WASHINGTON, November 15, 2012 – Global Integrity, an innovation lab that produces high-quality research and creates cutting-edge technology to advance transparency and accountability in governments, announced today it has received a renewed financial commitment of up to US$2.0 million from philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network. Stacy Donohue, Director of Investments for Omidyar Network’s government transparency initiative, will remain on Global Integrity’s Board of Directors.
Global Integrity drives transparency and accountability in governments around the globe by connecting reformers with good data, local solutions, and cutting edge technologies to do their work better. Omidyar Network’s grant will enable Global Integrity to accelerate its work on critical fronts, including rolling out Global Integrity’s Indaba fieldwork platform to an even larger community of social sector organizations, and launching new experimental initiatives such as “TESTING 1 2 3: the Global Integrity innovation fund” to encourage greater risk-taking in the field.
“Omidyar Network is pleased to continue our support of Global Integrity’s outstanding work,” said Donohue. “Nathaniel and team continue to innovate, and the expansion of the Indaba platform will allow them to serve hundreds of new organizations that in turn will further their social missions by reaching hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people.”
Recognized for using technology to support public interest research and policy reforms, Global Integrity has used Web- and cloud-based systems for its global fieldwork since 2002 in countries ranging from Iraq to Sudan to China. Omidyar Network’s grant will further enhance and expand the capabilities of the Indaba platform to allow hundreds of new organizations to manage and launch projects on Indaba across a range of sectors, from government transparency to sustainability. Project managers will have an easy-to-use suite of tools to customize and manage their projects on the platform without needing to know code or ask for intensive technical assistance from Global Integrity.
“We’ve benefited tremendously from our relationship with Omidyar Network to-date and are excited to take the partnership to the next level during the next four years,” said Nathaniel Heller, co-founder and Executive Director of Global Integrity. “Beyond generous financial support, a long-term relationship with Omidyar Network offers us invaluable technical and strategic counsel as we scale our work.”
About Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the organization invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change. To date, Omidyar Network has committed more than $550 million to for-profit companies and non-profit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual participation across multiple initiatives, including entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, property rights, government transparency, consumer Internet and mobile. To learn more, visit www.omidyar.com.
About Global Integrity
Global Integrity is an innovation lab that produces high-quality research and creates cutting-edge technology to advance the work of a global network of civic, public, and private reformers pursuing increased transparency and accountability in governments. In addition to our core team, we collaborate with a global network of more than 1,200 in-country contributors and partners who take our technologies, tools, and information to where they are most useful – the local level. For more information about the organization, visit https://globalintegrity.org.
— Nathaniel Heller
— Image: OpenGovHub
