Sunlight Foundation

We are making two annoucements this afternoon: a second round of grants for 2007 (including two grants from our Mini-grant program), and a new member of the Board of Directors — Craig Newmark. Craig is the founder and customer service representative for Craigslist, and one of the initial members of our Advisory Board. Craig is a visionary, and he has an understanding of power of the Internet technology that is nearly unrivaled. We couldn't be happier to have him assume a more formal role in guiding the Sunlight Foundation.

We are also very excited about the grant making opportunities that have come our way. The groups we are helping to fund are on the cutting edge of Web 2.0 technology, and are among the best at using the Internet to open up Congress. In this round, we have made grants to the Capitol News Connection for a "Ask Your Lawmaker Widget," and the Metavid, a video archive of U.S. House and Senate proceedings. We also made two mini-grants — WashingtonWatch.com and to OpEdNews.