Social Economy Data Lab Specification: Documentation (Alpha)

Attention

This documentation site is a work in progress.

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification is being developed as a draft data specification to describe social investment. For more information please contact the Data Lab.

For open data to be really useful it has to follow a common data model – a specification – so that data from many publishers can be compared.

We are developing the Social Economy Data Lab Specification for this purpose. The Specification ensures that when your data is made available online, it can be easily transferable between different applications.

This is how we make sure that when you use the data, the results can be compared.

See the Getting Started page for more information.

Contents

Getting Started

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification defines the definitions, data models and guidance required to make data on social investment interoperable.

The Specification is being designed to help people and organisations who want to:

• Encourage increased transparency and sharing of data on social investment
• Support mass collaboration around data
• Make two different systems talk to one another
• Collect and analyse data from many different places

Specification

The Specification comprises:

• This Documentation, which describes the elements of the Specification, and gives guidance on how data can be published in the correct format.
• The Schema, which is a technical description of the fields that are included in the Specification, and is a developer-friendly structure for working with published data based on JSON Schema.
• Codelists: lists of classifications used to categorise data.

What is social investment?

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification doesn’t seek to impose a strict definition of social investment that published data should meet. That decision can be made by the data holders themselves.

Participants in the social investment market may have different concepts of what can be considered as social investment, or ‘true’ social investment.

A broad understanding is, however, useful as a point of reference. The suggested definition is agnostic about who the investing and recipient organisations are, with the focus instead being on the purpose of the investment itself.

Social Investment

The investment of money with the expectation that a social benefit as well as an economic return will be gained.

This differs from conventional investment in that it is anticipated that a social benefit will be realised through the use of the money. It also differs from philanthropically motivated grantmaking as an economic return is also expected. The economic return does not necessarily have to be profitable, and could be simply expected to cover the cost of the initial outlay.

Social investment, therefore, does not have to be socially motivated. It may be the case that the investor’s motivation is simply to gain an economic return (e.g. in the case of mainstream financial institutions), while the investee’s motivation in accessing the finance is guided by the aim of delivering a social benefit.

Users and Use Cases

Social investment has many stakeholders. They may have many different information and data needs, in different settings and at different times.

Use cases provide a way to identify particular users, and user stories help to describe their information and data needs.

We have drawn on use cases to:

• Develop and check our understanding of what different stakeholders want to do with social investment information and data.
• Identify technical, data content and data quality requirements that may be needed to meet specific use cases and user needs.
• Explain and promote the specification to external audiences.

Use Cases

The four use cases below provide examples of how user needs can be met by the Social Economy Data Lab Specification. Not all user needs can be met by the Specification and the data itself, but by tools and processes built around the Specification.

1. Maximising the social impact of investment

The driving motivation of social investors is to see a positive social impact as a result of their investment, as well as a financial return.

For those who take on social finance, their aim is to grow their business and to deliver more social good to the communities they serve on a sustainable basis.

Linked social investment data can help investors to identify organisations that are already using social investment, and how deals have performed. It can also help to build relationships between those who do good and those who fund good, and helps to expand the market.

Data can also help to highlight local areas and services where investments have not performed well in the past, or do not exist currently, and develop innovative approaches to these problems.

For example

As a social entrepreneur, I want to point to where social investment has been used successfully before, so that I have evidence to support my application for a loan

2. Monitoring the market

Relatively little is known about the overall size, make-up and growth of the social investment market.

Comparable data can support analysis and the identification of trends in the UK’s social investment market, and provides clearer evidence for policy-making in government, and strategising within social finance intermediaries.

While there are many large institutions who provide bank lending or specialist social investment instruments, there are also many others who aren’t identified by the label of social investment but nevertheless provide repayable finance to organisations with a social purpose.

An improved understanding of the range of finance options for social enterprises and community businesses builds on the existing knowledge of the social investment market.

For example

As an analyst, I want to be able to compare the impact of social investments across a number of deals, so that I can make a judgment on what works well in a particular section of the market

3. Improving efficiency in social investment finance institutions

Many social investment finance institutions (SIFIs) have come into existence only in recent years. As they cope with the task of putting in place new systems and processes, there is a risk that a lot of trial and error, and duplication of effort, is created.

A data specification can only help to address some of these inefficiencies, but easy-to-find, standardised, and free-to-use data can help SIFIs to streamline some business processes and underpin sound business practices.

Machine-readable data can also help in the automation of many of the monitoring and reporting processes that social investment intermediaries undertake.

For example

As a fund manager, I want to be able to benchmark our investments against others using data, so that I can report the impact of our funding to the board

4. Promoting transparency and shared learning

Social investment is a very different business to traditional banking and investing.

For many social lenders, demonstrating the transparency of their decision-making is an important value. Being able to show to that they are making the best use of their endowment can be a motivation factor, especially when sums of public money are involved.

As an innovative and relatively new way of making a social impact, transparency is also an important step in sharing learning and experience between investors. A data standard allows information to be shared in non-discriminatory way.

For example

As someone working in government policy, I want to know which options for increasing the amount of social investment will work best, so I can make recommendations underpinned by evidence

Building blocks

A Social Economy Data Lab Specification document is made up of a number of sections which detail the entities that can be described using the specification, and the properties it recognises.

The fundamental building block of the Social Economy Data Lab Specification is a deal. Deals have a number of direct properties and a number of related entities, including the organisations involved, classifications, financing and transactions, which in turn have properties.

For a full list of properties and entities referred to by the Specification, refer to the Schema.

Financial elements

Deals may comprise one or more forms of finance, typically a grant, a loan, and/or equity.

Grants are a form of non-repayable finance, while loans and equity are usually paid back by the recipient, often with interest and/or dividends.

Deals with multiple elements of repayable and non-repayable finance are sometimes referred to as "blended finance".

For example

Example 1. A social investment deal worth £20,000 made up of one element:

• A £20,000 loan from a funding organisation, to be repaid over 10 years at 4.5% interest.

Example 2. A social investment deal worth £35,000 is made up of:

• £15,000 of share capital raised by the recipient organisation through equity from a community shares offer; plus,
• a £15,000 match-funded equity invested pari passu in the same community shares offer by a funding organisation; and,
• a £5,000 business development grant from another funding organisation.

Example 3. A social investment deal worth £50,000 is made up of:

• a £10,000 grant from Funder A, which has been used as leverage for:
• a £40,000 loan from Funder B, repaid over 5 years at 3% interest.

Offers

Where a deal involves shares or some form of crowdfunding, an organisation may issue an offer document, in order to describe their fundraising targets and the goals of their project.

