Giving Compass' Take:

• An article at Stanford Social Innovation Review explains how philanthropy can play a role in funding a data-driven recovery from racial injustice and COVID-19.

• How does COVID-19 expose the inherently racist systems in our society? How will a data-driven recovery address those structures? What are you doing to invest in a data-driven COVID recovery today?

• Find resources to support a data-driven recovery from coronavirus, focused on equity and racial justice.


The cracks and design flaws of our nation’s public systems have been starkly exposed as governments everywhere struggle to respond to the health and economic crises that disproportionately devastate Black residents and communities of color. As government leaders respond to the immediate emergencies, they operate within a legacy of government practices, policies, and systems that were intentionally built to produce racial inequality or unintentionally lead to disparate outcomes for people of color.

Philanthropy could play a catalytic role in building a more equitable recovery by helping government leaders develop and more effectively use their data-and-evidence capacity: to spotlight racial disparities, to understand the root causes and role government systems play, and to increase the impact of government programs and services that could close gaps and accelerate economic opportunity.

We are already seeing that the growing number of governments that have built data-driven “Moneyball” muscles have developed the ability to use data to spot disparate racial outcomes and target resources for better results. They have the tools and skill to test and learn which investments are working and which are not. They participate in networks that help them learn quickly from peers facing similar challenges. And they can seize opportunities to join forces with nonprofits and collective-impact partnerships in their communities.

Philanthropy can accelerate this public sector transformation, supporting change led by internal government champions who are challenging the status quo. By helping governments make budget and policy decisions based on evidence and data, they can help ensure that dollars flow toward solutions that make a meaningful, measurable difference on increasing economic mobility, reducing racial disparities in health and other outcomes, or eliminating structural racism in government systems.

Read the full article about a data-driven recovery by Michele Jolin and David Medina at Stanford Social Innovation Review.