From Fixing Forms to Fixing the System: A Call to Action

If you are a funder, vendor, data provider, or nonprofit leader, this is a moment to act.

For more than two decades, PEAK Grantmaking has pushed the social sector to simplify processes, streamline grantmaking, and reduce unnecessary burden on nonprofits. That work has mattered. It has changed norms, language, and expectations across philanthropy.

And yet, here we are in 2026, and most grant applications still ask nonprofits to retype information that already exists somewhere else, even as many funders move toward trust-based, invitation-only, or application-free approaches.

At the same time, artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how we analyze, synthesize, and use information across nearly every field. But in philanthropy, many of the systems we rely on remain locked in place. They are disconnected, duplicative, and resistant to reuse. AI may be accelerating around us, but the underlying data practices of the sector have not kept pace.

That is why this moment calls for something bigger than fixing individual forms.

It calls for fixing the system.

Introducing the Data Next-Level Practices

PEAK Grantmaking, in partnership with Philanthropy Data Solutions, are introducing the Data Next-Level Practices (Data NLPs), a practical, sector-wide blueprint for reusing data, sharing data, and building the data ecosystem the sector actually deserves.

The Data NLPs are not about adding new requirements or compliance checklists. They are about changing how we work together. They focus on measured, achievable shifts in practice that make the philanthropic data ecosystem more connected, more equitable, and significantly less burdensome for everyone involved.

At their core, the Data NLPs are about moving from a world where each organization reinvents the wheel to one where information flows across the ecosystem. This shift allows funders, nonprofits, and partners to spend more time on mission and less time on maintenance.

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What We Are Asking You to Do

Fixing the system starts with decisions each of us can make today. The Data NLPs are designed so every stakeholder can move, regardless of where they are starting.

If you are a funder:

Commit to reusing existing data before asking nonprofits to reenter it. Default to modern, common taxonomies. Publish your grants in open, reusable formats. And, if you ask for data, fund the infrastructure and labor required to produce it.

If you are a grants management or product vendor:

Make data reuse the default, not an upgrade. Integrate trusted data sources. Support open APIs and real-time data sharing. Build tools that help funders see and reduce burden inside their own systems.

If you are a data, taxonomy, or infrastructure provider:

Lower the barriers to participation. Offer equitable pricing, transparent governance, and simple ways for nonprofits to claim, control, and update their data. Build the pipelines that allow information to move where it is needed.

If you are a nonprofit:

Claim your data. Keep it current. Ask funders to accept information from trusted repositories instead of custom forms. Your data has value both to you and to the sector.

How Change Happens

No single organization can fix this alone. Progress happens when individual actions reinforce one another, when funders reuse data, vendors support reuse by default, data providers enable sharing, and nonprofits are empowered rather than burdened.

The Data Next-Level Practices were intentionally designed as a systems intervention. Their power comes not from perfection, but from participation.

You do not need to adopt everything at once. Start with one practice. One integration. One policy shift. Then share what you learn.

Why Acting Now Matters

AI is already changing how decisions are made, how insight is generated, and how resources flow. If our data remains fragmented and inaccessible, those benefits will accrue unevenly, and inequity will deepen.

But if we align around shared data practices now, we can build an information infrastructure that is more equitable, more efficient, and more resilient, one that serves nonprofits rather than extracting from them.

The Invitation

The Data Next-Level Practices are not a finish line. They are an invitation.

An invitation to move from intention to implementation.

An invitation to shift defaults, not just rhetoric.

An invitation to fix the system, together.

The practices exist. The technology exists. The moment is here.

What happens next depends on what we choose to do.