Espacios Abiertos

What Espacios Abiertos does

Espacios Abiertos is a Puerto Rico-based nonprofit founded in 2014 that develops digital civic infrastructure to promote government transparency, fiscal accountability, and citizen participation. The organization operates a portfolio of interconnected digital platforms: the Observatorio Fiscal (an interactive repository of 16 years of budget data covering 41,740 fields across 2,128 documents, 133-170 agencies, and 878 programs), QuienMeRepresentaPR.com (an electoral transparency platform covering 3,700+ candidate profiles), the Barómetro de Transparencia (a media monitoring tool tracking transparency-related news), the Mapa de Impacto EITC (a geographic impact map of the Earned Income Tax Credit), and the Laboratorio Comunitario (a civic capacity-building platform). It also convenes the Red de Transparencia coalition with 9+ civil society organizations and operates Epicentro, a physical open-government hub in Río Piedras, San Juan.

The organization's technical stack centers on data aggregation, structured visualization, and search across government documents, supplemented by policy research publications, op-eds, legislative testimony, and judicial interventions. It produces recurring analytical outputs on fiscal policy, debt sustainability, tax expenditures, food security, and the global minimum tax. Notable collaborations include work with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and economist Martín Guzmán on debt sustainability analysis.

Business model is non-commercial: Espacios Abiertos operates as a tax-exempt nonprofit funded by donations and institutional grants from foundations including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Metabolic Studio of the Annenberg Foundation, and Mazon. All public-facing platforms are free to use. The organization serves a four-segment audience: general citizens of Puerto Rico, civil society organizations and nonprofits, policymakers and government entities, and academics and researchers. Only the city of San Juan hosts the headquarters; geographic scope is single-country (Puerto Rico).

Name

Espacios Abiertos

Legal name

Espacios Abiertos

Website

https://espaciosabiertos.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Espacios Abiertos is a Puerto Rico nonprofit founded in 2014 that builds digital civic infrastructure—Observatorio Fiscal, QuienMeRepresentaPR, and Barómetro de Transparencia—to promote government transparency, fiscal accountability, and citizen participation for the Puerto Rican public, civil society, and policymakers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Engagement and Government Transparency

NAICS

Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (921), Administration of Economic Programs (926), Administration of Economic Programs (9261)

akta.pro primary industry

Democracy, Voting Rights & Civic Participation Advocacy (BPAGAFAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Civic, Citizenship & Community Engagement Education (EDAAAEAI), City Clerk/Records, Elections & Civic Engagement (BPAIACAB)

Keywords

• Government transparency tools
• Civic engagement platforms
• Fiscal policy research
• Public budget monitoring
• Electoral transparency

Headquarters

HQ city

San Juan

HQ country

Puerto Rico

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: Espacios Abiertos is a nonprofit organization that operates on donations and institutional grants. The organization receives funding from foundations and donors to support its transparency, accountability, and civic participation programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Espacios Abiertos develops and operates a suite of free digital civic engagement platforms (Observatorio Fiscal, QuienMeRepresentaPR, Barómetro de Transparencia, Laboratorio Comunitario, Mapa de Impacto EITC, Cabildo Abierto, Reclama Tu Dinero) that enable Puerto Rican citizens to monitor government budgets, access information on elected officials, and participate in civic processes. It also conducts fiscal policy research, publishes policy briefs and reports, provides legal advocacy for access to public information, and runs the Epicentro community hub for civic education in San Juan.

Product overview

Espacios Abiertos operates as a civic technology and policy organization offering a portfolio of interconnected digital platforms and analytical tools focused on government transparency, fiscal accountability, and citizen participation in Puerto Rico. The core offerings include QuienMeRepresentaPR.com for electoral transparency, the Observatorio Fiscal for budget and public finance monitoring, the Barómetro de Transparencia for tracking transparency news, and various analytical tools covering topics such as tax expenditures, food security, earned income tax credits, and the global minimum tax. These products function as civic infrastructure for democratic engagement rather than a unified software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Observatorio Fiscal: Digital platform providing public access to government budget and fiscal information with 41,740 visual data fields.
• Quien Me Representa
• Barómetro de Transparencia
• Epicentro
• Laboratorio Comunitario

Products and services

• QuienMeRepresentaPR.com Digital civic participation platform providing profiles of political candidates and elected officials in Puerto Rico, allowing citizens to access information on legislators' voting records, sponsored bills, and electoral districts, and to view district ballots.
• Observatorio Fiscal (Fiscal Observatory) Interactive digital repository providing public access to Puerto Rico's budget and public finance information, with 41,740 data fields across 2,128 documents spanning 16 years, allowing users to search and visualize revenue and expenditure data by thematic areas, agencies, and programs.
• Barómetro de Transparencia (Transparency Barometer) Digital repository that monitors and catalogs news coverage related to government transparency in Puerto Rico, tracking keywords and topics to measure civic attention to transparency issues.
• Laboratorio Comunitario (Community Laboratory) Virtual empowerment platform for civic capacity building, designed to strengthen community participation in public governance and civic education.
• Mapa de Impacto EITC Impact visualization tool showing the geographic distribution and effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit program across Puerto Rico municipalities.
• Epicentro Community Hub Physical open government hub in Río Piedras hosting workshops, symposiums, community forums, and civic education programs on transparency and citizen participation.
• Reclama Tu Dinero

