We Need Data and We Need Context. Both Are at Risk.

11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2026 report cover

This article was first published in our 11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2026 report. Explore the full report here.

Want the latest trends, research, and more delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Johnson Center’s email newsletter.

In 2021, the Johnson Center likened data to air — something that is everywhere, vital, and freely accessible (Williams, 2021). But just as air can be restricted or siphoned off, we are now learning that data can be, too.

Fewer federal datasets are publicly available to researchers today than even a year ago. Eroding trust in data and institutions has led to new obstacles in data collection and dissemination. In addition, artificial intelligence remains a source of both great power and great risk.

The future of the data landscape for philanthropy is now dependent upon the development of new avenues for data collection and community engagement, advocacy for maintaining public dataset availability, and an emphasis on responsibly generating data stories to inform decision-making.

The Disappearing National Data Ecosystem

Throughout 2025, U.S. federal government agencies have removed, attempted to remove, or discontinued publicly available datasets, including:

January: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed data on gender and sexuality, including the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) (Steenhuysen & Hesson, 2025). This information was restored on February 11, 2025 by court order (Stone, 2025).

February: The American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS) announced that administration officials had canceled 169 contracts with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Those contracts had provided for the collection of data on topics such as post-secondary finances, teacher shortages, chronic absenteeism, and post-secondary education student outcome data (Levine, 2025).

May: The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), retired the “Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters” report (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, 2025).

September: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the termination of future Household Food Security Reports (USDA, 2025).

The importance of having access to federal datasets cannot be understated. These datasets allow foundations and nonprofits to identify needs, measure results, and make informed investments. As Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, stated, “When data is weakened, we’re all flying blind” (as cited in Stiffman, 2025, para. 9).

“The importance of having access to federal datasets cannot be understated. These datasets allow foundations and nonprofits to identify needs, measure results, and make informed investments.”

In response, the philanthropic sector is organizing and funding data rescue efforts. For example, the Data Rescue Project (n.d.) launched in February 2025 as a network of data researchers, nonprofits, associations, and universities working to capture and preserve federal datasets before they potentially disappear. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation also proposed a framework for preserving and rebuilding public data systems (Sridharan Chibber, 2025). And the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation committed $30 million to preserve public health and climate data and to support local, data-driven studies on health gaps. The foundation is partnering with city and regional dashboards to gather health data that federal reports will now miss (Plough, 2025).

Ongoing Efforts to Get Value From Data

Going into 2025, the sector’s main priorities related to data included increasing access and transparency; ensuring responsible practice in its collection, interpretation, and use; and supporting practitioners’ data fluency. These higher-order goals persist, even as strategies for achieving them naturally evolve and barriers arise.

Personal Data and Public Trust

There are many reasons why nonprofits and foundations might struggle to access data that could help them make more impactful decisions. Delays in data processing and publication at the Internal Revenue Service (Williams & Akaakar, 2024) and other government agencies, limited data capacity among practitioners, and resource constraints that limit nonprofits’ access to top-of-the-line technology all contribute to the challenge (Bauer, 2022).

However, a new factor is complicating nonprofits and foundations’ efforts to collect their own data — declining trust. A national survey fielded by the Johnson Center in 2025 (Doebler & Williams, 2026) found that many respondents did not feel confident about nonprofits’ ability to protect their personal data. More respondents (38%) reported that they were not very confident that local nonprofits, like food banks, could keep their information safe, compared to those who did feel confident (31%). Trust was even lower for grantmaking groups, like community foundations or United Ways.

Artificial Intelligence

This mistrust is compounded by the growing potential for biases within data analysis. Although artificial intelligence (AI) tools have revolutionized the way the sector can analyze and bring context to data, these tools should be used with caution. While analysis can be streamlined, biases and inaccuracies in AI-generated responses are possible and even endemic. Organizations must be responsible and transparent about AI usage to prevent further erosion of public trust in data. Now more than ever, organizations must work harder to build trust and ensure participants feel confident in how their input is used.

Equity Mapping and Community Context

In the 2020 Trends report, Bauer and Borashko noted the proliferation of equity mapping tools in communities across the country. These online resources aimed to help people better understand disparities and opportunities in their regions by converting mass quantities of data into navigable indicators and visualizations.

However, emphasizing context is crucial to building and maintaining trust in data. Dorman (2022) wrote:

Exploring numbers in a vacuum can be enticing because statistics seem to provide tidy answers to understanding our complicated world. But we must acknowledge the context for this information and attempt to avoid the pitfalls of oversimplification (or worse). (para. 2)

While equity maps, inclusive of data dashboards, have been appealing to organizations, many fail to supplement data with community context. This allows the opportunity for data to be misinterpreted or even to be used maliciously. In response, many philanthropic organizations are now leaning into data storytelling. Data storytelling uses interactive data visualizations to support compelling narratives and add context to data.

For instance, PEAK Grantmaking released five data storytelling strategies to foster learning in 2024 (Marsack). The Nonprofit Leadership Center (Imbergamo, n.d.) identified five essential elements to master data-driven storytelling. And DATA4Philanthropy is a growing peer-to-peer learning group that “promotes the responsible use of data and technology in new ways but also encourages the integration of lived experiences throughout the process” (DATA4Philanthropy, n.d.).

