Gain Knowledge
Our expertise in philanthropy brings life to the data we gather and allows you to see the world more clearly and develop practical solutions that help you achieve your mission.
Knowledge Services
We apply our experience to the vast quantity of data we gather to address fundamental questions and create knowledge that we share through the content-rich, innovative platforms we develop for funders, nonprofits, and anyone like you interested in social change.
These essential questions emerge again and again across funding areas, strategies, and geographies. We analyze and organize data with partners on custom projects to transform our information, analysis, and technology into solutions that help the social sector so you can see the world in a new light – and find the answers that are important to you.
Foundation Landscapes
Issue-based web portals for scanning and collaboration, based around critical issues in philanthropy.
Foundation Maps
Our data visualization platform for philanthropy, drawing from the most comprehensive database of U.S. and global foundations.
Foundation Research
We partner with organizations in the U.S. and around the world to produce custom statistics and reports.
Foundation Data
We aggregate and enhance data on behalf of the field, so that individual organizations don't have to build their own data sets from scratch.
Foundation Ideas
Shareable collections of reports, guides, evaluations, case studies, and more, brought to you by IssueLab and GrantCraft.
Foundation Transparency
We help foundations to become more transparent by encouraging online information sharing and building free websites.
Foundation Benchmarkers
Tools for community foundations to analyze their operating models, gauge their performance, plan for the future, inform policy changes, and explore innovative ideas.
Knowledge Services Experts


Larry McGill is vice president for knowledge services at Foundation Center. He joined the organization as vice president for research in 2007, overseeing the research on foundation giving trends, practices, and emerging issues in the field. Under his leadership, Foundation Center’s research program expanded rapidly to create dynamic online platforms for aggregating and visualizing global data on philanthropy and placing it in the larger context of emerging needs and international aid flows. As vice president for knowledge services, he also oversees the work of CF Insights, Glasspockets, Global Partnerships, GrantCraft, IssueLab, and Philanthropy News Digest.
Prior to joining Foundation Center, he served as director of research and planning for the Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA) at Princeton University and as deputy director of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. From 1994 to 2001, Dr. McGill was director of research for the Freedom Forum and its operating programs, the Media Studies Center and the First Amendment Center. Prior to that, he was manager of news audience research at NBC. He has taught at Northwestern University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1987.


As a geographer and programmer, Jake Garcia has worked on GIS projects for NASA, Al Gore's Climate Project, the City of New York, and the U.S. Army. At Foundation Center, he builds mapping applications, data visualizations, semantic analysis scripts, and application programming interfaces. In April 2011, Jake was the lead developer on a project that won the Large Organization award in the World Bank's "Apps for Development" contest. He received an M.A. in geography from Hunter College and a B.A. in political science from Brown University.


Jen Bokoff is the director of knowledge services at Foundation Center. She develops partnerships and projects that build knowledge and strategy in the social sector, with an eye specifically on grantmakers. In other words, she goes to sleep thinking about how brilliant curation of qualitative and quantitative data can drive smarter decisions in philanthropy. She also runs GrantCraft, a free service that taps the practical wisdom of funders to improve the collective knowledge of the philanthropy field. In her role, Jen regularly speaks at conferences and facilitates workshops with funders, and connects people to resources, ideas, and one another.
A graduate of Tufts University, Jen studied community health and sociology and spent two years involved in the Learning by Giving philanthropy program. She serves on the Alumni Council as the chair of the development committee and also serves on an advisory committee for The Moth’s education programs. In her spare time, she is an amateur comedic improviser, avid Brooklyn nerd, and second base woman on Foundation Center's winning-in-spirit softball team. Jen is a firm believer that social innovation and change happen only when passionate people across different industries collaborate; being a strong connector enables this growth in local communities and throughout the world.


As director of global partnerships at Foundation Center, Lauren Bradford manages the SDG Philanthropy Platform including SDGfunders.org and other major projects and relationships. She joined Foundation Center to create a global strategy for developing and managing bilateral and multilateral partnerships that are instrumental in fulfilling the organization’s vision to build a global data and knowledge base for philanthropy, strengthen and connect the philanthropic sector to the global development ecosystem, and achieve more effective grantmaking and development outcomes. Lauren began her career in strategic urban planning in Australia before transitioning to international development with the United Nations (UN) in Timor-Leste, where she worked on Millennium Development Goal progress and UN Country Team coordination. From there she joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), working in the World Heritage Center, and then to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Cooperation Directorate/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) where she advised and coordinated the OECD Post-2015 task team and supported the work on financing for development. After this, Lauren worked with the World Bank, looking at how best to leverage land to structure urban regeneration private-public partnerships.
With degrees in both urban planning and international development, Lauren has expertise in the global development framework and its relationship to data and knowledge, including the creation and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the financing of the 2030 development agenda.


Janet Camarena serves as the director of transparency initiatives for Foundation Center, working to champion greater foundation transparency. A key part of her role is to provide leadership for Glasspockets.org, which she helped to found and build in 2010. Glasspockets provides a variety of tools and features designed to encourage philanthropic openness. It has been recognized by the Webby Awards and was also selected as one of the Top 100 websites by PC Magazine. Janet also oversees and authors articles on the Glasspockets’ Transparency Talk blog.
Prior to her current role, Janet served as director of Foundation Center’s regional office in San Francisco for 15 years. She led a team of six professionals in delivering extensive outreach and capacity building services throughout the Western United States, planning and overseeing training for social sector audiences, carrying out donor development and cultivation, and producing live and online programming such as the popular Meet the Grantmakers and Philanthropy Chat podcast series.
Janet was among 48 nonprofit leaders selected for the American Express Nonprofit Leadership Academy. She completed her undergraduate work at Mills College and received a master’s degree in library and information science from San Jose State University. She serves on the boards of the Alameda County Library Foundation and Community Initiatives, a fiscal sponsorship provider.


Renée oversees the creation of digital solutions that communicate the important work of philanthropy. As managing director of web design & development for Foundation Center, she leads the design and development of innovative online experiences that tell the stories of the efforts of foundations around the globe. Recent solutions include the new foundationcenter.org, sdgfunders.org, peaceandsecurityindex.org, and glasspockets.org. Since joining Foundation Center in 1997, Renée has helped the organization adapt to evolving technologies in order to advance knowledge about philanthropy. Renée began her social sector career at GMHC, the nation’s largest service organization for people living with HIV, leading 100+ social service volunteers and launching the organization’s first website in 1995. Renée holds a Bachelor of Science degree in advertising from the University of Florida’s College of Journalism.