Organisations

A deal is entered into by a number of parties, typically the funding organisation (or organisations, one of whom may be an arranging organisation) and the recipient organisation (or organisations).

Each of the funding organisations provide one or more elements of the financial elements of the deal. A single financial element may be provided by one or a number of different organisations.

Some deals may have a principal partner who takes the role of arranging the deal.

Recipient organisations receive the finance and are typically responsible for ensuring that any terms (such as repayment) are met, though it may be backed by another party.

Projects

Recipient organisations have at their core a social mission. They make use of social investment, and other forms of finance, to ensure that they are able to carry out projects that serve this mission. For example, they could be providing affordable housing to people at risk of homelessness, or they could be a community-owned shop selling locally-grown produce.

Usually, in seeking a social investment deal, recipients have a project in mind for making use of the finance, and the deal may well be contingent on demonstrating this purpose to investors (amongst other things). It may be that they are a community business requiring significant equity capital in order to purchase premises so that they can start trading, or it may be that they require loan financing in order to pay suppliers and ensure that they are able to grow.

Flat and structured data

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification uses a structured data model. This supports a number of one-to-many relationships: such as when a deal involves multiple grants and loans, or a project is taking place at more than one location. The use of a structured data model aids exchange of data between systems.

Technical note

In the schema one-to-many relationships are represented using an array. Each item in an array should have a unique id property.

In most cases, however, data entry and data analysis takes place using 'flat' tabular data. For this reason, we have developed tools and templates that can convert between flat and structured data.

Worked example

The following table shows a deal with two grants. Here, the special 'array notation' for column headings in the first row of the sheet is used to indicate we have two sets of grant details (grants/0 and grants/1).

Table A

Data in this format may be easier to enter (one row for each deal, repeated columns for each grant). The first row can even be hidden, so the person entering data does not need to worry about the underlying data structure.

However, data in this format is more difficult to analyse, as it is no longer possible to get the total value of grants by summing a single column.

By contrast, if data is presented with repeated rows for each grant, then the grant values can be kept in a single column.

Table B

Here, with just the deal identifier repeated in the first column, the Social Economy Data Lab Specification tools can understand that Table A and Table B are both equivalent. In fact, both are converted into exactly the same structured data model:

{
    "deals":[{
        "id":"D1234",
        "title":"Scaling SEDL",
        "status":"Open",
        "dealDate":"2018-08-01",
        "currency":"GBP",
        "value":70000,
        "investments":{
            "summary":"Funded by two grants",
            "grants":[
                {
                    "id":"Grant1",
                    "amountCommitted":20000
                },
                {
                    "id":"Grant2",
                    "amountCommitted":50000

                }
            ]
        }
    }
    ]
}

With the appropriate queries, this structure can then be turned back into any number of flat data representations, depending on the purpose to which the data is to be put.

Take away messages

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification provides an intermediate structure - to convert data into from multiple sources, and from which data can be extracted for analysis.

It can be used to craft a variety of data input spreadsheets, tailored to particular data collection needs.

Technical note

The conversion between tabular data and structured JSON is handed by flatten-tool. You can read more in the flatten-tool spreadsheet designers guide

Data templates

Spreadsheet template

We have prepared a Google Sheets template to support data entry according to the Social Economy Data Lab Specification.

You can find the sheet to view here or make your own copy from this link.

Spreadsheet features

Metatab

The Meta tab provides a space for details of the organisation providing this data, when it was updated, and the license the data is provided under.

Data validation and codelists

Fields are set with validation for dates, values and codelist values. Drop-down boxes and date pickers are available for relevant cells.

Field grouping

[+] and [-] icons along the top of the screen can be used to show or collapse each section of the data template. For example, if your data does not include deals with equity, the whole equity section can be collapsed.

Organisation lookup

Instead of entering Organization details each time they occur, organization information can be entered on the 'Organization' tab, and then name-based lookup performed each time an organization receives or provides funding.

Variation management

When the template is being used to transcribe historical data, the variation management macros can be used to snapshot the contents of a row, and store a change history. This is useful when you are interested in understanding how a deal has changed over time.

Annual report capture

The Annual Reports tab contains a space to record the annual report details of co-operatives and community benefit societies, and financial figures for any type of entity, drawing on their annual reports.

Customising the template

The template is designed to be flexible. If you don't need columns, you can hide them. If you need extra fields, you can add them.

The Social Economy Data Lab team may be able to help you identify how to model new fields in your data, and to make sure this can be compared with others data.

JSON template

If you are building a system that will output JSON data, you may find the following blank JSON file useful as a template for preparing your data output.

