What Openpolis does

Openpolis is an independent Italian non-profit foundation (Fondazione Openpolis ETS), founded in 2005 and headquartered in Rome, that collects, curates, and publishes data on Italian public affairs to support transparency, evidence-based public debate, and democratic participation. The organization operates a portfolio of monitoring platforms including OpenPNRR (independent monitoring of Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan launched at the Chamber of Deputies in May 2022), Openparlamento (parliamentary activities and legislative tracking, renovated in March 2024), Centri d'Italia (monitoring of Italy's asylum and refugee reception facilities in partnership with ActionAid), and the Osservatorio sulla povertà educativa (Educational Poverty Observatory in partnership with Con i Bambini, mapping service coverage across all Italian municipalities). The foundation's output comprises data journalism articles, embeddable interactive charts, downloadable datasets, and long-form investigative dossiers such as the Pnrr Watch series produced with Assonime.

The organization operates as a direct-to-consumer digital platform with all content freely accessible. Its revenue model combines individual membership (€60/year or €8/month offering a reserved monthly newsletter and direct editorial contact), one-time donations, the Italian 5x1000 tax designation (tax code 97954040586), and commercial data and content services for third-sector entities, public bodies, and private organizations, alongside co-design projects with national and international partners. GTM motion relies on earned media (analysts regularly appear on major Italian TV and radio programs including Rai, La7, and SkyTg24, plus international coverage in Reuters, The Economist, and Handelsblatt), content marketing through the website and email newsletter, and public events. The foundation cites being mentioned in media more than 10 times daily and maintains strategic partnerships with Con i Bambini, ActionAid, Assonime, Confcommercio, and DEPP (technology partner for infrastructure and data platforms). It is led by President Vittorio Alvino with a small team of 1-10 employees including Director of Institutional Development Vincenzo Smaldore and Head of Analysis Luca Giunti.

Name

Openpolis

Legal name

Fondazione Openpolis ETS

Website

https://openpolis.it

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Openpolis is an independent Italian non-profit foundation that collects, curates, and publishes data on Italian public affairs through monitoring platforms such as OpenPNRR and Openparlamento, serving journalists, civil society organizations, public bodies, and citizens seeking transparency and evidence-based civic information.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Data Journalism and Civic Transparency

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Transparency Portals & Open Data Reporting (EDADAIAN)

Keywords

• Data journalism
• Open data platforms
• Civic transparency monitoring
• Public affairs analysis
• Policy data visualization

Headquarters

HQ city

Roma

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership Program: Annual membership at 60 euros per year or 8 euros per month, providing direct contact with the editorial team and reserved monthly newsletter.
2. Donations: One-time donations from supporters who wish to contribute to independent journalism.
3. 5x1000 Tax Designation: Italian taxpayer can designate 0.5% of income tax to Fondazione Openpolis (tax code 97954040586).
4. Commercial Data Services: Data and content services provided to third-sector entities, public bodies, and private organizations. Leverages organization's data heritage and experience with processes, platforms, and technologies.
5. Co-design Projects: National and international partnerships for co-design projects contributing to organizational sustainability.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Openpolis is an independent non-profit foundation that collects, curates, and publishes open data and analyses on Italian public affairs through a portfolio of monitoring platforms and data journalism products. It provides free access to articles, interactive visualizations, and dedicated monitoring tools for Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), parliamentary activities, asylum reception, and educational poverty, supported by a membership/donation funding model and select commercial data services for organizations.

Product overview

Openpolis is a non-profit foundation (Fondazione Openpolis) operating an independent data journalism platform focused on Italian public affairs. The portfolio consists of multiple monitoring and data visualization products: OpenPNRR (Pnrr monitoring platform), Openparlamento (parliamentary monitoring), Centri d'Italia (migrant reception monitoring), and the Osservatorio sulla povertà educativa (#conibambini) in partnership with Con i Bambini. Supporting products include Numeri (data visualizations), Esercizi (in-depth analyses), and Parola (glossary). The core value proposition is freely accessible, data-driven journalism and civic monitoring.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• OpenPNRR: Independent monitoring platform for Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), providing personalized access to information on measures, projects, territories, and implementation status.
• Openparlamento
• Centri d'Italia
• Osservatorio sulla Povertà Educativa (#conibambini)
• Pnrr Watch

