Data Foundation wins three Anthem Awards for climate data and public evidence work

The Data Foundation earned three honors in the 6th Annual Anthem Awards, including a Silver for Sonia Wang and two Bronze awards tied to its climate data and public data initiatives. The recognition highlights the group’s work on federal data infrastructure, cross-sector collaboration, and new tools for making public evidence easier to use.

Why it matters: - The awards recognize work that shapes how climate, environmental, and federal public data are collected, organized, and used. - The honors also spotlight nonprofit efforts to make government data more accessible to policymakers, researchers, and the public. - The Data Foundation’s recognition comes as demand grows for trusted data tools across climate, public health, and economic policy.

What happened: - The Data Foundation won three awards in the 6th Annual Anthem Awards, which honor social impact work by brands, nonprofits, and individuals. - Sonia Wang, senior director of the Center for Climate and Environmental Data, received a Silver award in Individual Recognition for Sustainability, Environment & Climate. - The Center for Climate and Environmental Data won Bronze in Community Engagement for Sustainability, Environment & Climate. - The Data Foundation won Bronze in Content & Media for Technology. - The Anthem Awards announced finalists from more than 2,500 submissions across more than 40 countries. - Finalists included entries from AARP, The LEGO Group, Sesame Workshop, Code for America, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and PBS.

The details: - Judges from the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences scored submissions on concept, execution, impact and engagement, inclusivity, and capacity building. - Top-scoring entries earned Gold, Silver, and Bronze recognition. - Nick Hart, president and CEO of the Data Foundation, said the awards recognized the organization’s research and advocacy on how public data is governed, measured, and used across administrations. - Hart said the Data Foundation’s approach starts with radical collaboration and brings together government, industry, and academia around evidence rather than ideology. - Sonia Wang won Silver for helping launch the Climate Data Collaborative and guiding its transition into the Data Foundation’s Center for Climate and Environmental Data. - The Center for Climate and Environmental Data works to improve the quality, accessibility, and usefulness of climate and environmental data used by policymakers, natural resource managers, investors, risk managers, and regulators. - The center won Bronze for building cross-sector partnerships that support the U.S. climate and environmental data infrastructure. - The center has launched or incubated the GHG Coalition, the Methane Plume Technical Working Group, the Semantic Commons for Climate, Nature & Economy, the Global Digital Single Market Data Alliance, and a free public emissions data portal. - Since launching in 2024, the center has convened or contributed to more than 30 events. - Since launching in 2024, the center has published more than 15 pieces of work. - The center has also been featured in The New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Politico, and Grist. - Sonia Wang said political and technological change is reshaping the U.S. climate and environmental data ecosystem. - Wang said leaders across sectors need timely and trusted information. - The Data Foundation’s Bronze-winning Content & Media entry focused on its work on federal datasets behind weather forecasts, disease surveillance, and economic measurement. - That work includes six consecutive annual federal Chief Data Officer surveys that have sampled hundreds of federal data leaders. - That work also includes the People’s Data 100, which prioritizes the nation’s highest-value public datasets. - The entry also includes govDATAx and the Datum Awards, which bring together government leaders, data practitioners, policymakers, technologists, and researchers. - The Center for Evidence Capacity launched the Evidence Act Hub in December 2025 as a public archive of federal evidence-building documents under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. - In July 2026, the Data Foundation launched Evi, an AI assistant that helps users search and analyze materials stored on the Hub. - Evi provides a citation to the source document for every answer. - Sara Stefanik, director of the Center for Evidence Capacity, said civil society groups have a role in developing AI tools that complement federal partners and make public data more accessible and useful. - Stefanik said the recognized initiatives show the value of digital resources that break down information silos across federal agencies. - The Data Foundation thanked supporters who backed its entries during the Anthem Community Voice public voting period in October.

Between the lines: - The awards place the Data Foundation in a broader field of organizations using data infrastructure as a social impact tool, not just a technical one. - The recognition also suggests growing interest in AI-enabled public-interest research tools, especially when they include source citations and sit on top of curated government documents. - The mix of climate, evidence, and communications awards points to a strategy built around both policy influence and public-facing data products.

What’s next: - The Data Foundation is likely to continue expanding its climate data partnerships and federal evidence tools. - The organization’s public data and AI work will likely remain focused on helping users find, interpret, and act on government information. - The Anthem Awards recognition may help the Data Foundation raise visibility for future initiatives and collaborations.

The bottom line: - The Data Foundation turned a year of climate and evidence infrastructure work into three Anthem Awards, underscoring the rising value of trusted public data systems.