Glossary
FOIA Release
FOIA release is data made public through Freedom of Information Act disclosure rather than a designed statistical product. The SBA Open Data Portal anchors on loan-level FOIA files for the 7(a), 504, microloan, PPP and RRF programs across its 25 datasets.
What is FOIA Release?
A FOIA release is a byproduct of administration, not the output of a survey design. Records exist because a program issued guarantees or loans; the disclosure process - here FOIA plus open-data policy - then makes them public after a privacy review. In this catalog the pattern is the SBA Open Data Portal: 25 datasets across 9 topics anchored by loan-level files for the 7(a), 504, microloan, PPP and RRF programs, one row per approved loan, aggregatable by lender, program, geography, NAICS industry and fiscal year. Temporal windows differ by program: 7(a) and 504 loans are covered from fiscal year 1991 through the current quarter, PPP and RRF cover the 2020-2021 program windows, and SBG data starts at FY2020. SBA notes that privacy review was applied before publication of loan-level records and that borrower-reported fields such as Jobs Supported are unaudited.
Why does FOIA Release matter when choosing a dataset?
Treating a FOIA release like a designed statistical product is where projects go wrong.
- Fields are what the program captured, nothing more. There is no sampling frame or questionnaire behind a 7(a) loan record, so missing analytic variables stay missing forever.
- Borrower-reported numbers carry no audit. SBA flags Jobs Supported as unaudited; quoting it as verified impact understates uncertainty.
- Privacy review shapes the file. Redactions applied before publication decide which joins and geographies are possible - check them before promising deliverables.
How do you evaluate FOIA Release in a data source?
- Ask whether a privacy review preceded publication. SBA states privacy review was applied before loan-level records went out; any FOIA-sourced file deserves the same question.
- Separate audited from borrower-reported fields. Jobs Supported and similar inputs come from borrowers and are explicitly unaudited in SBA's terms notes.
- Check program windows before trending. PPP and RRF exist only for 2020-2021; 7(a) and 504 run from FY1991 to the current quarter - blending them produces fake trends.
- Confirm the license actually clears reuse. SBA dataset pages declare "License: U.S. Government Works" with no registration or fee, placing the files in the commercial delivery terms.
Related terms
Entries that sit next to FOIA Release in this glossary:
Frequently asked questions
What makes a dataset a FOIA release?
Its provenance: the records were produced by an agency administering a program and reached the public through FOIA and open-data disclosure, as with the SBA's loan-level 7(a), 504, microloan, PPP and RRF files.
Are FOIA-released loan records complete?
Complete relative to the program's own records, not to a research design. Expect unaudited borrower-reported fields such as Jobs Supported and geography limited to what the privacy review left in.
Can I republish FOIA data commercially?
SBA's files carry the U.S. Government Works public-domain designation with no fee or registration, so reuse is unrestricted - attribution and care with unaudited fields remain good practice.
Datasets containing this field
Datasets containing FOIA Release
4 datasets carry foia release in the catalog. Open one, count the fields, judge for yourself.
Hugging Face Datasets - Finance Topic
SBA Open Data Portal
World Bank Financial Sector Indicators
Every listing shows the field dictionary, sample rows, and coverage before you commit. API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
Get sample rows