Products and services

• Openpolis Platform Independent data journalism platform that collects, curates, and publishes data on Italian public affairs including Pnrr monitoring, parliamentary activities, educational poverty, and government policies. Available to journalists, civil society, public institutions, and the general public.
• OpenPNRR Independent monitoring platform for Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), providing personalized access to measures, projects, territories, and implementation status. Targeted at citizens, journalists, and institutions tracking recovery plan execution.
• Openparlamento Platform for monitoring Italian parliament activities, including legislative production, parliamentary group changes, presence and absences, and implementing decrees. Used by journalists, researchers, and citizens tracking parliamentary work.
• Centri d'Italia Monitoring system for Italy's asylum and refugee reception facilities, developed in partnership with ActionAid. Produces annual reports on the state of the reception system for journalists, advocates, and policymakers.
• Osservatorio sulla povertà educativa (#conibambini) Observatory mapping the presence and quality of services in all Italian municipalities across education, culture, sports, and social services, in partnership with Con i Bambini. Produces data, analyses, and visualizations on the condition of minors in Italy.
• Commercial Data Services and Co-design Projects Custom data analysis, content services, and co-design projects provided by Fondazione Openpolis to third-sector entities, public bodies, and private organizations, leveraging the foundation's Italian public affairs data heritage.

Quantifiable outcome

• Mentioned in media more than 10 times daily
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.

• Con i bambini (Impresa Sociale)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the Osservatorio sulla povertà educativa (Educational Poverty Observatory), mapping the presence and quality of services across all Italian municipalities in education, culture, sports, and social services. Produces data, analyses, and visualizations freely available for informed debate on the condition of minors in Italy.
• ActionAidcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Centri d'Italia project, monitoring Italy's asylum and refugee reception system. The project produces annual reports on the state of reception facilities, with ActionAid publishing its ninth edition report titled 'La frontiera, ovunque'.
• AssonimecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint publication of Pnrr Watch reports - strategic investigations on Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Produced three editions analyzing labor policies, employment, and training measures within Pnrr.
• ConfcommerciomajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint dossier analyzing over 30 important projects in Italian cities with investments from Pnrr and European cohesion funds totaling 2.1 billion euros. Detailed analysis of territorial investments.
• DEPP (Ministry of Education)supportingTechnology or IntegrationDEPP serves as technological partner for Openpolis infrastructure and data platforms. Currently seeking Senior DevOps/Cloud Engineer to join their team.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Transparency International Italy: Italian chapter of a global anti-corruption and transparency non-profit; overlaps with Openpolis in promoting institutional accountability and publishing independent analyses of public-sector integrity, though typically more focused on corruption indices than data journalism.
• Ondata: Italian open data and civic-tech association that produces independent analyses and visualizations on public-interest topics using Italian government data — a close functional peer to Openpolis's data-journalism model, with comparable size and nonprofit structure.
• Dataninja: Italy-based data journalism and open data venture producing editorial content and training on data-driven reporting — directly comparable to Openpolis in audience (journalists, civic-minded citizens) and product (data stories and visualizations).
• Lavoce.info: Italian online economics and policy publication that commissions evidence-based analyses from economists on public-policy issues — comparable to Openpolis as an independent Italian commentary outlet that translates data into accessible public debate.

Broad incumbents

• Open Knowledge Foundation: Global non-profit advocating for open data and government transparency; directly comparable mission around liberating and curating public data, though broader in geographic and topical scope than Openpolis's Italian civic-monitoring focus.
• Sunlight Foundation: U.S. non-profit dedicated to government transparency and open data, historically funding tools and analyses that make legislatures more accessible — closely aligned mission to Openpolis's parliamentary and Pnrr monitoring work, though at a much larger historical scale.
• European Data Journalism Network (EDJNet): Pan-European network of data journalism outlets collaborating on cross-border investigations and visualizations — overlaps with Openpolis in data-driven journalism on EU affairs, including Pnrr-style cross-country comparative reporting.

Emerging players

• Spaghetti Open Data: Community of Italian open data practitioners that curates and publishes analyses on Italian public datasets — comparable grassroots peer to Openpolis, though organized as a volunteer community rather than a staffed foundation.

Others

• ActionAid Italy: Italian arm of an international NGO and existing Openpolis partner on the Centri d'Italia reception-monitoring project — adjacent rather than directly competing, since ActionAid's mission centers on development/human rights while Openpolis supplies the data infrastructure.

Regional players

• The Good Lobby: Italy-rooted civic-tech non-profit focused on lobbying transparency and civic participation — overlaps with Openpolis in promoting democratic accountability and citizen engagement with institutions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

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 Openpolis