Quantifiable outcome

• In 2022, the Earned Income Tax Credit program reached 645,047 families (87.2% participation rate) and helped 126,014 people cross the federal poverty line.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• Agenda CiudadanacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAgenda Ciudadana is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 2011 with the mission of facilitating dialogue, agreements, collaborations, and alliances among all sectors based on citizen empowerment, participatory democracy, transparency, and accountability.
• ABRE Puerto RicocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerABRE Puerto Rico is a digital platform that compiles government data as a tool to promote government transparency and a better-informed citizenry, created by the Center for Research and Public Policy.
• GFR MediasecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerGFR Media is a media group committed to the defense of democratic principles, plurality of ideas, press freedom, responsible journalism, and protection of community voices.
• Sin ComillassecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerSin Comillas is a digital news outlet focused on Puerto Rico's economy and business news, with a special focus on banking and economics, founded in 2010.
• Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto RicocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous entity of the Executive Branch tasked with coordinating statistical services to ensure government data systems are complete, reliable, and universally accessible.
• Centro de Periodismo InvestigativocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Center for Investigative Journalism is a nonprofit entity founded in 2007 to promote access to information for the Puerto Rican people through investigative journalism, litigation, and journalist training.
• Sembrando SentidocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSembrando Sentido is a nonprofit organization that seeks to harvest knowledge, tools, and inspiration to strengthen civil society efforts for more transparent, accountable, inclusive, and efficient government practices.
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCBPP is a progressive think tank that conducts research and policy analysis on government budgets and public policies. CBPP collaborated with Espacios Abiertos on the Earned Income Tax Credit program research and provided financial support for the development of the Fiscal Observatory platform.
• AgroRecursossecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerAgroRecursos is a digital platform designed to reconnect and strengthen Puerto Rico's food system. Espacios Abiertos joined as an ally in the launch of this platform, which supports farmers, producers, and others in the agricultural sector.
• Proyecto 85secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerProyecto 85 is a civic organization. Espacios Abiertos partnered with Proyecto 85 to call for greater representation of women and youth in the 2024 elections in Puerto Rico.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: US investigative journalism nonprofit. Broader incumbent in the accountability-journalism space, but comparable in being a nonprofit using data, litigation, and partnerships to drive public-interest outcomes against government opacity.
• Open Government Partnership: International multi-stakeholder initiative promoting government transparency, accountability, and civic participation across 70+ countries. Broad incumbent operating in the same open-government thematic space as EA's Red de Transparencia and Observatorio Fiscal work.
• Sunlight Foundation: US nonprofit historically focused on government transparency, open data, and political accountability. Comparable mission and digital-tools-for-transparency model, though now largely wound down; useful as a structural peer reference.

Direct peers

• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP): US progressive think tank that co-developed the Observatorio Fiscal with Espacios Abiertos. Direct peer: same fiscal-policy research and EITC methodology, broader geographic scope.
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP): US nonprofit producing rigorous tax and fiscal policy analysis (e.g., tax expenditure analysis, similar to EA's Gastos Tributarios tool). Comparable mission on fiscal transparency and equity-focused economic research.
• Centro de Periodismo Investigativo: PR-based investigative journalism nonprofit that frequently partners with Espacios Abiertos on transparency litigation and access-to-information cases (e.g., Department of Education lawsuit). Operates in the same civic transparency ecosystem in Puerto Rico.
• Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico: Autonomous Executive Branch entity coordinating government statistical services and ensuring universal data accessibility. Comparable: both produce and disseminate official Puerto Rico government data to the public.
• Agenda Ciudadana: PR nonprofit focused on participatory democracy, citizen empowerment, transparency, and accountability. Direct peer: mutual strategic partner operating in the same civic participation space in Puerto Rico.
• Sembrando Sentido: PR nonprofit strengthening civil society for transparent, accountable, and efficient government. Direct peer and explicit coalition partner within the Red de Transparencia.
• ABRE Puerto Rico: Digital government-data transparency platform created by the Center for Research and Public Policy. Direct peer: both build public-facing data tools that surface Puerto Rico government information to citizens.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/espaciosabiertos
• YouTubeyoutube.com/espaciosabiertos
• Facebookfacebook.com/espaciosabiertos
• Instagraminstagram.com/espaciosabiertos
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/espacios-abiertos

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 Espacios Abiertos