Seeking Geographic Mapping/Visualization of Foundation Grantmaking Data
About the Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (www.hewlett.org) has been making grants since 1967 to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation has grantmaking programs in education, the environment, global development and population, the performing arts, and philanthropy; it also makes grants to aid disadvantaged communities in the Bay Area. Last year, the foundation awarded over 500 grants totaling $200 million.
Background
The Foundation currently has a set of maps on its website (http://www.hewlett.org/grants/hewlett-foundation-grantmaking-maps-and-charts), provided through the Foundation Center, detailing the locations of the organizations for which the Foundation provides funding support. While many grants are made to organizations based in the U.S., these domestic organizations often work in international geographies. Within the Foundation’s grants management system, each grant has a code called “Geographical Area Served” which tracks which geographic area is benefiting from the grant, regardless of where the organization is located. Each grant can serve multiple countries or regions and certain regions overlap, such as “Developing Countries” or “International”. Geographies are only granular to the county level (U.S.) or province/state level (internationally).
Goal, Audience, and Scope of Work
The goal is to visualize which countries and regions are benefiting from the Foundation’s grantmaking dollars over time, by mapping the "Geographical Area Served" code. These visualizations will help Foundation senior staff gain a high-level understanding of our grantmaking and help program staff identify areas of opportunity. While the initial audience for the maps is internal, the long-term goal is for these maps to be made publicly available.
Some initial clean-up of the data may be required. The dataset will be limited to about 2,500 entries with 10 fields, but can be further truncated if necessary. The long-term goal is for the visualizations to have dynamic data, pulling directly from our database. For the purposes of this project, a static dataset will be used.
Decisions about how to split grants that serve multiple areas or how to deal with overlapping regions will need to be determined in conjunction with Foundation staff. Further analysis and visualization by program area, by location of the organization, or by type of support can be included.
The Foundation would like the project lead to be creative in coming up with different types of visualizations. Visualizations, however, should allow users to sort, filter, or drill-down into the data. Static or motion-based visualizations that tell a story would also be interesting.
Qualifications Desired
• Expertise in data analysis and visualization, including related software
• Ability to adopt a rapid prototyping/iterative approach
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to work independently
• Some familiarity with the philanthropic or non-profit sector desirable, but not required
Submission and Timeline:
To submit your application, please send 1) a resume of your qualifications, 2) examples of past visualizations, 3) short description of your suggested approach, 4) brief timeline for your work, 5) projected budget based on time and materials, inclusive of hours and any software license, maintenance, and applicable hosting fees.
Applications should be submitted by, October 17, 2011.
Applications and questions should be directed to June Wang at jwang [at] hewlett [dot] org.