What Big Data Can Tell Us About Government Awards to the Nonprofit Sector: Using the FAADS

Jesse Lecy; Jeremy Thornton

doi:10.1177/0899764015620902

What Big Data Can Tell Us About Government Awards to the Nonprofit Sector: Using the FAADS

Jesse Lecy, Jeremy Thornton

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article reviews the Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS), a comprehensive online archive of federal grant activity. Relatively few nonprofit scholars have used this extensive data source due to significant structural limitations in the data. This article aims to describe and mitigate those limitations while stimulating new research on government awards to nonprofits. The article profiles the process of federal award flows and reporting. We also identify the primary advantages and shortcomings in the current data structure. Finally, we post an electronic matching algorithm that links individual federal award records to recipient Form 990 financial data. This process allows researchers to analyze the influence of federal awards with greater fidelity than has been previously accomplished in the literature.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1052-1069
Number of pages	18
Journal	Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
Volume	45
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764015620902
State	Published - Oct 1 2016
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

FAADS
awards
grants
matching
nonprofit

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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10.1177/0899764015620902

Cite this

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abstract = "This article reviews the Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS), a comprehensive online archive of federal grant activity. Relatively few nonprofit scholars have used this extensive data source due to significant structural limitations in the data. This article aims to describe and mitigate those limitations while stimulating new research on government awards to nonprofits. The article profiles the process of federal award flows and reporting. We also identify the primary advantages and shortcomings in the current data structure. Finally, we post an electronic matching algorithm that links individual federal award records to recipient Form 990 financial data. This process allows researchers to analyze the influence of federal awards with greater fidelity than has been previously accomplished in the literature.",

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AB - This article reviews the Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS), a comprehensive online archive of federal grant activity. Relatively few nonprofit scholars have used this extensive data source due to significant structural limitations in the data. This article aims to describe and mitigate those limitations while stimulating new research on government awards to nonprofits. The article profiles the process of federal award flows and reporting. We also identify the primary advantages and shortcomings in the current data structure. Finally, we post an electronic matching algorithm that links individual federal award records to recipient Form 990 financial data. This process allows researchers to analyze the influence of federal awards with greater fidelity than has been previously accomplished in the literature.

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What Big Data Can Tell Us About Government Awards to the Nonprofit Sector: Using the FAADS

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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