Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) Register: https://lnkd.in/gE5YkZ9S

Half of #FRED's visitors are now AI agents, not people. That number from Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller has stuck with me since I moderated the closing panel at #FREDcon in St. Louis on Oct. 1. FRED has spent 35 years earning trust as one of the most useful public data tools anywhere. Now the St. Louis Fed is preparing it for a new kind of user with the FRED MCP Connector, which lets people reach FRED data through the AI tool of their choice. In a new piece for Nextgov/FCW, I argue FRED is a model for every agency that publishes data, and that its success came from sustained investment, listening to users, and leadership willing to plan ahead. Three steps for data leaders: 1. Treat AI agents as an audience. Test whether AI tools can find, read, and credit your data. 2. Fund the fundamentals: documentation, metadata, machine-readable formats, and Chief Data Officers with real resources. 3. Build feedback loops with the developers and AI companies that now sit between agencies and the public. Thanks to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis team for convening this awesome and fun conversation! https://lnkd.in/eqhBFeFP #OpenData #AI #FederalData #MCP #CDO

Even with powerful AI tools, climate, nature, and economic (CNE) data is hard to trust and reuse when it lacks a common vocabulary. 🌲 On Thursday, October 29, at 1 p.m. ET, the Data Foundation's Center for Climate and Environmental Data will introduce the Semantic Commons for CNE, a project that will work with the wildfire and forestry communities over the next year to pilot rigorous semantics that both people and machines can use. Speakers will cover why shared meaning matters, how the Semantic Commons will be built, and how you can get involved: 🔹 Ferdinando Villa, BC3 - Basque Centre for Climate Changehange 🔹 Andrew Padilla, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 🔹 Sonia Wang, Data Foundation 🔹 Ken Bagstad, Data Foundation Register: https://lnkd.in/gZutbfab #ClimateData #OpenData #DataStandards

Trust is often a misunderstood and misused term in the policy world - yet it is so fundamental to how we build evidence-based, data-driven, and algorithm-powered work that impacts our lives. Data Foundation published research that examines what Americans actually trust about federal statistics, and makes the case for better measurement. Drawing on Census Bureau survey data, it finds that the public values government data more than it trusts it! 👇 See link in the comment below for the report and explainer. Measure, understand, improve, and measure again!

Two days at the OECD - OCDE Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy in Paris, with people who run governments and people who study them. One thing kept coming up: trust is low, and it's low almost everywhere. That's a clear challenge democracies around the world hold in common. The data keep showing the same pattern. When people believe their government uses evidence to make decisions, they're more likely to trust it. That's encouraging, and something we can work to address. It must also get done in partnership, public and private, working the same problem together. Today the Data Foundation is releasing a new policy brief, What Americans Trust About Government Data. It's built on government data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse surveys, data we trust because we have reliable, documented information about how they’re collected and managed. In July 2026: 📊 74.8% of adults agreed that policymakers need federal statistics to make good decisions 📊 51.5% said they tend to trust federal statistics That gap is what we're working on. Last week we took one step, calling for the U.S. to join the OECD's international survey on the drivers of trust. Measuring trust is part of how we start to earn it. Link to the brief, fact sheet, and video explainer in the comments. #OpenData #FederalStatistics #TrustInGovernment #EvidenceBased #Census

Despite an abundance of data and powerful AI tools at our fingertips, a lack of shared meaning continues to undermine the transparent and trusted reuse of data. This disconnect makes it difficult for decision-makers to understand dependencies, report on impacts, and take meaningful action. Join the Data Foundation’s Center for Climate and Environmental Data for an upcoming webinar: 𝗔 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, & 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 (𝗖𝗡𝗘) 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁, 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀, & 𝗙𝗶𝘁 𝗚𝗮𝗽. In this session, we will officially introduce the 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗡𝗘 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁. Over the next year, this initiative will partner with the wildfire and forestry communities to pilot an approach to rigorous, human- and machine-accessible semantics for CNE data—creating a roadmap to eventually expand across other domains. Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026 Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET Register here: https://lnkd.in/gQNXvSHz #ClimateData #DataFoundation #SemanticCommons #EnvironmentalData #AI #DataTrust #Forestry #WildfireData #Sustainability #DataPolicy #OpenData #SemanticWeb #MakeNatureCount Data Foundation Lincoln Institute of Land Policy BC3 - Basque Centre for Climate Change Sonia Wang Ferdinando Villa Andrew Padilla

📊 The Data Foundation's #MyDataStory initiative collects real stories from Americans about how federal data helps them solve problems, make decisions, and serve their communities. ⛰️ During a recent podcast recording, David J. Hayes, an Advisory Board Member and Co-Founder of the Center for Climate and Environmental Data (CCED) at the Data Foundation, shared his data story: how data on a maintenance backlog at National Parks led Congress to pass  the Great American Outdoors Act, which established a fund to support deferred maintenance projects on federal lands. 🎙️ Hayes was a recent guest of the Data Foundation podcast, Data for the People!, where he explained why we need accessible, usable data and better data standards for climate and the environment. Hayes is an attorney and legal scholar who served in three presidential administrations, including twice as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior, and most recently as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy. He is currently a professor of practice at Stanford University's Doerr School of Sustainability and Stanford Law School. 🤔 Learn more about the #MyDataStory initiative: https://lnkd.in/eT38_wWr 📺 Watch the full episode of Data for the People! with David J. Hayes: https://lnkd.in/e2DhifNV 📝 Subscribe to the Data Foundation podcast: https://lnkd.in/ekhuKj2x 🌎 Learn more about the Center for Climate and Environmental Data (CCED) and its achievements in its first two years: https://lnkd.in/e73YBUdY