Social Equity Initiative

Social Sector Database

The Social Sector Database (Base de Dados Social) was launched at the end of 2020 under the Social Equity Initiative – a partnership between the “la Caixa” Foundation, BPI, and Nova School of Business & Economics (Nova SBE).

In Portugal, the social sector stands for an important dimension of the Portuguese economy. However, the few available data sources available provide insufficient and disconnected information, a low level of interaction, and scarce views. In addition, having access to quality information is extremely important for the decision-making process of all the social sector stakeholders.

Moved by these challenges, Nova SBE’s team, represented by the Nova SBE Data Science Knowledge Center, started mapping the social ecosystem by creating a public and easily accessible platform aimed at providing quality information in a simple, intuitive, complete, and fair way about all social and environmental impact organizations in Portugal.

The Social Sector Database intends to create value for all social organizations, their beneficiaries and families, researchers, volunteers and employees, social investors, government bodies, and companies, among other relevant players of the Portuguese impact ecosystem. Each of these stakeholders can browse and analyze the information that best supports their decision-making, answering different use cases, namely:

  • Which organizations in my region work in my favorite area of ​​action?
  • Which organizations have active job offers?
  • Which organizations can serve my child given his/her disability?
  • How are social organizations in Portugal segmented according to the Sustainable Development Goals?
  • What are the neglected social problems in my area?
  • Where can I offer my time voluntarily?

Among many others.

The Social Sector Database is available in Portuguese and English, and you can find georeferenced social organizations, their identification data (e.g., name, address, fiscal ID, contacts), their governance structure (e.g., legal format, governing bodies), their activities (e.g., area of ​​activity, projects, target audience), their impact (e.g., number of beneficiaries, awards received), and their finance and resources information (e.g., sources of income, revenue, costs, number of employees and volunteers).

To learn more, please visit the platform’s website and subscribe to our newsletter.