About The Foundation
The Sunlight Foundation was founded in 2006 with the goal of using technology to enable citizens to learn more about what their elected representatives are doing, to help reduce corruption, ensure greater transparency and... [more]
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Sunlight's Reform Agenda
Sunlight has updated and refined our legislative priorities in order to generate greater change and a more transparent Congress.
[Full Memo | Top Priorities]
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Funding for The Sunlight Foundation
The Sunlight Foundation was launched in April 2006 with a $3.5 million contribution from co-founder Michael Klein (read a brief bio here; also see Jeffrey Birnbaum's story from the Washington Post on Sunlight's launch here.
Our full list of contributors (in date order with most recently received last, as of March 27, 2008) includes:
Michael Klein $3,500,000.00
N. Colin Lind $100,000.00
Philanthropic Collaborative, Inc. $5,000.00
Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation $100,000.00
David Bonderman $250,000.00
Cresa Partners of Greater Washington $2,500.00
Fuller Foundation $40,000.00
Springcreek Advisors LLC $5,250.00
Fischer & Company LLC $55,000.00
Domenico & Eleanor De Sole $1,000.00
Artifex Software, Inc. $1,000.00
Ted and Jim Pedas / Circle Management Company $25,000.00
Peter Gottesman $2,600.00
Chad J. Fitzgerald $500.00
Rockefeller Family Fund $2,900,000.00
Sage Foundation $50,000.00
Blum Family Foundation $100,000.00
Omidyar Network $4,000,000.00
Raymond C. Clevenger, III $15,000.00
Schwab Charitable Fund $1,250.00 (including a gift directed by Mr. and Mrs. Sanford K. Ain of $1,000.00)
Kobayashi Family Foundation $1,000.00
Nina Zolt and Miles Gilburne $25,000.00
Fidelity Charitable Fund $1,500.00
Springcreek Foundation $7,000.00
Robert L. Miller $10,000.00
Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr. $1,000.00
The Greg and Lisa Stanger Charitable Foundation $1,000.00
gifts $250 or under (22 total) $3,158.00
Sunlight focuses on expanding online access to information about the workings of Congress and the influence of money in politics, and enhancing that access with cutting-edge tools that will enable journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens to oversee and engage in what Congress is doing. To see information on our grantees, click here. To apply for a grant from the Sunlight Foundation, contact us for guidelines.
Current Projects
PublicMarkup.org An experiment to open bills to online, public review.
Where Are They Now? Former Congressional Staffers head through the Revolving Door on to K Street.
Punch Clock Map: Putting congressional transparency on the map
Earmark Watch: Bringing Citizen Oversight to Congressional Spending
Wiki the Vote: Giving constituents the ability to report on candidates running for the House and Senate
A word from our Sponsor
Ongoing Projects
Realtime Investigations: Follow along as Bill and Anu detail their investigative reporting adventures.
LOUIS is the beginning of a comprehensive, completely indexed and cross-referenced depository of federal documents.
The OpenHouse Project: Working to identify areas where Congress can open up and improve access to relevant and timely information.
OpenCongress: Bringing together official government information with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what's happening in Congress.
Past Projects
Visualizing Earmarks: Select Visualizations of 2005 OMB Earmark Data.
Mashup Congress and Win:
And the Winner is... Unfluence! We received more than a dozen entries to Sunlight's first Web 2.0 Mashup Contest.
Congressional Web Site Investigation:Employing citizen oversight to find out if we are getting our money’s worth from congressional Web sites.
