MapLight
Technology for democracy
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
We believe... That everyone deserves an equal voice in our democracy; That our lawmakers should represent the public interest, not wealthy special interests; and That access to money should not determine who gets elected or how policy decisions are made. Unfortunately, our current system is falling short. Moneyed interests have disproportionate access to lawmakers and undue influence on policy. Candidates for office are forced to focus on fundraising rather than their constituents—and those lacking access to wealth often can’t compete. With the public hungry for a democracy that represents all of us, a tiny group of wealthy donors and corporations have excessive influence on our elections and laws. We also believe this is a problem our country can solve. A more responsive, accountable, and representative democracy is within reach and MapLight is dedicated to helping achieve it.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Money and Influence
MapLight is a nonpartisan nonprofit that strives to create a government that (actually) works for the people. By connecting the influence of special interest groups to the issues people care about, we empower journalists, citizens, and advocacy groups to hold government accountable. Since 2009, our findings illustrating the impact of political money on the issues affecting citizens’ everyday lives have reached over 350 million people through TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other websites. From our exposé that led the governor of New Mexico to change statewide policy on investment decisions, to our investigation that led major corporations to halt their contributions to a racist dark money organization – and many other investigations like this – our work has invigorated the national debate, empowered accountability advocates, and changed public policy. We also shine a light on "digital deception" (the manipulation of public opinion and political processes via social media and other digital technologies) and develop meaningful policy and technological solutions.
Voter’s Edge: Informing & Empowering Voters
MapLight’s groundbreaking online voter guide, Voter’s Edge, provides nonpartisan information about candidates and ballot measures in local, state, and federal elections in California. Voter’s Edge has been proven to increase voter confidence and voter participation in the electoral process by effectively equipping voters with the information they need to vote in ways that reflect their own interests. More than 2 million people visited the Voter’s Edge California voting guide in 2018, with a very
high level of engagement: the average site visit lasted more than eight minutes.
Voter’s Edge increases voters’ confidence, knowledge, and engagement with the races on their ballots. Based on our site survey:
• 77% of users said that they would vote for more offices and leave fewer choices blank
thanks to the information found on Voter’s Edge, suggesting that the site increases
turnout (votes cast) in down-ballot races.
• 68% said that they considered making a different choice on one or more ballot initiatives
based on what they learned on the site.
• 91% said that Voter’s Edge made them feel more confident about making the right
choices on Election Day.
Advancing Reform
MapLight serves as a research, communications, and resource hub for state and local campaigns seeking to counter money’s influence on politics with policy solutions such as public funding of elections, transparency and disclosure laws, meaningful contribution limits, and more. We work to advance more representative and responsive government by developing a deep understanding of the highest-leverage solutions available, outlining how these efforts can succeed, and offering targeted support to groups who want to pass these policies. MapLight provides research on the effectiveness of specific policies and campaign tactics and direct support to help under-resourced reform campaigns pass. Our deep expertise in data and research make us well positioned to take an empirical approach by analyzing campaign finance data to help activists make the case for reform at home, collecting and synthesizing existing information about successful campaign tactics, and building a toolkit of resources for effective democracy reform advocacy.
Campaign Finance Filing and Disclosure software
The MapLight campaign finance system is a modern, flexible electronic filing system that supports compliance, staff efficiency, and public transparency. It is a web application for government ethics officials, filers such as candidates, committees, and lobbyists, and the public. We support campaign finance, ethics, and lobbying reporting--just one of these, or any combination of the three.
MapLight customizes the system to meet government agency’s laws, regulations, and operational needs. We provide a comprehensive solution, including setup, training, and ongoing support.
The MapLight campaign finance system is a hosted, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, eliminating setup hassles and conserving your IT resources. The MapLight system is available as an on-premises solution as well.
