GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Cultural organizations will benefit from this project through an enhanced ability to track their individual data and trends over time and compare how they operate relative to their peers and to the sector at large.
• Building broad access to information about California's cultural sector will benefit the cultural community by making it better able to tell the story of its impact, assets and needs.
• Cultural policy expertise will increase by making data available to researchers who analyze and interpret the cultural sector.
• California CDP respects the right of individual organizations to retain their privacy, within the extent of the law.  Applicants will have access to their specific information only and aggregate information will be made available for benchmarking.

GOALS AND STRATEGIES

• To gather, manage and analyze comprehensive data on the cultural sector in California in order to serve the cultural community, arts grantmakers and cultural policymakers.
• To streamline the application process for potential grantees through completion of a standardized form for historical organizational data that will accompany grant requests to the participating funding partners in California.
• To improve systematic and ongoing data collection and reporting on the cultural sector.
• To identify opportunities and challenges for cultural organizations and the field that can be addressed through improved grantmaking and policy development.
• To inform foundation program planning and evaluation.
• To serve as a model for other states and service sectors to develop similar data collection tools.

VISION

• The cultural community will speak with depth and context about its sector and will be more effective in articulating its assets, its contributions and its needs.
• Cultural organizations will improve their capacity and services to the community by using data from the California CDP.
• Other funders will adopt the California CDP and it will become a standard throughout California.

PROJECT GOVERNANCE
The Cultural Data Project (CDP) was developed in Pennsylvania and is overseen by the CDP Governing Group, which currently consists of:

• Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
• Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
• The Heinz Endowments
• Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
• The Pew Charitable Trusts
• The Pittsburgh Foundation
• William Penn Foundation

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
California CDP is administered by The Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia. Housed in the Culture Program at Pew, the CDP is overseen by Barbara Lippman, Project Director and Senior Program Officer in Culture, and Neville Vakharia, Project Manager.

RESEARCH AND REPORTING PARTNERS
The funders and partners in each state will select Research and Reporting Partners for the purpose of advising the project and analyzing, interpreting and distributing the information collected to benefit the cultural community. The Research and Reporting Partners are integral to the California CDP and the success of the project.

DEVELOPMENT TEAM
The Cultural Data Project thanks the following companies for their assistance in the development of this important venture:

• Your Part-Time Controller, LLC
• August Development Corporation
• Cool Spring Analytics
• Night Kitchen Media
• GHI Design
• Lisa Pool Consulting, LLC
• Sharon Erwin, Esq.