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

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. It is a policy initially instituted after Nixon for candidates to opt into publicly f ...

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), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding campaign finance laws and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It wa ...

'' and ''

McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ''McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission'', 572 U.S. 185 (2014), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on campaign finance. The decision held that Section 441 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which imposed a limit on c ...

''.

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 a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Tides Foundation. In June 2014, '' Politico'' reported that MapLight was a recipient of funding through the Democracy Alliance, 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. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'', in 2010 George Soros underwrote a joint project between MapLight and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism to highlight the influence of money in Wisconsin politics.

References

External links

MapLight HomepageOpen CongressFollowthemoney.org
Political organizations based in the United States {{poli-org-stub