This report from the Initiative for Open Ag Funding outlines the investment data needs of philanthropic foundations currently funding agriculture and food security programs. To identify these data needs, Foundation Center, an initiative partner, held in-depth interviews with five foundations and one consultant to a major foundation, speaking mostly with strategic and programmatic staff responsible for agriculture investment decisions. Foundation Center also convened a group of funders working in East Africa to discuss the capacity for, and use of, data in their work. Although each organization uses a slightly different approach to decision making on investments, their needs are quite similar in terms of the questions they need answered to make those decisions, the kinds of data they seek, and the challenges they face in securing those data.
