Preserving and Rebuilding Public Data Systems: A Framework for Funders

Every year, like many peers at other foundations, I partner with grantmaking teams to draft learning plans. We revisit assumptions, reflect on lessons, identify questions for the year ahead, and map out data sources — like PRAMS and ACS — that will help us answer these questions and keep a pulse on, say, maternal and child health trends, housing stability, community well-being — some of the ultimate goals we hope to impact through our grantmaking.

In the last few months, I have been going through this routine of updating learning plans and simultaneously watching dramatic changes to the availability and reliability of public datasets and supporting systems. Datasets, especially those related to gender, race, and equity disappeared or were altered with little explanation or public process. Experts in federal data collection agencies were let go. Budgets for data were shrunk. Advisory boards providing unbiased oversight were dissolved. Research not aligned with the current White House policy priorities was rescinded. Wait — data collected consistently since 1980, like PRAMS, could suddenly stop, be rescinded, or altered in 2025?

Public data are foundational to philanthropic work. Funders use public data to gain insights into problems, identify disparities, and design and test solutions. Our partners rely on data for everything from advocacy and policy design to program evaluation, to determining cost-of-living adjustments, eligibility thresholds, and funding levels. When data disappear, are altered, or delayed, it becomes harder to answer basic questions that underpin effective grantmaking: What works? For whom? Where do inequities persist? The lack of data put communities that are most vulnerable and at risk of exclusion in further jeopardy.

In the face of this threat, what do we do?

The sector’s relatively quiet response is understandable. We have been focused on the immediate effects of recent government policies on the communities we work with, while many federal datasets are published every few years, so impacts of the changes to data systems are not being felt right away. Only when it’s time to evaluate strategy or plan for the next few years — asking what’s improved, for whom, where inequities remain — may we find that we are missing essential data on poverty rates, maternal and infant health markers, access to safe and affordable housing, exposure to environmental risks, and civic engagement rates, among other topics.

We cannot silently watch this threat unfold. We need a plan — not for a single dataset that you or I care about, but for saving, strengthening, and rebuilding public data systems so they remain resilient, accessible, and grounded in community needs, serving government, civil society, philanthropy, and business.

In the past few months, inspired by first responder peers like Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Ballmer Group, I began talking with field experts, data scientists, and researchers to see what could be done to address this challenge. Here is a framework I developed to organize my understanding that may be useful to peers facing the same ‘now what?’ moment pertaining to data.

1. Preserve: Save what exists from vanishing.

When datasets go dark or become vulnerable, one of the first things we can do is save what exists. Researchers, librarians, and volunteer “data rescuers” are racing to preserve federal datasets before they vanish or are altered. The Data Rescue Project serves as a clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts for public U.S. governmental data that are currently at risk.

Similarly, Environmental Data & Governance Initiative and ICPSR are archiving thousands of at-risk environmental and social science datasets, while the Public Data Project is archiving data and developing open-source tools so others can replicate the work and create repositories. These projects need support for coordination, long-term hosting, and equitable access so that preserved data remain usable for research, advocacy, and community needs.

2. Advocate: Protect data in real time.

Protecting public data isn’t just about archiving it — it’s about ensuring its continuity in real time. Advocacy, watchdog functions, and storytelling are key. America’s Data Index monitors the federal data infrastructure, flagging when data become unavailable, reposted, or fails to release as expected. Upcoming features include checks for data quality changes and field modifications, and sophisticated risk calculation tools that provide a foundation for oversight, litigation, and reform.

America’s Essential Data brings the human side of data loss to life, sharing narratives that help lawmakers see why federal data matter for everyday lives. The Federal Data Forum provides a space for users to share threats and solutions — how organizations and individuals can collaborate to protect public data. Together, these projects help keep data reliable and accessible as a public good.

3. Strengthen: Reinforce the infrastructure and people behind data.

State and local partners that underpin federal data collection rely on federal standards, funding, or coordination. They now face gaps impossible to fill alone. Philanthropy can help build capacity, develop governance and privacy practices, and create models of alternative data stewardship. For example, the Urban Institute provides technical assistance to government data teams and sector-specific intermediaries to newly collect or store data, map data interdependencies, aggregate across jurisdictions, and build tools (e.g. the “affirmatively furthering fair housing” data and tools) — historically produced by federal agencies but increasingly being eliminated — to support evidence-based policy.

Likewise, the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, an expanding network of local organizations in 30+ U.S. cities, helps local partners — community-based organizations, state and local agencies, and residents — collect, organize, and use data to shape local strategies and drive community outcomes. The Data Disaggregation Network is a robust infrastructure engaging stakeholders, policymakers, and communities to pursue disaggregated data. These initiatives show how philanthropy can ensure that critical data collection continues in ways that build capacity and trust while reflecting community needs.

4. Reimagine and Build: Design for the future we need, rather than just rebuilding from what we know.

Even as we preserve and strengthen, we know current systems are fragile and limited. Centralized structures lack community participation, and fragmented funding obscures a full picture of people’s needs. Emerging efforts are asking: How do we coordinate? What data are essential? How do we design systems that are equitable, resilient, include strong governance and privacy protection, and are ready for future challenges?

Funders for the Future of Public Data¹ convenes funders, practitioners, and experts to align near-term investments and, with a data advisory group, shape a long-term plan for equitable data infrastructure. The American Statistical Association and the Data Foundation convene partners to guide structural changes in federal statistical systems, public-private partnership models, and frameworks for sustainable evidence infrastructure, while efforts like the Baltimore Promise show how community-led governance can balance transparency, accountability, and privacy with broader access.

Moving Forward

This framework is helping us at the Packard Foundation think about how we contribute to saving, strengthening, and building future data systems. We plan to support a subset of these efforts. Let’s not wait to value public data until it’s gone. The cost of waiting is invisible — until it isn’t.

Ask yourself:

• What datasets do you and your grantees rely on? What has become of them?
• What critical data were never collected in the first place?
• Who generates and uses the data? Who is missing?

You don’t have to fund all four pillars. Pick one and start. As others have noted, the greatest risk is inaction.

Karuna Sridharan Chibber is an evaluation and learning officer, Families and Communities, at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Find her on LinkedIn.