Project Vote Smart

What Project Vote Smart does

Vote Smart is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization founded in 1992 and headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, that provides free, factual information on candidates and elected officials to American voters. The organization operates a web-based voter information platform at votesmart.org, anchored by a longitudinal database covering over 220,000 candidates since 1992 across both winners and losers, complemented by voting records, over 1,500 special interest group ratings, ballot measure explainers, and a Political Courage Test that reveals candidate positions on contested issues. Vote Smart employs 11-50 staff and runs a secondary operational office at Drake University that supports its volunteer and internship programs.

The platform is structured around eight interconnected voter tools — Offices & Officials, Legislation, Issues, Interest Groups, Election Summary, Voter Registration & Polling Place, Political Courage Test, and Ballot Measures — that together function as an integrated civic information system. Distribution spans organic web traffic, social media (reaching 269,000+ people), email newsletters via Constant Contact, printed voter guides (25,000+ since 2020), and a community-led ambassador and volunteer network. Legislative demographic data is sourced through a partnership with Aristotle International, Inc. Vote Smart holds no partisan affiliation and disclaims backing from special interests or "big money."

The organization's revenue model is donation-driven: primary funding comes from individual contributions from Americans nationwide, supplemented by grants from non-partisan foundations, with a separate data subscription program providing commercial revenue to researchers, journalists, and organizations. All voter-facing services are free, with no B2C pricing or enterprise sales motion; the operating model is a self-serve, direct-to-consumer information utility rather than a commercial product company. Vote Smart is an independent, non-listed nonprofit with no parent company, ownership stake events, or funded venture capital exposure.

Name

Project Vote Smart

Legal name

Vote Smart

Website

https://votesmart.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Vote Smart is a nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1992 that provides free, factual voter information to Americans via a searchable database of 220,000+ candidates, legislative tracking, interest group ratings, and voter tools, funded by donations, grants, and a data subscription program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Voter Information Services

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (81341), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

akta.pro primary industry

Democracy, Voting Rights & Civic Participation Advocacy (BPAGAFAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Civic Literacy (Voting, Rights, Community Participation) (EDAAAAAH)

Keywords

• Voter information services
• Nonpartisan voter education
• Political data platform
• Election information tools
• Candidate research database

Headquarters

HQ city

Philipsburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Primary funding source from donations by Americans across the country who support the mission of providing unbiased voter information
2. Foundation Grants: Funding accepted from non-partisan foundations that seek to support the nonprofit mission of voter education
3. Data Subscription Program: Revenue generated through data subscription services that provide access to candidate and legislative data to researchers, journalists, or organizations

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Vote Smart is a nonprofit organization that operates a free, web-based voter information platform providing factual, unbiased profiles and information on U.S. candidates and elected officials at federal, state, and local levels. It maintains searchable databases of over 220,000 candidates, legislative voting records, interest group ratings from 1,500+ groups, issue explanations, ballot measures, voter registration tools, and the Political Courage Test, all delivered as free public resources funded by donations and grants.

Product overview

Vote Smart is a nonprofit platform offering free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to all American voters. The platform operates as a unified product with multiple interconnected voter tools that function together as an integrated democracy information system. The core offerings include: Offices & Officials (profiles of government leaders nationwide), Legislation (tracking of legislative votes on key bills), Issues (explanations of election-related laws and questions), Interest Groups (assessments from 1,500+ special interest groups), Election Summary (election lookup with candidate information), Voter Registration & Polling Place (voter registration and polling location services), Political Courage Test (candidate position assessments on key issues), and Ballot Measures (information on ballot questions). These tools share Vote Smart's factual, nonpartisan database and collectively support voter education across federal and state elections.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Offices & Officials Profiles of elected officials nationwide, serving as a comprehensive guide to leaders across states and offices. Provides voters with biographical information, positions, and contact details for elected representatives.
• Legislation Tracks how state legislators and others vote on important bills, including Medicaid and abortion, to keep voters informed on the latest legislative developments.
• Issues Comprehensive explanations of laws, issues, or questions featured in local and statewide elections to help voters stay informed before voting.
• Interest Groups Exploration tool showing how over 1,500 special interest groups assess representatives' performance and policies.
• Election Summary Lookup tool for current federal or state elections, providing crucial information about candidates, dates, and other election details.
• Voter Registration & Polling Place Tool to discover polling places, register to vote, and access election-related details for upcoming elections.
• Political Courage Test Assessment tool revealing where politicians truly stand on crucial issues such as gun control, education, immigration, and other key topics.
• Ballot Measures Information and analysis of ballot measures appearing in federal or state elections, providing comprehensive explanations of the laws, issues, or questions.
• Data Subscription Program Subscription-based data service providing access to Vote Smart's candidate and legislative data for researchers, journalists, and organizations. Pricing is not publicly disclosed.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 12 million Americans helped with voter information since 2020
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Aristotle International, Inc.minorOthersAristotle International, Inc. provides legislative demographic data to Vote Smart, which is used to enhance candidate and legislative profiles with demographic context. This is a data provider relationship that strengthens the comprehensiveness of Vote Smart's voter information resources.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Vote.org: Nonpartisan voter registration and turnout platform that overlaps with Vote Smart's voter registration and polling place tools while operating at significantly larger digital scale.
• OpenSecrets: Nonpartisan research tracker of money in US politics; shares the donor-driven nonprofit model and the B2B data subscription revenue stream with Vote Smart.
• PolitiFact: Nonpartisan fact-checking organization covering politicians' claims — overlaps with the truth-assessment positioning of Vote Smart's Political Courage Test.
• Ballotpedia: Nonpartisan digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections covering candidates, ballot measures, and elected officials — the closest direct comparator to Vote Smart's candidate and election information tools.
• FactCheck.org: Nonpartisan fact-checking project that competes for the same donor and foundation funding pool while addressing adjacent voter education outcomes.
• GovTrack: Open civic tech platform tracking federal legislation and legislators' voting records — directly comparable to Vote Smart's Legislation tracking product for power users and journalists.

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: Nonprofit investigative journalism outlet covering government and politics — adjacent competitor for the same nonpartisan, donor-funded information space.
• Bipartisan Policy Center: Think tank that produces nonpartisan policy research and analysis; overlaps with Vote Smart's nonpartisan civic information positioning for foundation and donor audiences.
• League of Women Voters: Established nonprofit civic organization (founded 1920) providing voter guides and election information — a broader, longer-tenured incumbent in the same civic education category.

Emerging players

• ISideWith: Voter quiz and election matchup platform focused on candidate alignment; competes with Vote Smart's Political Courage Test as a discovery funnel for younger voters.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/votesmart
• Facebookfacebook.com/ProjectVoteSmart
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/project-vote-smart

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Project Vote Smart