Today's Ethics Watch
Senator’s Ties to Real Estate Draw Criticism: He has made millions as a title insurance executive, landlord and real estate developer in this college town, where the economy, despite trouble nationwide, is still growing nicely. Now, as a United States senator, with the mortgage mess fueling a national economic slowdown, Richard C. Shelby has more say over the revamping of housing finance laws than almost anyone else in Congress. (New York Times)
Oil Lobby Reaches Out to Citizens Peeved at the Pump: Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image. (Washington Post)
Lawmakers Accused of Flouting Rules on Use of Staff: Democratic Reps. Jane Harman and Neil Abercrombie spent more than $2 million on their 2006 reelection campaigns but paid only $5,000 to campaign workers, according to campaign finance reports. (Washington Post)
NAM discloses member list: The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) disclosed certain member companies on Thursday after failing to win a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court. (The Hill)
Clinton introduces bill to post contractor violations on the Web: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill that would force contractors to self-report criminal actions or government overpayments to agency inspectors general under the threat of potential disbarment or suspension. The misconduct would then be made publicly available on a searchable Web site. (GovExec)
Rep. Abercrombie questions ethics of ethics bill handling: Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) is challenging actions by his Democratic leaders and plans to ask the ethics committee to determine whether House rules were broken during a recent ethics vote. (The Hill)
A futile walk down Coconut Road?: The House agreed Wednesday to ask the Justice Department to investigate the now infamous Coconut Road earmark, but don’t hold your breath waiting for indictments. (Politico)
Young, Jefferson quiet as Coconut Road earmark nears vote in House: Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and William Jefferson (D-La.) are keeping mum on whether they will vote for a bill that includes language calling on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate the notorious Coconut Road earmark when that measure comes to the House floor Wednesday. (The Hill)
Ethics Complaints Sheathed: Even though both Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently called for the ethics committee to investigate members of the other’s party — fighting words by any standard — neither took the next step of triggering an investigation, effectively pulling their punches. (Roll Call)
New disclosure reports lack clarity: The much-touted new lobbying disclosure reports are now available. But beware: They do little to make it easier to track the nation’s influence class. (Politico)
Lawmakers Want Hearing on Ties Between Sect, Defense Contracts: The Defense Department has contracted with three companies that are closely tied to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and some lawmakers want to know if money from those deals supported the sect, whose ranch was raided this month after allegations of child abuse. (Washington Post)
[ More in the Archive ]
Oil Lobby Reaches Out to Citizens Peeved at the Pump: Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image. (Washington Post)
Lawmakers Accused of Flouting Rules on Use of Staff: Democratic Reps. Jane Harman and Neil Abercrombie spent more than $2 million on their 2006 reelection campaigns but paid only $5,000 to campaign workers, according to campaign finance reports. (Washington Post)
NAM discloses member list: The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) disclosed certain member companies on Thursday after failing to win a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court. (The Hill)
Clinton introduces bill to post contractor violations on the Web: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill that would force contractors to self-report criminal actions or government overpayments to agency inspectors general under the threat of potential disbarment or suspension. The misconduct would then be made publicly available on a searchable Web site. (GovExec)
Rep. Abercrombie questions ethics of ethics bill handling: Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) is challenging actions by his Democratic leaders and plans to ask the ethics committee to determine whether House rules were broken during a recent ethics vote. (The Hill)
A futile walk down Coconut Road?: The House agreed Wednesday to ask the Justice Department to investigate the now infamous Coconut Road earmark, but don’t hold your breath waiting for indictments. (Politico)
Young, Jefferson quiet as Coconut Road earmark nears vote in House: Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and William Jefferson (D-La.) are keeping mum on whether they will vote for a bill that includes language calling on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate the notorious Coconut Road earmark when that measure comes to the House floor Wednesday. (The Hill)
Ethics Complaints Sheathed: Even though both Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently called for the ethics committee to investigate members of the other’s party — fighting words by any standard — neither took the next step of triggering an investigation, effectively pulling their punches. (Roll Call)
New disclosure reports lack clarity: The much-touted new lobbying disclosure reports are now available. But beware: They do little to make it easier to track the nation’s influence class. (Politico)
Lawmakers Want Hearing on Ties Between Sect, Defense Contracts: The Defense Department has contracted with three companies that are closely tied to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and some lawmakers want to know if money from those deals supported the sect, whose ranch was raided this month after allegations of child abuse. (Washington Post)
[ More in the Archive ]