What is OCI?
Foundations and government agencies invest heavily in communities, but most lack a reliable way to measure whether those investments are working. The Our Community Index changes that: a rigorous, longitudinal platform that turns fragmented data into real-time intelligence, giving funders and agencies what they need to set strategy, allocate resources, and demonstrate impact.
Key Benefits
OCI doesn’t just collect data — it translates measurement into action. From grantmaking decisions and needs assessments to stakeholder communications and board accountability, OCI gives leaders the evidence they need to act decisively.
OCI isn’t a one-size-fits-all tool. It combines a rigorous baseline of core community indicators with modules customized to your strategic priorities and target populations — so the data you get is always relevant to the decisions you face.
Unlike one-time snapshots, OCI is built to track change over time. Consistent measurement cycles and a rigorous sampling framework make it possible to benchmark progress within and across communities — so you can see what’s improving, what isn’t, and where to focus next.
Reliable community data requires community trust. OCI is built on reciprocal engagement — ethical research practices, informed consent, and transparent data governance that keep communities invested across every survey cycle.
Research & Development
OCI was developed to address a gap that foundations and public agencies face but rarely name: the absence of a single, scalable platform for measuring community well-being with the rigor of academic research and the relevance of on-the-ground practice. Basis designed OCI to combine the breadth of census-level data, the depth of focus groups, the precision of political polling, and the geographic insight of opportunity indices – updated regularly and tailored to each partner’s priorities. The result is a platform that communities trust and that leaders rely on.
Research-Backed Impact
OCI has been deployed in real communities, producing actionable findings that partners have used to direct investments and close gaps. In one regional deployment, OCI’s 51-question survey was distilled into 20 validated community well-being benchmarks spanning basic needs, workforce participation, financial stability, and more. Findings revealed stark disparities, including that nearly 62,000 residents lacked access to affordable, quality childcare, a gap that cut across racial subgroups and connected directly to workforce and economic mobility challenges. Those insights gave local funders and agencies the specific, localized evidence they needed to act and the credibility to make the case for why.
Work With Us
Ready to turn fragmented community data into intelligence your organization can act on? Let’s talk about how OCI can give your foundation or agency the real-time evidence it needs to invest with confidence and demonstrate lasting impact.