In 2019, the Heising-Simons, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Silver Giving Foundations jointly established the Children’s Data Trust (CDT). An innovative collaborative fund administered by Tides, the goal of the CDT is to better characterize the context of student educational success in California by supporting the development and use of linked health and public service records in the CHHS Record Reconciliation (RR) / Research Data Hub (RDH) and educational records. As its first grantee, the CDN is acting as a thought partner to the CDT Advisors, seeding initial work demonstrating the value of the funds, and establishing its strategic positioning at the nexus of public agencies, university researchers, and philanthropy.