The Foundation Center’s blog, Philanthropy Front and Center – Washington, DC, spotlighted the launch of the DC Cultural Data Project in a recent post. The article, “Cultural Data Project: A New Tool for DC Arts Groups to Strengthen Capacity & Chart Impact,” details the benefits of participating in the CDP for DC’s arts and cultural community.

“What makes this exciting is that the CDP is nationwide, providing uniform tools to document the expansive impact of arts and culture locally and nationally,” said Jennifer Cover Payne, president of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, in the article.

The DC CDP was also recently the topic of a Philanthropy Chat podcast . Hosted by Patricia Pasqual, director of the Foundation Center’s Washington, DC office, the podcast features an interview with Jenny Snyder, an associate with the CDP, and Michael Bigley, a program officer at the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, which is one of the lead funders supporting the launch of the DC CDP.

With more than 11,000 arts and cultural organizations participating in the CDP nationwide, Bigley points out that “an individual nonprofit can measure themselves amongst different peer groups, disciplines, budget sizes – the list can go on and on – so that they can get some great data and discover trends that are going on in the field.” Particularly in a challenging economy, he notes that the CDP is both a great tool for arts advocates and an important learning tool for individual organizations.

To read the Foundation Center blog post, click here.

To listen to the Philanthropy Chat podcast, click here.