{
    "deals": [
        {
            "id": "",
            "title": "",
            "status": "",
            "dealDate": "",
            "currency": "",
            "value": ,
            "recipientOrganization": {
                "name": "",
                "id": "",
                "charityNumber": "",
                "companyNumber": "",
                "department": "",
                "contactName": "",
                "streetAddress": "",
                "addressLocality": "",
                "addressRegion": "",
                "addressCountry": "",
                "postalCode": "",
                "telephone": "",
                "alternateName": "",
                "email": "",
                "description": "",
                "organizationType": "",
                "url": "",
                "location": [
                    {
                        "id": "",
                        "name": "",
                        "description": "",
                        "countryCode": "",
                        "geoCode": "",
                        "geoCodeType": "",
                        "latitude": "",
                        "longitude": ""
                    }
                ],
                "dateModified": ""
            },
            "arrangingOrganization": {
                "name": "",
                "id": "",
                "charityNumber": "",
                "companyNumber": "",
                "department": "",
                "contactName": "",
                "streetAddress": "",
                "addressLocality": "",
                "addressRegion": "",
                "addressCountry": "",
                "postalCode": "",
                "telephone": "",
                "alternateName": "",
                "email": "",
                "description": "",
                "organizationType": "",
                "url": "",
                "location": [
                    {
                        "id": "",
                        "name": "",
                        "description": "",
                        "countryCode": "",
                        "geoCode": "",
                        "geoCodeType": "",
                        "latitude": "",
                        "longitude": ""
                    }
                ],
                "dateModified": ""
            },
            "offers": [
                {
                    "id": "",
                    "type": "",
                    "url": "",
                    "offerDocumentUrl": "",
                    "startDate": "",
                    "endDate": "",
                    "minimumInvestmentTarget": ,
                    "investmentTarget": ,
                    "maximumInvestmentTarget": ,
                    "minimumIndividualInvestment": ,
                    "maximumIndividualInvestment": ,
                    "interestRate": {
                        "base": "",
                        "margin": ,
                        "effectiveRate": ,
                        "details": ""
                    },
                    "matchFunding": {
                        "status": "",
                        "details": ""
                    },
                    "withdrawals": [
                        {
                            "start": "",
                            "description": "",
                            "capitalLimit": ""
                        }
                    ],
                    "taxReliefs": [
                        {
                            "type": "",
                            "status": ""
                        }
                    ],
                    "csuStandardMark": {
                        "awarded": "",
                        "practitioner": ""
                    },
                    "crowdfunding": {
                        "platform": "",
                        "url": ""
                    }
                }
            ],
            "investments": {
                "summary": "",
                "grants": [
                    {
                        "id": "",
                        "description": "",
                        "dateOffered": "",
                        "dateAgreed": "",
                        "currency": "",
                        "amountRequested": ,
                        "amountCommitted": ,
                        "amountDisbursed": ,
                        "fundingOrganization": {
                            "name": "",
                            "id": "",
                            "charityNumber": "",
                            "companyNumber": "",
                            "department": "",
                            "contactName": "",
                            "streetAddress": "",
                            "addressLocality": "",
                            "addressRegion": "",
                            "addressCountry": "",
                            "postalCode": "",
                            "telephone": "",
                            "alternateName": "",
                            "email": "",
                            "description": "",
                            "organizationType": "",
                            "url": ""
                        }
                    }
                ],
                "equity": [
                    {
                        "id": "",
                        "description": "",
                        "dateOffered": "",
                        "dateAgreed": "",
                        "currency": "",
                        "value": ,
                        "fundingOrganizations": [
                            {
                                "name": "",
                                "id": "",
                                "charityNumber": "",
                                "companyNumber": "",
                                "department": "",
                                "contactName": "",
                                "streetAddress": "",
                                "addressLocality": "",
                                "addressRegion": "",
                                "addressCountry": "",
                                "postalCode": "",
                                "telephone": "",
                                "alternateName": "",
                                "email": "",
                                "description": "",
                                "organizationType": "",
                                "url": ""
                            }
                        ],
                        "fund": {
                            "code": "",
                            "title": ""
                        }
                    }
                ],
                "credit": [
                    {
                        "id": "",
                        "description": "",
                        "dateOffered": "",
                        "dateAgreed": "",
                        "currency": "",
                        "value": ,
                        "durationInMonths": "",
                        "initialRepaymentHoliday": "",
                        "interestRate": "",
                        "interestPayable": "",
                        "fundingOrganization": {
                            "name": "",
                            "id": "",
                            "charityNumber": "",
                            "companyNumber": "",
                            "department": "",
                            "contactName": "",
                            "streetAddress": "",
                            "addressLocality": "",
                            "addressRegion": "",
                            "addressCountry": "",
                            "postalCode": "",
                            "telephone": "",
                            "alternateName": "",
                            "email": "",
                            "description": "",
                            "organizationType": "",
                            "url": ""
                        }
                    }
                ]
            },
            "projects": [
                {
                    "id": "",
                    "title": "",
                    "description": "",
                    "classification": [
                        {
                            "scheme": "",
                            "code": "",
                            "title": ""
                        }
                    ],
                    "locations": [
                        {
                            "id": "",
                            "name": "",
                            "description": "",
                            "countryCode": "",
                            "geoCode": "",
                            "geoCodeType": "",
                            "latitude": "",
                            "longitude": ""
                        }
                    ],
                    "assets": [
                        {
                            "id": "",
                            "description": "",
                            "type": "",
                            "status": "",
                            "quantity": "",
                            "totalValue": "",
                            "isSecurity": "",
                            "referenceNumbers": ""
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "dateModified": "",
            "dataSource": ""
        }
    ]
}

Schema Reference

You can use the social economy data lab schema reference to inform the design of your own data collection tools, or to map data to ready for analysis.

Schema viewer

The full structure of the JSON schema will be show below.

Schema reference

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification is maintained using JSON Schema. The Schema is the authoritative source for the specification, and defines the structure of an individual deal so that it can be annotated and validated.

When publishing an individual deal or a number of deals, these deals should be packaged into a single, valid JSON file in an array of deals.

These field names for properties are important for ensuring that data is published in a machine-readable format. The title gives a human-readable form, with information about each of the properties included in description.

Structure

Each entry in SEDL is structured as a deal, consisting of one or more offers, projects and investments. In some cases, a deal will contain just a single project and investment. In other cases, a large number of the available one-to-many relationships will be required.

• Deals
  • Recipient Organisation & Arranging Organisation
  • Offers
  • Project
    • Assets
    • Locations
  • Investments
    • Grant
    • Equity
    • Credit

Sections

Deal

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
id		string		Required
Identifier	Unique internal identifier for the social investment deal.
title		string		Required
Title	A title for the deal. Ideally, this is concise and under 140 characters.
status		string
Status	Current status of the social investment deal: in progress, an open investment, closed without funds being drawn down, closed without core funds being approved. Use the status codelist.
dealDate		[string]		Required
Deal date	The year (YYYY) or year-month (YYYY-MM) combination in which this deal should be counted. For a blended finance deal this should be the date of financial close. For other deals, this should be the date at which the most significant component was confirmed. Data analysts should be aware that components of a deal may each have their own significant dates.
currency		string
Currency	The default currency for the deal. All values within the deal are assumed to be in this currency unless otherwise stated. Use GBP for £
estimatedValue		number
Estimated deal value	The total estimated value of this deal. This should be based on the optimum fund raising targets where these are available. In cases where a range if presented, the mid-point should be used. The estimated deal value may be based on documents, and does not necessarily match the sum of the values of the investments components of this deal recorded in this dataset.
value		number
Confirmed deal value	The total value of this deal based on confirmed funds raised.
recipientOrganization		object
Recipient Organization	The Organization in receipt of the finances from the social investment deal. See Organization
arrangingOrganization		object
Arranging Organization	The lead Organization arranging the social investment deal. See Organization
offers		array[Offer]
Offers	An offer describes the opportunity for investors to join a particular deal by providing finance by purchasing shares, making loans or providing some other form of input described by the offer documents. Each deal may have one or more offers associated with it. See Offer
projects		array[Project]
Project	Projects associated with the deal. See Project
investments		object
Investments	The financial components of the deal.
investments/summary		string
Summary	A free text summary of the investment structure of this deal.
investments/grants		array[Grant]
Grants	Grants made as part of the social investment deal. See Grant
investments/equity		array[Equity]
Equity Investments	Equity components of the social investment deal. See Equity
investments/credit		array[Loan/credit]
Credit Investments	Loan, bonds and leasing components of the social investment deal. See Credit
dateModified		[string, null]	date-time
Last modified	The date and time about when any part of the information for this deal was last updated. Should be in yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ format.
dataSource		[string, null]	uri
Data Source	A web link pointing to the source of this data, such as the actual data file or the publisher's website.

