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Sunlight Foundation
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| Sunlight Foundation | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Washington, D.C. |
| Type: | 501(c)(3) |
| Affiliation: | Nonpartisan |
| Top official: | Christopher Gates, President |
| Founder(s): | Michael Klein and Ellen Miller |
| Year founded: | 2006 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Budget | |
| 2013: | $8,942,875 |
| 2012: | $7,912,829 |
| 2011: | $6,192,809 |
| 2010: | $8,603,859 |
Sunlight Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Washington, D.C. The nonpartisan group aims to promote transparency and accountability in government through technology, open data, policy analysis and journalism.[1]
Mission
The organization describes its mission as follows:[1]
| “ |
Our overarching goal is to achieve changes in the law to require real-time, online transparency for all government information, with a special focus on the political money flow and who tries to influence government and how government responds.[2] |
” |
History
Sunlight Foundation opened in April 2006 with a $3.5 million gift from D.C. securities lawyer Michael Klein. Ellen Miller, who served as Sunlight's first executive director, has also founded two other government accountability groups: Public Campaign (now Every Voice Center) and the Center for Responsive Politics.[3][4] The organization's original focus was gathering information about the U.S. Congress, but it now covers all levels of government.[1]
Board members
The Board of Directors and Advisory Board of Sunlight Foundation include the following individuals:[5]
Board of Directors
- Michael Klein (Chair and Co-Founder), former Partner, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering
- Niko Klein (Secretary)
- Andrew McLaughlin (Treasurer), Partner, betaworks; CEO, Digg and Instapaper
- Esther Dyson
- Allison Fine
- Sue Gardner, former Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation
- Mark Horvit, Executive Director, Investigative Reporters and Editors
- Craig Newmark, Customer Service Rep and Founder, craigslist and craigconnects
- Daniel X. O'Neil, Executive Director, Smart Chicago; Co-Founder, EveryBlock
Advisory Board
- Yochai Benkler, Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies, Harvard Law School
- Mitch Kapor, Founder, Lotus Development Corporation; Co-Founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Lawrence Lessig, Director, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University
- Charles Lewis, Founder, Center for Public Integrity
- Kim Malone Scott
- Jimmy Wales, Co-Founder, Wikipedia
Finances
The following is a breakdown of Sunlight Foundation's revenue and expenses for the 2010-2013 fiscal years:
| Annual revenue and expenses for the Sunlight Foundation, 2010-2013 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tax Year | Total Revenue | Total Expenses |
| 2013[6] | $8,942,875 | $6,971,567 |
| 2012[6] | $7,912,829 | $7,521,833 |
| 2011[7] | $6,192,809 | $6,234,025 |
| 2010[7] | $8,603,859 | $5,849,328 |
As a 501(c)(3) organization, Sunlight Foundation is not required to publicly disclose its donors. However, the organization has opted to publish detailed information about its finances, including the names of its donors, the amount of each contribution it receives, and a short description of how each contribution is used. That information can be accessed here.[8]
Politwoops shutdown
From 2012 to 2015, Sunlight Foundation ran a site called "Politwoops" that monitored political Twitter accounts and catalogued deleted tweets made by politicians. According to Politico, the site was frequented by journalists and "tracked everything from typos and staff misfires to actual changes in position or even secret daughters." When the captive American soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was returned to the United States, several politicians posted tweets praising him as a hero, only to delete them after it was revealed that Bergdahl may have deserted before being taken prisoner. Politwoops called attention to retractions such as this.
In early June 2015, Politwoops stopped updating, and the foundation originally stated that a technical issue was to blame. However, it was discovered that Twitter had revoked Politwoops' access to the Twitter API, preventing the site from preserving deleted tweets. A spokesperson from Twitter said that "We strongly support Sunlight’s mission of increasing transparency in politics and using civic tech and open data to hold government accountable to constituents, but preserving deleted Tweets violates our developer agreement. Honoring the expectation of user privacy for all accounts is a priority for us, whether the user is anonymous or a member of Congress."
Sunlight Foundation President Christopher Gates published a "eulogy" for Politwoops after the shutdown. He said that Twitter's actions were an unexpected reversal of their previous agreement with the foundation, where a human editor reviewed all tweets and eliminated low-level posts. Politwoops had operated with Twitter's permission since 2012. "Clearly, something changed — and we're not likely to ever know what it was," Gates wrote about the shutdown. "Unfortunately, Twitter’s decision to pull the plug on Politwoops is a reminder of how the Internet isn't truly a public square."[9]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Sunlight Foundation. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sunlight Foundation, "Our Mission," accessed June 5, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Aiming to Shed Light on Lawmakers," April 26, 2006
- ↑ Sunlight Foundation, "Ellen Miller," accessed June 30, 2015
- ↑ Sunlight Foundation, "Board & Advisors," accessed June 10, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 GuideStar, "Sunlight Foundation IRS Form 990 (2013)," accessed June 4, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 GuideStar, "Sunlight Foundation IRS Form 990 (2011)," accessed June 4, 2015
- ↑ Sunlight Foundation, "How We're Funded," accessed June 4, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Twitter effectively shuts down Politwoops," June 4, 2015
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