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PARTICIPATORY POLITICS FOUNDATION
BROOKLYN, NY · EIN 262296822 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE V99 · Social Science · Small ($100K-$1M) · participatorypolitics.org
revenue
$450K
expenses
$477K
net assets
$105K
employees
1
program ratio
96%
mission · from form 990

TO ENCOURAGE AND ENABLE GREATER CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT IN THE WORKINGS OF GOVERNMENT BY CREATING FREE WEB TOOLS AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE AND TO HELP MAKE INFORMATION ABOUT LEGISLATION MORE TRANSPARENT AND ACCESSIBLE.

profile · synthesized from sources

Nonprofit organization creating free web tools to increase citizen engagement and legislative transparency. Develops open-source platforms that enable the public to track legislation, ask questions of elected officials, and participate in democratic processes. Based in Brooklyn, NY, it focuses on making government more accessible through technology.

named programs · 3 · from sources

What they call their work

AskThem
Open-source, open-data platform enabling the public to ask questions of elected officials and candidates, with embeddable widgets for media partners.
Councilmatic
Tool that tracks and shares legislative information from city councils; adopted by NYC Council and expanded to other cities like Philadelphia.
OpenGovernment.org
Platform providing accessible, transparent information about government operations and legislation (now deprecated but historically significant).
activities · 4 groups

What they do

  • Civic Engagement and Voter Mobilization 4 activities
    • Conducts research and supports open-data civic projects
      Develops and supports nonpartisan, open-source research initiatives such as RaceTracker, which crowdsourced election data for all 2010 U.S. federal and state races, and the Democracy Map project, which provides accessible local civic data. Also created the Congressional Scorecard Library to centralize expert analyses of legislative voting records.
    • Develops and maintains open-source civic technology tools for government transparency and public engagement
      Creates, operates, and maintains free, open-source web platforms such as OpenCongress, Councilmatic, AskThem, and Contact-Congress to improve access to legislative information and enable public participation in government at federal, state, and local levels. These tools include searchable interfaces for legislation, systems for contacting Congress, and platforms for tracking elections and elected officials.
    • Distributes customizable digital tools to expand public engagement through media partnerships
      Develops and provides free, embeddable JavaScript and HTML widgets that allow regional media outlets and political blogs to integrate public question campaigns into their websites, enabling constituent interaction with members of Congress and candidates during elections. Examples include issue-specific widgets on immigration and the opioid crisis.
    • Operates the AskThem platform to facilitate public questioning of elected officials and candidates
      Runs AskThem, an open-source Q&A platform enabling the public to submit questions to elected officials and political candidates, with over 80 officials committed to monthly responses. The program was actively used during the 2018 and 2020 election cycles across federal, state, and municipal levels, supported by partnerships with local media and embeddable widgets.
  • Impact Investing Knowledge & Technology Platforms 1 activity
    • Builds volunteer developer capacity for civic technology
      Recruits and collaborates with volunteer Rails programmers and web designers via GitHub to support the redesign and development of civic tech platforms like AskThem, fostering community-driven innovation in open-source governance tools.
  • Free and Open-Source Software Advocacy & Development 1 activity
    • Engages in advocacy to promote adoption of civic tech tools
      Advocates for the official use and integration of its tools in governmental processes, such as securing the NYC Council’s adoption of Councilmatic for public legislative access. Also promotes broader use of open-source technologies to strengthen digital public spaces and democratic participation.
  • Support for Investigative and Independent Journalism 1 activity
    • Operates Sludge, an investigative journalism newsroom on money in politics
      Runs Sludge, an independent newsroom producing in-depth reporting on corruption, lobbying, and financial influence in government. The organization receives grant funding from multiple foundations to support this journalistic work.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$450K
Contributions & grants$348K77%
Program service revenue$102K23%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$477K
Program expenses96%
Admin / overhead3%
Fundraising1%
Salaries & benefits$78K
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$126K
Cash$126K
Investments$0
Liabilities$21K
Net assets$105K
Liquid reserves3.2 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +9.3%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

board members · 1
  • DAVID MOORE — EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
relationships · 34