As the philanthropic sector looks to the future of data collection and analysis, it must not forget the importance of human connection. Organizations should continuously evaluate the ways data are collected, conveyed, and shared. In the current data landscape, engaging communities in data will be more powerful than before.

What’s Next?

Although the philanthropic sector faces challenges navigating reduced access to data, it can also develop new frameworks for data strategies that ensure permanence, equity, and transparency.

Leaning into private partnerships and third-party data, for instance, can fill knowledge gaps and ensure continuation of services and allocation of resources for those in need (Axelrod et al., 2025). Matching qualitative data to quantitative information can support compelling narratives and add context to sometimes stark numbers (Kirvan et al., 2024). Setting guidelines and policies can safeguard communities from biases in analysis via AI. And of course, expanded and continued advocacy for keeping public data sources available will be critical. To thrive in this new data landscape, the sector must be adaptable, vigilant, and assume collective responsibility.

REFERENCES

Axelrod, J., Seeman, J., & Rodríguez, S. T. (2025, September 8). How third-party data can strengthen the strained federal data landscape. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-third-party-data-can-strengthen-strained-federal-data-landscape

Bauer, K. (2022, January 18). Nonprofits are finding new ways to get the data they need. 11 trends in philanthropy for 2022. Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. https://johnsoncenter.org/blog/nonprofits-are-finding-new-ways-to-get-the-data-they-need/

Bauer, K., & Borashko, R. (2020, January 15). Equity mapping tools combine the power of data and narrative change. 11 trends in philanthropy for 2020. Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. https://johnsoncenter.org/blog/equity-mapping-tools-combine-the-power-of-data-and-narrative-change/

DATA4Philanthropy. (n.d.). About DATA4Philanthropy. https://www.data4philanthropy.net/about

Data Rescue Project. (n.d.). About Data Rescue Project. https://www.datarescueproject.org/about-data-rescue-project/

Doebler, E., & Williams, J. (2026, January 13). Fewer than 50% of people trust nonprofits to protect their data. Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. https://johnsoncenter.org/blog/fewer-than-50-of-people-trust-nonprofits-to-protect-their-data/

Dorman, A. (2022, January 31). Data without context can be dangerous. The Center for Community Solutions. https://www.communitysolutions.com/resources/data-without-context-can-dangerous

Imbergamo, C. (n.d.). How to use data to tell a high-impact story. Nonprofit Leadership Center. https://nlctb.org/tips/how-to-use-data-to-tell-a-high-impact-story/

Kirvan, P., Gillis, A., & Laskowski, N. (2024, September 24). What is data storytelling? TechTarget. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/data-storytelling

Levine, F. J. (2025, February 10). AERA and COPAFS statement on the new administration’s sudden termination of National Center for Education Statistics contracts. American Educational Research Association. https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/AERA-and-COPAFS-Statement-on-the-New-Administrations-Sudden-Termination-of-National-Center-for-Education-Statistics-Contracts

Marsack, J. (2024, May 16). Five data storytelling strategies to foster learning. PEAK Grantmaking. https://www.peakgrantmaking.org/insights/five-data-storytelling-strategies-to-foster-learning/

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. (2025, May 8). Billion dollar weather and climate disasters. https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters

Plough, A. L. (2025, October 16). Philanthropy’s crucial role in protecting public health data. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/blog/2025/10/philanthropys-crucial-role-in-protecting-public-health-data.html

Sridharan Chibber, K. (2025, September 23). Preserving and rebuilding public data systems: A framework for funders. The Center for Effective Philanthropy. https://cep.org/blog/preserving-and-rebuilding-public-data-systems-a-framework-for-funders/

Steenhuysen, J., & Hesson, T. (2025, January 31). US health agencies scrubbing websites to remove “gender ideology.” Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-health-agencies-scrubbing-websites-remove-gender-ideology-2025-01-31/

Stiffman, E. (2025, October 17). Trump’s data cuts could leave nonprofits “flying blind.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. https://www.philanthropy.com/news/trumps-data-cuts-could-leave-nonprofits-flying-blind/

Stone, W. (2025, February 11). Judge orders restoration of federal health websites. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293387/judge-orders-cdc-fda-hhs-websites-restored

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2025, September 20). USDA terminates redundant Food Insecurity Survey. https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/09/20/usda-terminates-redundant-food-insecurity-survey

Williams, J. (2021, January 19). Data comes of age in philanthropy. 11 trends in philanthropy for 2021. Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. https://johnsoncenter.org/blog/data-comes-of-age-in-philanthropy/

Williams, J., & Akaakar, A. (2024, January 17). The fiscal sponsorship model: A growing trend in the nonprofit sector. 11 trends in philanthropy for 2024. Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. https://johnsoncenter.org/blog/the-fiscal-sponsorship-model-a-growing-trend-in-the-nonprofit-sector/

We Need Data and We Need Context. Both Are at Risk.

The Disappearing National Data Ecosystem

Ongoing Efforts to Get Value From Data

What’s Next?

Nonprofits are Finding New Ways to Get the Data They Need

Fewer Than 50% of People Trust Nonprofits to Protect Their Data

Data Science for Social Impact

REFERENCES