Where we work
Awards
Best Free Reference Web Site 2012
MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference - American Library Association
James Madison Freedom of Information Award 2009
Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter
Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism - Honorable Mention 2008
J-Lab
Nominee - Best Politics Website 2008
Webby Awards
U.N. World Summit Award for e.Government - Winner 2007
U.N. World Summit
Board of Directors' Distinguished Service to Journalism Award 2015
Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter
NextGen Changemakers: Civic Innovation 2014
World Affairs Council
Top-Rated Nonprofit 2014
Great Non Profits
External reviews

Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
MapLight's mission is to achieve a government that actually works for the people, where lawmakers are responsive to citizen concerns rather than the interests of large campaign donors. Our work aims to:
1. Provide data and research that expose money's influence on politics with a focused approach targeting specific audiences, issues, and jurisdictions where our work can be most impactful.
2. Facilitate informed voting and civic engagement through Voter's Edge and other transparency tools.
3. Advance democracy reforms by providing direct support to help state and local reform campaigns be successful.
4. Combat digital deception by working to pass safeguards against manipulation of public opinion on social media. For example, we are pressuring Facebook to fact-check all political ads so that candidates cannot pay to spread blatant lies.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
MapLight engages multiple strategies to achieve our vision of a government that actually works for the people. These strategies include:
- Shining a light on the influence of moneyed interests in elections and on policy decisions through our free maplight.org database and tools, our in-house research and reporting, and our Dark Money Watch site.
- Empowering voter engagement with Voter's Edge, our one-stop online voter guide that provides nonpartisan information about candidates and ballot measures in local, state, and federal elections.
- Fueling new open-source transparency tools that make civic information more accessible and engaging than ever, such as Power Search and the Quick Guide to Propositions, both now live on the CA Secretary of State's website.
- Advancing solutions for local and state reform by providing direct assistance to democracy reform campaigns.
- Developing a framework for policy solutions for digital deception, with transparency and accountability at its center.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
MapLight is located in Berkeley, CA and has twelve staff and an annual budget of $1.5 million. Our data team handles all of our data collection and processing, uncovers and identifies significant data within our database, fact checks all research and findings before they are published or distributed. Our Director of Communications distributes the findings of our data and research to journalists, nonprofit groups, and the public. Our Director of Engineering oversees the software development to build, maintain, and improve our databases, builds internal interfaces and tools for data analysis, and builds websites and interfaces through which the public (e.g. accountability actors such as journalists and advocates) may view, search, and analyze our data. Our program team, which includes former Federal Election Commission chair Ann Ravel, contributes policy expertise, research, data analysis, and more. Our operations and development staff support the sustainability of these programs and the strategic vision of the organization.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since 2009, our findings illustrating the impact of political money on the issues affecting citizens’ everyday lives have reached over 350 million people through TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other websites. From our work highlighting the obstacles faced by environmental activists working toward reform to our investigations uncovering pay-to-play politics among Cabinet appointees to our expose on how public pension money has been used to fund an anti-rent control campaign in California – and many other investigations like this – our work has invigorated the national debate, empowered accountability advocates, and changed public policy. In the past year, we've also expanded our work combatting digital deception, drawing attention to how micro-targeted political advertising and other strategies are being used to manufacture and manipulate public opinion during political events.
In 2018, our nonpartisan online voter guide Voter’s Edge reached 2 million people -- equivalent to 1 in 8 voters -- in California, providing them with unbiased and nonpartisan information to help them to make better-informed voting decisions about the candidates and issues appearing on the ballot. 91% of Voter’s Edge users said that our guide made them feel more confident about making the right choices on Election Day. 77% of Voter’s Edge users said that they would vote for more offices and leave fewer choices blank thanks to the information they found on our guide.
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
MapLight
Board of directorsas of 01/31/2023
Doug Edwards
Former Marketing Director, Google
Melanie Sloan
Founding Partner, Triumph Strategy
Doug Edwards
Melanie Sloan
Triumph Strategy
Shel Kaphan
Kaphan Foundation
Jim Heerwagon
Paul Perry
Diaspora
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? No -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data