Who they work with

  • Action Network Partner — Uses the Contact-Congress system to deliver advocacy messages
  • AskThem Network — Operates the AskThem online accountability program.
  • AskThem Partner — Collaborative platform developed to facilitate public Q&A with political candidates.
  • BetaNYC Partner — Partnered with BetaNYC to advance the Councilmatic project.
  • Broad Reach Foundation Funder — Provided support to Sludge in 2025.
  • CivicCommons Partner — Collaborated on knowledge-sharing and open-source civic technology tools.
  • Code for Democracy Funder — Provided grant support to PPF in 2021 for its nonprofit work.
  • Creative Commons Funder — Received a grant from Creative Commons to develop the Congressional Scorecard Library
  • DataMade Partner — Collaborated with DataMade on the development and implementation of Councilmatic.
  • Democracy Map Partner — Supported the open-data project providing local civic data.
  • EFF Partner — Uses the Contact-Congress system to deliver advocacy messages
  • Fight For the Future Partner — Uses the Contact-Congress system to deliver advocacy messages
  • Fight for the Future Partner — Sibling nonprofit co-founded by PPF leadership; collaborates on digital rights and open web advocacy.
  • GitHub Partner — Hosting development of the AskThem platform through a public GitHub repository.
  • Institute for Nonprofit News Government — Provides funding to PPF through the NewsMatch matching drive for Sludge’s journalism.
  • Knight Foundation Funder — Previously supported PPF’s nonprofit work through grants.
  • Knight Foundation Funder — Provided funding support for the development of AskThem widgets through the Knight Foundation Prototype Fund
  • Knight Foundation Network — Collaborates with Knight Foundation communities on public question campaigns related to trust, media, and democracy.
  • Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation Funder — Provided support to Sludge in 2025.
  • Media partners Partner — Collaborates with media partners to distribute and customize question-asking widgets for public engagement.
  • Mertz Gilmore Foundation Funder — Provided support to Sludge in 2024 for nonpartisan journalism.
  • NYC Council Government — Partnered with the NYC Council for the official adoption of Councilmatic to improve legislative transparency.
  • New Public Festival Partner — Collaborates on initiatives related to improving digital public spaces.
  • OpenPlans Partner — Partnered to support knowledge-sharing and open-source technology tools for responsive government.
  • Participatory Culture Foundation Partner — Sibling nonprofit co-founded by PPF leadership; shares founding team and collaborative history in open web and civic technology initiatives.
  • Piper Fund Funder — Provided support to PPF since 2020 for Sludge’s independent journalism.
  • Political bloggers Partner — Collaborates with political bloggers to distribute and customize question-asking widgets for public engagement.
  • Rita Allen Foundation Funder — Previously supported PPF’s nonprofit work through grants.
  • Sunlight Foundation Funder — Previously supported PPF’s nonprofit work through grants.
  • Sunlight Foundation Partner — Co-developed and initially supported OpenCongress; later acquired the project from PPF
+ 4 more
strategies · 4

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Digital Public Dialogue to Counteract Partisanship
    methodology: civic_reengagement_through_public_dialogue
    By structuring public dialogue through accessible digital platforms and media partnerships, we reduce political polarization and re-engage disaffected citizens, because community-centered discourse grounded in local pride fosters shared identity more effectively than adversarial or algorithmically amplified debate.
  • Non-Profit Stewardship of Digital Civic Space
    methodology: non_profit_led_opengov
    By advocating for non-profit-led development of open government technology, we ensure long-term stewardship of digital civic infrastructure free from commercial incentives, because mission-driven organizations are better positioned to prioritize public good over engagement-maximizing design.
  • Open Government Data as Foundation for Civic Innovation
    methodology: open_government_data_infrastructure
    By investing in open data infrastructure and standardized APIs at the local level, we enable decentralized innovation in civic tech, because accessible, interoperable government data allows diverse actors to build context-specific tools that challenge dominant social media platforms and deepen democratic engagement.
  • Open-Source Civic Infrastructure for Democratic Resilience
    methodology: open_source_civic_infrastructure
    By building civic technology on open-source software, libre licenses, and open data standards, we create sustainable, community-remixable digital public spaces that resist monopolization and increase transparency, because proprietary platforms inherently concentrate power and limit democratic accountability.