Digital Democracy, by CalMatters, wins the Trust in American Institutions challenge.

from Sonya BarzaCalMatters

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CalMatters Digital Democracy won The Challenge of Trust in America’s Institutions, a national call for bold action to restore public trust in our society’s core institutions.

Reid Hoffman and Lever for Change provide $1.8 million annually over five years to drive expansion of innovative Digital democracy platform in the United States.

“At a time when trust in government is alarmingly low, access to credible, independent information about how government is working — and not working — for people is essential to restoring public trust in our institutions,” Hoffman said. “CalMatters shows what rebuilding trust looks like through rigorous journalism, transparency and a deep commitment to public service.”

With this grant, the Digital Democracy Platform’s ability to give people important information about government and help them get engaged will grow beyond California to multiple states.

“We are honored and grateful to receive this support to expand digital democracy across the country,” said CalMatters Executive Director Neil Chase. “People can’t trust what they can’t see, so we built Digital Democracy to make California government visible in a way that’s clear, accessible and actionable. We’re thrilled to be able to share it across the state and humbled to win this award given the exceptional quality of the other finalists.”

Giving the people power over their government

As the accountability of state institutions declined, oversight of government weakened. As a result, voters receive less independent information about their elected officials and fewer opportunities to engage with them.

Digital democracy fills this gap. Created by CalMatters, the platform gives the public and journalists direct access to comprehensive legislative data in one free, easy-to-use site: every vote cast, every dollar donated, every word spoken. Custom AI tools analyze data to surface patterns and generate lead stories, giving reporters an edge and strengthening accountability.

Digital democracy is already transforming the legislative process in California. There is power award–profitable investigative journalism and real-world politics impact. Reporters across the state now use its AI-generated “Tip Sheets,” which find and describe story ideas in real time from hearings and votes, creating what one Emmy-winning journalist called “a reporter in every room.” This kind of transparency and accountability fosters citizen engagement, increasing understanding and trust.

So far we have developed three products from the Digital Democracy platform:

• Public websites: A trusted portal for a wide audience to easily learn about issues and players.
• Tip sheets: Detailed briefs that send registered reporters AI-generated story ideas in real-time as hearings take place and votes are cast. It’s essentially a reporter for any public meeting, with enough data and background information to get even the busiest reporter off the ground on a quick story.
• Bulletins: “My legislator“, a weekly newsletter, provides the latest data on each individual legislator. It includes the votes they cast, the things they said, how their bills are progressing, the money they’ve received, and how they rank against their peers on key metrics. It’s the best tool we have for reconnecting legislators with the people they’re supposed to serve.

Digital democracy has been proven in California and extended to Hawaii with our friends at the nonprofit Honolulu Civil Beat newsroom. With this grant, we are now ready to expand to more state homes across the country with ready partners.

Thanks for our partners

Digital democracy wouldn’t have happened without David Lesher, co-founder of CalMatters. He stepped down as editor-in-chief of CalMatters in 2023 and stayed on watching the launch of digital democracy. Under his leadership, the CalMatters team expanded a platform originally built at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The architect of the platform is Foaad Khosmood, co-founder of Digital Democracy and professor of computer science at Cal Poly.

Congratulations to the other finalists for The Trust in American Institutions Challenge, innovative organizations with powerful, compelling proposals: The American Journalism Project, Results for America, Recidivism and Transcend Education.For information about Digital Democracy, please contact us at info@calmatters.org.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.