Offer

An offer describes the opportunity for investors to join a particular deal by providing finance by purchasing shares, making loans or providing some other form of input described by the offer documents. Each deal may have one or more offers associated with it.

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
id		string
Identifier	A unique identifier for this offer.
type		string
Type	What kind of offer is this. Open offers allow investment at any time. Time limited offers have a closing date, and may only be actioned if they hit their fund-raising targets during the offer period. Values must be from the offerType codelist.
url		string	uri
Web page	A link to more details of this offer
offerDocumentUrl		string	uri
Offer document URL	A link to the offer document.
startDate		string	date-time
Launch date	The launch date of the offer.
endDate		string	date-time
Closing date	The closing date of the offer.
extensionDate		string	date-time
Extension date	If an offer has been extended, the updated closing date should be provided here.
minimumInvestmentTarget		number
Minimum investment target	The minimum investment target. In many offers, if this is not reached, the offer will be cancelled.
investmentTarget		number
Optimum investment target	The optimum investment target. This is the primary fundraising goal for the offer. If only one target is given, this should be used.
maximumInvestmentTarget		number
Maximum investment target	The maximum investment target. The offer may be closed when it reaches this target, or funds above this amount returned as the project would not be able to use them.
minimumIndividualInvestment		number
Individual investment: minimum	The minimum investment amount that an individual investor may provide in response to this offer.
maximumIndividualInvestment		number
Individual investment: maximum	The maximum investment amount that an individual investor may provide in response to this offer.
investmentFeatures		string
Investment features	Any notable features of the investment criteria, such as variable minimum for particular geographical areas, or use of a subscription model.
interestRates		array[Interest rate]
Interest rate	The interest rate specified in the offer. See InterestRate
interestRates/0/base		string
Base	If this interest rate is based on a formula with a base rate + a percentage (e.g. Bank of England rate + 35) then a codelist entry to describe the base rate is given here. Where no recognised codelist value exists, a short clear string should be used that can be easily interpreted by a data user to identify the base rate uses. Where this is no base rate, and the margin specifies the full exchange rate, base should be left blank. Values should be from the interestRate codelist, or may use a recognised interest rate code.
interestRates/0/margin		number
Margin	The rate of interest charged above the base rate, as a value between 0 and 1 (e.g. 1% - 0.01).
interestRates/0/effectiveRate		number
Effective rate	In cases where a variable base and margin are used, or where the interest payments have a complex profile (e.g. changing rates over the period of the investment; or effects of compound interest) then the effective rate should provide a figure that represents either (a) the value of the base and margin at the time of the offer; or (b) the average effective rate for the anticipated duration of an investment (Note: this is not the same as a Mortgage Effective Interest Rate).
interestRates/0/hasAddedConditions		boolean
Has added conditions?	If true, the payment of interest may be subject to certain conditions. The conditions may be described in the details.
interestRates/0/isVariable		boolean
Is variable?	If true, the rate of interest paid may vary based on time or performance of the related offer, deal or project. The rate recorded should be the initial anticipated rate. Any basis for variations may be explained in details.
interestRates/0/details		string
Details	A description of the interest rate, and any specific conditions that apply, such as interest payment delays (e.g. interest is only paid from year 3 onwards), or other conditions on interest payments.
matchFunding		object
Match funding	If this offer has a match funding component, this is described here.
matchFunding/required		boolean
Required?	Is match funding required by this offer?
matchFunding/status		string
Status	Has match funding been applied for or secured? Values must be from the matchFundingStatus codelist.
matchFunding/details		string
Details	Details should be provided here of any match funding conditions for this offer, or any match funding secured.
withdrawals		array[Withdrawal conditions]
Withdrawal	Can investors withdraw their investments? Each condition under which withdrawal can be made should be specified here.
withdrawals/0/start		string
Initial period	Where there is an initial period during which investment may not be withdrawn this should be given either as the anticipate date (YYYY-MM-DD) at which withdrawal will first be allowed, or as the period from the close of the deal using ISO 8601 duration format. For example, if capital cannot be widthdrawn for 3 years and 6 months, this field should contain '3Y6M'.
withdrawals/0/description		string
Description	A description of any conditions on withdrawal.
withdrawals/0/capitalLimit		string
Capital limit	Details of any limit on the amount of capital that can be withdrawn. This field may currently be populated as a string, but a structured representation for this data may be identified in future.
taxReliefs		array[Tax relief]
Tax relief	Details of the tax relief available for this offer See TaxRelief
taxReliefs/0/type		string
Type	A code describing the type of tax relief available. Values should be from the taxRelief codelist.
taxReliefs/0/status		string
Status	The status of this tax relief. Values should be from the taxReliefStatus codelist.
csuStandardMark		object
CSU Standard Mark	The Community Shares Unit standard mark is awarded to offers that meet national standards of good practice in the UK. See https://communityshares.org.uk/standard-mark-0 for more details.
csuStandardMark/awarded		boolean
Awarded	Has this offer been awarded the CSU Standard Mark
csuStandardMark/practitioner		string
Practitioner	The name of the practitioner involved in this CSU Standard Mark award.
crowdfunding		object
Crowd funding	If this offer took place through a crowdfunding platform, details should be provided here.
crowdfunding/platform		string
Platform	The name of the platform the offer took place on
crowdfunding/url		string	uri
URL	The URL of the crowdfunding platform page for this offer.

Project

Projects associated with the deal.

