MapLight is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that reveals and tracks the influence of money in politics in the United States. The organization publishes a free public database linking money and politics data sources, including campaign contributions to politicians, how politicians vote on bills, and support and opposition to legislation. MapLight provides data on both campaign finance and

voting behavior Voting behavior refers to how people decide how to vote. This decision is shaped by a complex interplay between an individual voter's attitudes as well as social factors. Voter attitudes include characteristics such as ideological predisposition, ...

in one database. MapLight uses an in-house research team in addition to data sources that include

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

and

GovTrack GovTrack.us is a website developed by then-student Joshua Tauberer. It is based in Washington, D.C., and was launched as a hobby. It enables its users to track the bills and members of the United States Congress. Users can add trackers to certain ...

Policy positions

MapLight advocates for

public funding of elections A publicly funded election is an election funded with money collected through income tax donations or taxes as opposed to private or corporate-funded campaigns. In 1974, following the Watergate scandal, the U.S. Congress revised the Federal Elec ...

and increased campaign finance regulations. MapLight expressed disagreement with the Supreme Court rulings ''

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', 558 U.S. 310 (2010), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court regarding Campaign fin ...

'' and ''

McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ''McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission'', 572 U.S. 185 (2014), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on Campaign finance in the United States, campaign finance. The decision he ...

''.

Funding

MapLight's donors include the

Sunlight Foundation The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government. The organization was founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States ...

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is an American grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the s ...

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

, and the

Tides Foundation Tides Foundation is a left-leaning donor advised fund based in the United States that manages over $1.4 billion in assets. It was founded in San Francisco in 1976 by Drummond Pike. Tides distributes money from anonymous donors to other organizat ...

. In June 2014, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' reported that MapLight was a recipient of funding through the

Democracy Alliance The Democracy Alliance is a network of progressive megadonors who coordinate their political donations to groups that the Alliance has endorsed. Since its founding in 2005, the Democracy Alliance has given more than $1 billion to liberal organiz ...

, a network of liberal donors who coordinate their anonymous political giving. According to the ''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the G ...

'', in 2010

George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...

underwrote a joint project between MapLight and the

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism Wisconsin Watch or the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is a nonprofit investigative news organization housed at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The organization's mission is to "increase the quality and quantity of investigati ...

to highlight the influence of money in Wisconsin politics.

References

External links

*
Open CongressFollowthemoney.org
Political organizations based in the United States {{poli-org-stub