The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) is a national network of local organizations in more than 30 cities across the United States that helps communities use data to shape strategies and investments so that all neighborhoods are places where people can thrive. In 2024, the Urban Institute, as the national partner of NNIP, distributed a business and finance survey to NNIP partner organizations providing community data services. This brief documents the results of that survey, providing a snapshot of each organization’s makeup, financial conditions, and business practices that can help strengthen business and fundraising practices across the network and yield insights for organizations outside NNIP that are starting or expanding community data services. 

Among the results, we find that most partners have fewer than six staff members and a median budget for community data services just below $600,000, a 25 percent increase from the last survey conducted in 2014. Project-based revenue is the most frequent and prominent share of budgets relative to general support, which has decreased since 2014.

With more resources, especially general support resources, NNIP partner organizations could have greater impact in their communities and assist more organizations in using data to advance local priorities. We suggest several business practices in this brief that could help support increased fundraising and strategic use of resources. These include collecting and sharing impact stories, formalizing decision criteria to help determine project partners, developing guidelines for concept and proposal development spending, and maintaining cash reserves for future work.