Upstate NY Data has compiled massive databases from public sources. Our data includes information about 1,400 Upstate communities, 25,000 nonprofit organizations, 92,000 grants, and 130,000 members of public boards.

We constantly update this inforrmation and other data concerning communities, nonprofits and local economies. Our technology turns these facts into graphics tailored for use in strategic plans, comprehensive plans, grant proposals and reports to funders.

Never has this information been more vital. Our aim is to save you time, and to provide you with the most current, accurate information by topic area. Much of our demographic information, for example, comes through direct feeds from Census Bureau computers. Pages and most of our graphics are created on the fly, drawing figures from our most recent data updates.

The company founders are seasoned journalists with decades of experience in research and visualization, along with government and nonprofit service.

Laurie Bennett, who grew up in Dansville, NY, is a veteran journalist and grant writer. She was a reporter for the Finger Lakes Times, city editor of the Rochester (NY) Times-Union, a Washington correspondent for Gannett News Service, investigative reporter for the Detroit News, and first new media editor of the Detroit Free Press. Laurie was a co-founder of Muckety, a relationship-mapping site that examined connections among the rich and powerful. She now works with nonprofit organizations in the Finger Lakes and publishes Upstate Giving, a listing of recent grants by Upstate community. She is also data manager for Geneva 2030, an offshoot of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She produces the Geneva 2030 web site, which focuses on data and data visualizations.

Chris Lavin, a Geneva native, is former executive director of the Geneva Boys and Girls Club. He previously was director of communications for the La Jolla Country Day School, in La Jolla, CA. Chris also has a long career in journalism, having worked with the Finger Lakes Times, the Rochester Times-Union, the St. Petersburg Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune before joining the nonprofit world. Chris received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in 2021. He was elected to Geneva City Council in 2023.