Sunlight couldn't be in better company in the following video shot by the Omidyar Network, a significant funder of our work. The interviews done at a recent event in Menlo Park, California includes leaders from the Wikimedia Foundation, BRAC, the African Leadership Academy, Ushahidi, DonorsChoose.org, Landesa and IGNIA. What truly amazing partners they are.

We could elaborate, I suppose, but this quick video really says it all:

It is an honor to be among the twenty-five recipients of Government Technology's award for 'Doers, Dreamers & Drivers in Public Sector Innovation'. I'm also excited to see acclaim for other leaders of the open government movement including SeeClickFix's Ben Berkowitz, a fellow Omidyar investee.

Since our founding, the Sunlight Foundation has sought to challenge the status-quo of Washington politics and improve access to government information for all citizens. This award is an indication that transparency is moving from a political buzzword to the codified reality we want. Government data -- of all types, but especially about who is trying to influence whom -- should be online in as close to real time as possible unless it is a legitimate threat to our national security or compromises personal privacy.

Changing the culture of Washington (and all levels of government) is tough process, but when the assumption is to free the data it creates a more accountable and responsible government. It is exciting to see the open government movement grow.  I hope you join us.

President Obama recently attended an Expo on Democracy and Open Government on his trip to India and announced the creation of a US-India Dialogue on Open Government, a partnership that the White House blog declared to be "built on shared values." It is very exciting to see the President's renewed commitment to this issue, particularly with one of the world's great democracies and a country for which I have a personal fondness.

It is equally exciting to see that the President had an opportunity to meet with many of  the same Open Government groups that I personally visited less than a month ago, including the NGO Janaagraha, that focuses on empowering citizens and actively engaging with government for change. Sound familiar? They have built online tools on exciting ideas like their 'I Paid a Bribe' distributed research project to keep local officials accountable for illegally demanding brides. (Still trying to think of a way to adapt this for the U.S.)

After returning from my trip in India with my colleagues from Omidyar Network I wrote:

Sunlight’s work is certainly far more data centric than many of the organizations I visited. And I didn’t see anything that rivaled some of the tools for digesting and using that data that we’ve built.  But some of the university-based projects and other NGOs have figured out things we haven’t on the engagement front, including excellent online and offline organizing models around government accountability, and thinking way ahead of us on the mobile platform. And while certainly some of the problems are different (real bribery is still prevalent in many places as opposed to the “honest graft” we have in the US), there’s tremendous room for cross-continent collaboration.

I agree with what appears to be the President's take away. These are fascinating developments in India. As Samantha Power on the White House blog wrote:

India is at the vanguard of figuring out how to exploit technology and innovation on behalf of democratic accountability. U.S.-based groups, as well as those throughout the developed and developing world, could learn an enormous amount from these efforts.

Sunlight is happy to already be in dialog with many of the groups that had the opportunity to shake the president's hand in Mumbai. We do have the same goals. And as we continue to advocate for open government here , we encourage the President to lend more of his time and energy to the effort here at home. Perhaps the White House could start by hosting an expo of open government tools built by American organizations for American politics?

Update: Read some of the additional materials that the folks over at TechPreisdent have secured.

I am thrilled to announce that we will be expanding our collaboration with the Omidyar Network to catalyze greater transparency and openness in government. Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam.

Omidyar's grant of $4 million is to support Sunlight's efforts to improve access to existing government information, digitize new information, and create new online tools to foster greater government transparency. Sunlight and Omidyar share a fundamental belief in the value of transparency, the role of new technologies to connect individuals to information and the ability for citizens to influence the issues that impact their lives.

In addition, Matt Halprin, partner at Omidyar Network, will be joining Sunlight's board. As the lead for Omidyar Network's Media, Markets & Transparency initiative, Matt brings deep experience in strategy, general management and Internet platforms. He was previously vice president at eBay and a partner at the Boston Consulting Group. And Stacy Donohue, a director at Omidyar Network, who leads the organization’s government transparency investment area, will take an observer seat on the board.

All of us at Sunlight are greatly honored by Omidyar’s continued support for our work.