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
id		string
Identifier
title		string
Title	The title of this project
description		string
Description	A description of this project
status		string
Status	What is the current status of this project when last updated. Values must be from the projectStatus codelist.
startDate		string	date-time
Start date	When was/is this project scheduled to start?
endDate		string	date-time
End date	When was/is this project scheduled to end?
editionDate		string	date-time
Version date	If this project has been through a number of stages, iterations or phases, which 'edition' of the project does the information presented here represent? This should be indicated using a date. For example, if a particular project worked to raise capital to buy property in 2016, and then separately raised working capital from June 2018, there may be two project entries, one with editionDate of 2016-01-01, and the other with an editionDate of 2018-06-01
estimatedValue		number
Estimated value	The overall estimated value of this edition of the project. Given in the default currency.
raisedValue		number
Project raised value	The total raised for this project. This may match the sum of the deal components related to this project, but may in some cases also include investments from across a range of deals where the project was funded through more than one deal. Given in the default currency.
achieved		boolean
Project achieved?	Did this edition of the project meet its stated goals? For example, successfully raising finance and purchasing the assets specified, or delivering the services in the description. Further information can be provided in in the notes field if required.
classification		array[Classification]
Classification	Project classification
classification/0/scheme		string
Scheme	A code describing the classification scheme in use. Values should be from the classificationScheme codelist where applicable. Alternative codelist entries may be used by agreement between data publishers.
classification/0/code		string
Code	A code from the classification scheme.
classification/0/title		string
Title	The title or label used in the classification scheme.
purposeOfFinance		array[string]
Purpose of finance	A description of the role of finance in this project. See InvestmentPurpose
assets		array[Asset]
Assets	If this project involves the purchase of assets details of those assets should be provided here. See Asset
assets/0/id		string
Identifier	A unique identifier for this asset
assets/0/description		string
Description	A short title or description of this asset
assets/0/type		string
Type	The type of asset. Values must be from the assetType codelist.
assets/0/status		string
Status	Is the purchase of these assets planned or completed? Values must be from the assetStatus codelist.
assets/0/quantity		number
Quantity	What is the estimated or actual quantity of these assets to be purchased.
assets/0/purchasePrice		number
Purchase price	What was/is the purchase price of this/these assets? This must be given in the default currency of this deal.
assets/0/totalValue		number
Total value	What is the total value given to this/these asset(s)? This must be given in the default currency of this deal.
assets/0/valuationMethod		string
Valuation method	How has the value in 'total value' been arrived at? Values should be from the valuationMethod codelist.
assets/0/isSecurity		boolean
Is this asset security?	Set to true if this asset is being used as security for some other component of a related deal.
assets/0/referenceNumbers		array[string]
Reference number(s)	One or more reference numbers for this asset. For example, the land registry title number in the case of property assets.
locations		array[object]
Location	Information on locations associated with the project. See Location
locations/0/id		string
Identifier	Location identifier
locations/0/name		[string, null]
Name	A name for this location.
locations/0/description		[string, null]
Description	A description of this location. This could include details of the element of the activity that takes place here.
locations/0/countryCode		[string, null]
Country Code	The ISO Country Code of the location of this activity.
locations/0/postcode		string
Postcode	A postcode for this location.
locations/0/geoCode		[string, null]
Geographic Code	A code referring to a geographical area, drawn from an established gazetteer. For example, the code for a local authority ward, or parliamentary constituency.
locations/0/geoCodeType		[string, null]
Geographic Code Type	The type of Geographic Code (geoCode) used (e.g. Ward, Parliamentary Constituency etc.). This value for this field should be drawn from the codelist of geographic code types.
locations/0/latitude		[string, null]
Latitude	The latitude of a point location
locations/0/longitude		[string, null]
Longitude	The longitude of a point location
notes		string
Notes	Notes related to this project which cannot otherwise be captured as structured data may be entered here. Any information which can be provide using a structured data field MUST NOT be included in the notes, but should instead be represented as structured data.

Grant

Grants made as part of the social investment deal.

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
id		string
Identifier	A unique identifier for this grant.
status		string
Status	The status of this investment. Values should be from the investmentStatus codelist. See InvestmentStatus
purpose		array[string]
Purpose	The purpose(s) of this investment into the related organisation or project. Values must be from the investmentPurpose codelist. See InvestmentPurpose
description		string
Description	A description of the purpose of this grant.
dateOffered		string	date-time
Date Offered	The date that the grant was offered.
dateAgreed		string	date-time
Date Agreed	The date that the grant was agreed.
currency		string
Currency	The ISO 4217 three-digit country code (e.g. GBP for £).
amountRequested		number
Amount requested	The total amount requested/applied for from this grant source.
amountCommitted		number
Amount committed	The total committed value of this grant.
amountDisbursed		number
Amount disbursed	The total committed disbursed from this grant.
fundingOrganization		object
Funding Organization	Details of the organization making this grant. See Organization
isMatchFunding		boolean
Is match funding?	If true, this investment, or proportion of it, is counted towards certain match funding requirements of this deal. More details may be given in the notes.
notes		string
Notes	Notes related to this deal which cannot otherwise be captured as structured data may be entered here. Any information which can be provide using a structured data field MUST NOT be included in the notes, but should instead be represented as structured data.

Credit

Loan, bonds and leasing components of the social investment deal.

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
id		string
Identifier	A unique identifier for this loan
status		string
Status	The status of this investment. Values should be from the investmentStatus codelist. See InvestmentStatus
purpose		array[string]
Purpose	The purpose(s) of this investment into the related organisation or project. Values must be from the investmentPurpose codelist. See InvestmentPurpose
description		string
None	A description of this loan/credit funding
currency		string
Currency	The ISO 4217 three-digit country code (e.g. GBP for £).
estimatedValue		number
Estimated value	The estimated value to be raised through this credit or loan. This may come from an offer document, or from other sources. Once credit is confirmed, the actual amount should be recorded in the value field.
dateOffered		string	date-time
Date Offered	The date that the loan was offered.
dateAgreed		string	date-time
Date Agreed	The date that the loan was agreed as part of the Deal.
value		number
Value	The total value of the credit or loan provided.
durationInMonths		number
Term (months)	The term of this credit/loan in months
initialRepaymentHoliday		number
Initial repayment holiday (months)	If this loan or credit comes with an initial repayment holiday, enter the period in months here
interestRate		object
Interest rate	The interest rate. See InterestRate
interestRate/base		string
Base	If this interest rate is based on a formula with a base rate + a percentage (e.g. Bank of England rate + 35) then a codelist entry to describe the base rate is given here. Where no recognised codelist value exists, a short clear string should be used that can be easily interpreted by a data user to identify the base rate uses. Where this is no base rate, and the margin specifies the full exchange rate, base should be left blank. Values should be from the interestRate codelist, or may use a recognised interest rate code.
interestRate/margin		number
Margin	The rate of interest charged above the base rate, as a value between 0 and 1 (e.g. 1% - 0.01).
interestRate/effectiveRate		number
Effective rate	In cases where a variable base and margin are used, or where the interest payments have a complex profile (e.g. changing rates over the period of the investment; or effects of compound interest) then the effective rate should provide a figure that represents either (a) the value of the base and margin at the time of the offer; or (b) the average effective rate for the anticipated duration of an investment (Note: this is not the same as a Mortgage Effective Interest Rate).
interestRate/hasAddedConditions		boolean
Has added conditions?	If true, the payment of interest may be subject to certain conditions. The conditions may be described in the details.
interestRate/isVariable		boolean
Is variable?	If true, the rate of interest paid may vary based on time or performance of the related offer, deal or project. The rate recorded should be the initial anticipated rate. Any basis for variations may be explained in details.
interestRate/details		string
Details	A description of the interest rate, and any specific conditions that apply, such as interest payment delays (e.g. interest is only paid from year 3 onwards), or other conditions on interest payments.
interestPayable		number
Interest payable	The total interest payable over the duration of the credit/loan.
fundingOrganization		object
Funding Organization	Organization providing this credit or loan. See Organization
notes		string
Notes	Notes related to this deal which cannot otherwise be captured as structured data may be entered here. Any information which can be provide using a structured data field MUST NOT be included in the notes, but should instead be represented as structured data.

