The development and hosting of EcologicalData.org is generously supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant DEB-0953694 to Ethan White.
From the NSF Abstract:
This project will improve how ecologists test and establish the generality of theories by educating ecologists in advanced computational methods through online and university courses, by providing web-based resources on the collections of data that are available and how to utilize them, and by automating complicated database tasks using computer programs that download, configure, and install optimized versions of ecological databases, thus allowing the rapid incorporation of available data into research projects. This... education program has the potential to substantially improve the rate at which the field of ecology advances by... allowing ecologists to rapidly determine if a given pattern or hypothesis is general and if not how it varies among ecological systems.