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Projects

FSMI is designed to be a growing platform on which other initiatives can be built by various partners in order to expand the reach and depth of the data gathered, and to provide analysis of the results. Current projects include mapping efforts focused on specific geographic regions, a data mining effort that leverages machine learning and big data, and specialized data collection efforts that are focused on particular industries, issue areas, and operational characteristics of for-benefits. For more information on how you can get involved or launch your own intitative, please contact us. 

National Mapping
Initiative: U.S.

Description: 

The Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy and Fourth Sector Networks are engaged in a joint project to deploy the Fourth Sector Mapping Initiative in the U.S. The Project was launched from a seed grant competition at the 2013 Growing the Impact Economy summit at Harvard University, in which the Center successfully competed. Modeled after the Center's highly regarded National Center for Charitable Statistics, the Project will develop a research database of for-benefits and their supporting organizations in the U.S. 

 

 

Team: 

  • Elizabeth T. Boris, Urban Institute

  • Heerad Sabeti, Fourth Sector Networks

  • Nathan Dietz, Urban Institute

  • Marcus Gaddy, Urban Institute

  • Joel Getzendanner, Fourth Sector Networks, Urban Institute

  • Tom Pollak, Urban Institute

Machine Learning Based Auto-Discovery of For-Benefits

Description: 
Stanford University Computer Science Professor Jeff Ullman's advanced project-based class on Data-Mining Research and Machine Learning Algorithms in March 2016 will provide sudents an opportunity to work on algorithms for auto-discovering potential for-benefit organizations globally. This would be done by crawling the web and leveraging machine learning algorithms that are seeded with a well curated training/learning set of for-benefit-enterprises. In this class students will be analyzing very large amounts of data - both interesting big datasets as well as computational infrastructure (large MapReduce).

 

Team/Advisors: 

Stanford University students and faculty, Silicon Valley tech industry experts including:

  • Prof. Jeff Ullman's class students

  • Anil Kamath, Adobe Systems

  • Radhika Shah, Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs

  • Ronda Evans, Deloitte

National Mapping Initiative:

Denmark

Description: 

Deploying the FSMI census instrument to collect data on Danish for-benefit companies and organizations that form the supportive ecosystem around the fourth sector. This includes information on the barriers for-benefits face, their social, environmental and economic impacts, and other data useful to policymakers, investors, enterprises, and other key stakeholders.

 

Lead: Nille Skalts, Spark

National Mapping Initiative:

Portugal

Description: 

Deploying the FSMI census instrument to collect data on Portugese for-benefit companies and organizations that form the supportive ecosystem around the fourth sector. This includes information on the barriers for-benefits face, their social, environmental and economic impacts, and other data useful to policymakers, investors, enterprises, and other key stakeholders.

 

Lead: Antonio Chanoca, Sintese Azul

National Mapping Initiative:

Spain

Description: 

Deploying the FSMI census instrument to collect data on Spanish for-benefit companies and organizations that form the supportive ecosystem around the fourth sector. This includes information on the barriers for-benefits face, their social, environmental and economic impacts, and other data useful to policymakers, investors, enterprises, and other key stakeholders.

 

 

Lead: Iker Atxa, InnoBasque

Regional Mapping Initiative:

Encinitas, CA

Description: 

As part of a regional fourth sector economic development initiative, Engage Encinitas in cooperation with Encinitas 4 Benefit are deploying the FSMI census instrument to collect data on local for-benefit companies and organizations that form the supportive ecosystem around the fourth sector. This includes information on the barriers for-benefits face, their social, environmental and economic impacts, and other data useful to policymakers, investors, enterprises, and other key stakeholders.

 

 

Team:

Regional Mapping Initiative:

New Orleans, LA

Description: 

As part of a regional fourth sector economic development initiative, Value Louisiana is deploying the FSMI census instrument to collect data on local for-benefit companies and local organizations that form the supportive ecosystem around the fourth sector. This includes information on the barriers for-benefits face, their social, environmental and economic impacts, and other data useful to policymakers, investors, enterprises, and other key stakeholders.

 

 

Lead: Liz Shepard, Value Louisiana

Regional Mapping Initiative: 
Berkshires, MA

Description: 

As part of a regional fourth sector economic development initiative to create a “Regional, Place-based Impact Economy” and "Public Benefit Enterprise Zone (PBEZ) in Western Massachusetts, the Impact Entrepreneur Center for Social and Environmental Innovation is helping to develop, beta test and deploy the FSMI census instrument to collect data on local and regional for-benefit companies and organizations that form the supportive ecosystem around the fourth sector. This includes information on the barriers for-benefits face, their social, environmental and economic impacts, and other data useful to policymakers, investors, enterprises, and other key stakeholders.

 

 

Lead: Laurie Lane-Zucker, Impact Entrepreneur Center for Social and Environmental Innovation

 

Team/Advisors:

  • Anthony Allen, Formata

  • Liam Brody, Root Capital

  • Gillette Conner, IFC/World Bank

  • David Curtis, 1Berkshire

  • Jay Friedlander, College of the Atlantic

  • Phillip Gaskin, Kauffman Foundation

  • Edward Skloot, former President, Surdna Foundation

  • Michelle Stronz, Formata

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