Equity

Equity components of the social investment deal.

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
id		string
Identifier	A unique identifier for this equity investment
status		string
Status	The status of this investment. Values should be from the investmentStatus codelist. See InvestmentStatus
purpose		array[string]
Purpose	The purpose(s) of this investment into the related organisation or project. Values must be from the investmentPurpose codelist. See InvestmentPurpose
description		string
Description	A description of this equity investment
type		string
Type	Does this entry describe a single equity holding by an institutional investor, or one or more equity holdings from retail investors (usually individuals)? Values must be from the equityType codelist.
platform		string
Platform	Was this equity raised through a particular platform. This may be lisetd using the format 'Online: {name}' or 'Offline: {name}' to indicate whether this was an Internet based platform or not. Where the platform name is not known, 'Online' or 'Offline' may be entered.
numberOfInvestors		number
Number of investors	Where this entry represents the total equity held by more than one party, enter the number of investors the entry describes here. In other cases, enter 1.
currency		string
Currency	The ISO 4217 three-digit country code (e.g. GBP for £).
estimatedValue		number
Estimated value	The estimated value to be raised through this equity. This may be set out in offer documents as an optimum target, or may come from other sources. In general, an estimated value will be from before this equity investment was completed, with the actually agreed amount in the value field.
dateOffered		string	date-time
Date Offered	The date that the investment was offered.
dateAgreed		string	date-time
Date Agreed	The date that the investment was agreed as part of the deal.
value		number
Value	The total value of the equity provided.
shareClass		string
Share class	The class of shares provided in return for this investment
shareCapitalIssued		number
Share capital issued	The percentage of the share class issued in return for this investment. Expressed as a value between 0 and 1.
shareRights		string
Share rights	The rights associated with this class of share.
taxReliefs		array[Tax relief]
Tax relief	Details of the tax relief available for this investment. See TaxRelief
taxReliefs/0/type		string
Type	A code describing the type of tax relief available. Values should be from the taxRelief codelist.
taxReliefs/0/status		string
Status	The status of this tax relief. Values should be from the taxReliefStatus codelist.
fund		object
Fund	The fund that the investment forms a part of. See Fund
fund/code		string
Code	An identifier for this fund.
fund/title		[string, null]
Title	The title of this fund.
fund/description		[string, null]
Description	A description of this fund.
fund/url		[string, null]	uri
URL	A web link to more details of this fund.
fund/dateModified		string	date-time
Last modified	The date and time when information about this fund was last updated.
isMatchFunding		boolean
Is match funding?	If true, this investment, or proportion of it, is counted towards certain match funding requirements of this deal. More details may be given in the notes.
notes		string
Notes	Notes related to this deal which cannot otherwise be captured as structured data may be entered here. Any information which can be provide using a structured data field MUST NOT be included in the notes, but should instead be represented as structured data.

Organization

The organization object is based on the schema.org Organization and PostalAddress types, with the addition of fields for describing UK Charity and Company Numbers, and providing information on the type of structure of the organization.

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
name		string		Required
Name	Organization name
id		string		Required
Identifier	A globally unique identifier for this Organization. This enables data on funders and recipients to be linked up across different datasets. Org-id.guide links to a number of official registers that can be used to generate identifiers in a common way (e.g. using UK Company or Charity number). Alternatively, unique identifiers from the publisher's internal systems can be used.
alternateName		string
Alternate Name	An alternative name for this Organization (e.g. trading name)
charityNumber		string
Charity Number	Registered charity number, if applicable.
companyNumber		string
Company Number	Registered UK company number, if applicable.
streetAddress		string
Street Address	Building number and street name.
addressLocality		string
City	City or town.
addressRegion		string
County	County
addressCountry		string
Country	Country
postalCode		string
Postal Code	Postal code (please try and provide a post code whenever possible)
department		string
Department	The department or sub-unit of this Organization making or receiving the grant.
contactName		string
Contact Name	The contact person at this Organization.
telephone		string
Phone Number	Contact phone number.
email		string
Email	The email address for this Organization.
description		string
Description	A short description of this Organization and its area of work
organizationType		[string, null]
Organization Type	A value from the Organization Type codelist describing the nature of this organization. Values should be from the organizationType codelist.
industryClassifications		array[string]
Industry classifications	This field may be used to provide a list (array) of industry classifications. SIC codes are preferred, but the user may need to check and identify which codes are in use.
startDate		string	date-time
Start date	When was this organisation established?
endDate		string	date-time
End date	When was this organisation dissolved? If the organization is still active this field should be blank.
url		string	uri
Web Address	A web address for the organization
location		array[object]
Location	Locations associated with the organization See Location
dateModified		string	date-time
Last modified	The date and time when information about this Organization was last updated.

Location

The location block provides a range of ways of expressing the location of an organization or project. Not all need to be used in every case.

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
id		string
Identifier	Location identifier
name		[string, null]
Name	A name for this location.
description		[string, null]
Description	A description of this location. This could include details of the element of the activity that takes place here.
countryCode		[string, null]
Country Code	The ISO Country Code of the location of this activity.
postcode		string
Postcode	A postcode for this location.
geoCode		[string, null]
Geographic Code	A code referring to a geographical area, drawn from an established gazetteer. For example, the code for a local authority ward, or parliamentary constituency.
geoCodeType		[string, null]
Geographic Code Type	The type of Geographic Code (geoCode) used (e.g. Ward, Parliamentary Constituency etc.). This value for this field should be drawn from the codelist of geographic code types.
latitude		[string, null]
Latitude	The latitude of a point location
longitude		[string, null]
Longitude	The longitude of a point location

Interest Rate

Title	Description	Type	Format	Required
base		string
Base	If this interest rate is based on a formula with a base rate + a percentage (e.g. Bank of England rate + 35) then a codelist entry to describe the base rate is given here. Where no recognised codelist value exists, a short clear string should be used that can be easily interpreted by a data user to identify the base rate uses. Where this is no base rate, and the margin specifies the full exchange rate, base should be left blank. Values should be from the interestRate codelist, or may use a recognised interest rate code.
margin		number
Margin	The rate of interest charged above the base rate, as a value between 0 and 1 (e.g. 1% - 0.01).
effectiveRate		number
Effective rate	In cases where a variable base and margin are used, or where the interest payments have a complex profile (e.g. changing rates over the period of the investment; or effects of compound interest) then the effective rate should provide a figure that represents either (a) the value of the base and margin at the time of the offer; or (b) the average effective rate for the anticipated duration of an investment (Note: this is not the same as a Mortgage Effective Interest Rate).
hasAddedConditions		boolean
Has added conditions?	If true, the payment of interest may be subject to certain conditions. The conditions may be described in the details.
isVariable		boolean
Is variable?	If true, the rate of interest paid may vary based on time or performance of the related offer, deal or project. The rate recorded should be the initial anticipated rate. Any basis for variations may be explained in details.
details		string
Details	A description of the interest rate, and any specific conditions that apply, such as interest payment delays (e.g. interest is only paid from year 3 onwards), or other conditions on interest payments.

Codelists

A codelist consists of:

• A code. A code should always be written in data in exactly the way it is given here. We use a mix of English language words, camelCase strings, and symbols (e.g. GBP for Great British Pound Stering, or £). We have chosen codes assuming that in some spreadsheet data entry approaches, codes may be displayed directly to users, and as such, they should be reasonably intelligible. In one case (organizationType) the codes therefore include both a symbol and an extended label. Consuming applications may wish to strip the second part of these strings when processing the data.
• A title. These are the labels that should be displayed in a user interface whenever possible. Titles may be translated and displayed in different languages if required.
• A description. This provides details on when the code should be used. Not all our codes have descriptions at present.

AssetStatus

Code	Title	Description
planned	Planned
purchased	Purchased

AssetType

Code	Title	Description
land	Land
property	Property
other	Other

ClassificationScheme

Code	Title	Description
ptcCommunityBusiness	Power to Change: Community Business Classification
bscOutcome	Big Society Capital: Outcome areas
bscBeneficiary	Big Society Capital: Beneficiary groups

EquityType

Code	Title	Description
institutional	Institutional
retail	Retail
mixed	Mixed

InterestRate

Code	Title	Description
BofE
LIBOR

InvestmentPurpose

Code	Title	Description
acquisition	Acquisition
asset	Asset
bridgingLoan	Bridging loan
capital	Capital
developmentCapital	Development Capital
growthFinance	Growth Finance
multiple	Multiple
property	Property
propertyRefurbishment	Property refurbishment
other	Other
restructuringFinance	Restructuring Finance
startupCosts	Start up costs
workingCapital	Working Capital

InvestmentStatus

Code	Title	Description
requested	Requested
offered	Offered
expected	Expected
confirmed	Confirmed
cancelled	Cancelled

MatchFundingStatus

Code	Title	Description
appliedFor	Applied for
secured	Secured

OfferType

Code	Title	Description
open	Open	The offer remains open, with new participants investing at any time.
timeBound	Time bound	The offer closes after a specified period.
targetBound	Target bound	The offer closes after a specified target is met.

OrganizationType

Code	Title	Description
CIO - Charitable Incorporated Organisation	Charitable Incorporated Organisation
CLG - Company Limited by Guarantee	Company Limited by Guarantee
CLS - Company Limited by Shares	Company Limited by Shares
IPS - Industrial and Provident Society	Industrial and Provident Society
LLP - Limited Liability Partnership	Limited Liability Partnership
LA - Local Authority	Local Authority
CU - Mutual (Credit Union)	Mutual (Credit Union)
FS - Mutual (Friendly Society)	Mutual (Friendly Society)
PLC - Public Listed Company	Public Listed Company
BENCOM - Registered Society (BenCom)	Registered Society (BenCom)
COOP - Registered Society (Cooperative)	Registered Society (Cooperative)
UNINC - Unincorporated Organisation	Unincorporated Organisation
OTH - Other	Other

ProjectStatus

Code	Title	Description
planned	Planned
ongoing	Ongoing
completed	Completed
didNotProceed	Did not proceed

Status

Code	Title	Description
pipeline	Pipeline	The deal is anticipated or under development.
live	Live	Investments can be made into this deal.
didNotProceed	Did not proceed	The deal did not proceed.
closed	Closed	No new investments can be made, but the project funded by the deal may be ongoing.

TaxRelief

Code	Title	Description
Other	Other
SEIS	Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
EIS	Enterprise Investment Scheme
SITR	Social Investment Tax Relief
CITR	Community Investment Tax Relief

TaxReliefStatus

Code	Title	Description
advanceAssuranceAppliedFor	Advance assurance applied for
advanceAssuranceReceived	Advance assurance received
fullTaxReliefApproval	Full tax relief approval
applicationRejected	Application rejected
notAppliedFor	Relief not applied for

ValuationMethod

Code	Title	Description
estimated	Estimated
actual	Actual

Identifiers

Identifiers are an important part of any dataset. They let a computer uniquely identify and refer to specific deals, organisations, geographical areas and so on.

Why identifiers matter

While a human being may be good at recognising that "POWER TO CHANGE", "Power to Change", and "power-to-change" all refer to the same organisation, computers find this a lot trickier. Machine-readability requires using a common marker to refer to the same entity and distinguish it from others, called an identifier.

While it is possible to uniquely identify most organisations, identifying individual people who have made investments would run up against the issue of data privacy laws.

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification asks you to give identifiers to:

• Deals;
• Organisations;
• and other unique elements in your data.

Identifier basics

What is an identifier?

For identifiers to be useful, they should aim to be unique and persistent, so that they don't become confused with other identifiers and don't change unexpectedly.

You may already have identifiers in your own data. For example, a number for each application or financed deal that was created when you received the application or agreed the deal. These are internal identifiers which are useful as part of your published data.

However, because there might be an overlap between the internal identifiers that you use, and the internal identifiers that another funder uses, you will need to add a prefix to avoid this possible clash and ensure better interoperability.

But, in preference to internal identifiers are commonly-used identifiers from maintained registers, which provide a ready-made alternative that supports joined-up data and make analysis more complete. Most organisations will be registered on some sort of official register (such as Companies House) and this makes the job of adding commonly-used unique and persistent identifiers easier.

Prefixes

Because more than one publisher may happen to use the same internal identifier to refer to different organisations or deals that they both hold information for, prefixes are important in helping to tell them apart when it comes to joining up datasets from many publishers by adding an extra element of "uniqueness" to an identifier.

So while '10001' is not a particularly unique identifier for a deal, a version which combines a publisher prefix with the internal number is e.g. ABC-10001.

Organisation identifier

Most organisations have some sort of official registration number that can be used to uniquely identify them and to look up their details from an official register or public list.

There are two parts to an organisation identifier:

• A list code prefix that describes the list the identifier is taken from
• An identifier taken from that list.

For example

A funding organisation registered in England and Wales to the Charity Commission of England and Wales with the charity number 1159982 will use the prefix GB-CHC, which is the list code for the charity register.

This gives the unique organisation identifier of GB-CHC-1159982. This makes sure it is distinguished from any other list with the same code in it.

Choose the best identifier

Some organisations have more than one identifier: they might be a charity and a company (charitable companies), or a charity and an educational establishment.

In these cases, it's important to know which identifier to pick so that users of data have the best possible chance of understanding that two grants have been made to the same organisation.

org-id.guide ranks identifier lists by relevance and quality to help you pick the best identifier.

Hint

Relevance and quality defined:

• Relevance: are you likely to find the organisation you are looking for in this list?
• Quality: are the identifiers in this list stable and linked to open, accessible contextual data, and can they be easily mapped to other identifiers.

Search on org-id.guide for identifier sources for UK organisations, UK charities, or any other organisation type.

Commonly used identifier lists

The following identifier lists are often used in Social Economy Data Lab Specification publication:

• GB-COH - UK Company Number
• GB-CHC (England and Wales), GB-SC (Scotland), GB-NIC (Northern Ireland) - Charity Numbers
• GB-MPR - Mutuals Public Register
• GB-LAE (England), GB-LAS (Scotland), GB-PLA (Wales) - Local authorities

The list is in a general order of priority. If it is possible to use a Company Number, this would be preferred to using a Charity Number. If an organisation appears on the Mutuals Public Register, it is also likely to have a Company Number, which would also be preferred.

If you have a registered number from some other scheme, including overseas registrars, check the org-id.guide for a code to use. If the code you need is not listed, contact the support team.

Creating internal identifiers

If you do not have any commonly used codes for an organisation, then using internal identifiers in such a way that they can be uniquely distinguished from other published data is the way forward.

• Use your publisher prefix and any internal identifier you have for this organisation in the format {publisher prefix}-{internal identifier}, e.g. ABC-123456.
• If you use a database that records details of organisations in a separate lookup table, this may provide an persistent identifier you can use.
• If you only record data in a spreadsheet, and don't assign organisations an identifier of any sort, you could use a spreadsheet formula to turn the organisation name into an identifier (e.g. removing spaces and lowercasing the name) in the format {publisher prefix}-{internal identifier}, e.g. ABC-organisationname.

Roadmap

• September 2018: Testing templates with data from Key Fund and Community Shares Unit.
• October 2018: Beta release of Social Economy Data Lab specification and templates - October 2018.
• December 2018: Demonstrator data analysis dashboard, working with data from across a range of social investors.

Licensing

About this Guide

This guide is for organisations publishing social investment deal information to the Social Economy Data Lab Specification format. We assume that you have permission to publish the information if you are not the primary owner. For example, if the information was collected or published by donors, subsidiaries or other third parties.

What is open data?

Open data is data available to everyone to use and share without restrictions. Open data is non-personal data released by people, organisations and governments.

You are probably using open data without realising it. An example could be getting around London with real-time travel updates thanks to CityMapper, which uses open data from Transport for London and OpenStreetMaps amongst others. Or it could be getting up-to-date with the state of the voluntary sector with the NCVO Almanac which uses open data from the Charity Commission and Companies House.

Why license Social Economy Data Lab Specification data?

Without a license, data isn't open data and potential users wouldn't know what they are allowed to do with it. We believe that with better information, social investors can be more effective and strategic decision makers. To achieve this, we recommend using an open license which removes restrictions on anyone interested in using, sharing and understanding the grants landscape.

Which license should you choose?

While there are several choices for open data licenses, we recommend a license that doesn't restrict use but does acknowledge you, the publisher. To this end, our default recommendation is the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

With this license, anyone can share or adapt your data for any purpose, even commercially. The only restrictions are they must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and note any changes made. Find out more about CC BY 4.0.

If you are a UK public sector organisation, we encourage you to use the Open Government License. This is the UK government's open data license which public sector bodies are encouraged to use by the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 (RPSI).

Where can I find more information?

There are several guides available on licensing open data. A good place to start is Publisher's Guide to Open Data Licensing by the Open Data Institute.

If you need more in-depth guides that cover a wide variety of legal and technical considerations, we recommend:

• Licensing Open Data: A Practical Guide from Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) on behalf of JISC
• Guide to Open Data Licensing from Open Knowledge

What if I need more help?

Please contact the support team.

Privacy Notice

ReadTheDocs provide the platform these docs are hosted on, for information about how they collect and process personal data, see their Privacy Policy.

Social Economy Data Lab is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. This privacy notice sets out how we collect and process any personal data when you use this website.

We may change this notice from time to time by updating this page. This notice is effective from 24th May 2018.

Data controller:
Social Economy Data Lab, c/o Power to Change Trustee Limited, admin@socialeconomydatalab.org
Contact us if would like a copy of the information held on you or if you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete.

You have the following rights concerning this data:

• Right to be informed, which is the purpose of this privacy notice
• Right to Access, Rectification, Erasure, and to Restrict Processing. Note that the right to Erasure and Restrict Processing are balanced against our legitimate interests. Where relevant, you need to provide information to re-identify yourself from our pseudonymised data, see GDPR Article 11
• Right to object to our processing.

Our supervisory authority is the ICO in the UK. You have the right to lodge a complaint with them.

We process personal data for the following purposes:

• Understanding website visitor and traffic patterns

We rely on legitimate interests (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)) as the lawful basis for this processing. Details about the type of data, the purpose of the processing and legitimate interests, and the storage and retention of the data are set out below.

Understanding website visitor and traffic patterns

We collect data about your visits to the website, for the purpose of analysing how the website is used, so that we can improve it. A self hosted copy of Matomo is used for this.

Personal data we collect:

• Your IP address - this is pseudonymised by redacting the second half of the address
• Referrer (what page you arrived at one of our web pages from)
• Information about your device, OS and browser

We do not use this data to personally identify individuals, but it is possible that it could be used to do so, particularly if combined with other datasets.

You can opt out of this processing: If you have set your web browser to "I do not want to be tracked" (DoNotTrack is enabled) then Matomo will not track your visit.

Matomo also it’s own opt out mechanism:

Data processors: Open Data Services Co-operative Limited, Bytemark.

No data is transferred to third countries or international organisations.

The data is kept indefinitely, in pseudonymised form.

About

The Social Economy Data Lab Specification is being developed as a draft data specification to describe social investment.

It is an open specification, and you can contribute to its development by participating in the issue tracker (Github), or by getting in contact using the details below.

Support

For more information please contact the Data Lab.