Center for Effective Lawmaking
The Center for Effective Lawmaking is a nonprofit academic research center jointly operated by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University that produces proprietary Legislative Effectiveness Scores, State Legislative Effectiveness Scores, and Bipartisanship Scores for U.S. federal and state lawmakers, distributing data and resources free to the public with foundation support.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersCharlottesville, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Center for Effective Lawmaking does
The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is a private, nonprofit academic research center founded in 2017 as a joint partnership between the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, headquartered at Garrett Hall in Charlottesville, VA. Its core products are proprietary scoring datasets that quantify lawmaker effectiveness: the Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) and Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES) for U.S. Congress members, the State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) covering all 99 state legislative chambers across all 50 states, and the Congressional Bipartisanship Scores (CBS) tracking cross-aisle cooperation from 1983 to 2024. The underlying methodology, developed by Co-Directors Craig Volden (UVA) and Alan E. Wiseman (Vanderbilt), measures how far lawmakers' sponsored bills progress through five legislative stages weighted by substantive significance, normalized to an average of 1 within each Congress, and broken out across 21 policy areas using Comparative Agendas Project coding.
CEL's business model is foundation- and institutionally-funded rather than commercial: data, reports, classroom resources, and publications are distributed free to the public through thelawmakers.org. Funding flows from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's U.S. Democracy Program, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and in-kind support from UVA and Vanderbilt's College of Arts and Science and Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. The Center reaches its audience through an annual research conference (8th held June 2026 at UVA), direct congressional briefings and new-member guides, an APSA conference partnership, small grant awards to scholars, and a 100+ affiliate network spanning faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students nationwide. A small core operational team of approximately five staff manages the Center, with leadership supported by a Board of Advisors.
Center for Effective Lawmaking firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Center for Effective Lawmaking
- Legal name
- Center for Effective Lawmaking
- Website
- https://thelawmakers.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- The Center for Effective Lawmaking is a nonprofit academic research center jointly operated by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University that produces proprietary Legislative Effectiveness Scores, State Legislative Effectiveness Scores, and Bipartisanship Scores for U.S. federal and state lawmakers, distributing data and resources free to the public with foundation support.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Center for Effective Lawmaking is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Charlottesville
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Center for Effective Lawmaking business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Foundation and Institutional Support: The Center operates as a nonprofit research center supported by foundation grants and institutional funding from partner universities. Support provided by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt, the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt, the Frank Batten School at UVA, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's U.S. Democracy Program, and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Center for Effective Lawmaking product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is a joint academic research partnership between the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Vanderbilt University that produces proprietary Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES), State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES), Interest and Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES), and Congressional Bipartisanship Scores (CBS). It provides downloadable datasets, scholarly publications, classroom resources, new member guidance materials, and an annual research conference focused on measuring and improving lawmaker effectiveness across the U.S. Congress and all 50 state legislatures.
Product overview
The Center for Effective Lawmaking is a research center (not a software product) that provides a suite of analytical scoring products for measuring legislative effectiveness. The core offerings include Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) for U.S. Congress members, Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES) for issue-specific analysis, and State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) covering all 50 states. These products are complemented by downloadable datasets, classroom resources, publications, working papers, and a New Member Guide for lawmakers. The center also hosts an annual research conference and publishes award-winning research on effective lawmaking.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) Quantitative metrics that measure how successful individual U.S. Representatives and Senators are at moving their sponsored bills through five stages of the legislative process, with each agenda item coded for substantive significance and scores normalized to an average of 1 within each Congress. Used by lawmakers, congressional staff, researchers, and journalists to assess lawmaker effectiveness.
- State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) Adapted methodology that measures the lawmaking effectiveness of state legislators across all 99 state legislative chambers in the United States, tracking the number of bills sponsored, how far bills advance through the legislative process, and the substantive significance of proposals. Provides comparative effectiveness data across all 50 states.
- Interest and Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES) Scores measuring how successful Representatives and Senators are at moving bills in 21 specific policy issue areas, normalized to an average of 1 within each issue area and Congress. Based on Comparative Agendas Project coding. Used to identify effectiveness by policy domain such as healthcare, economic policy, or education.
- Congressional Bipartisanship Scores (CBS)
Quantifiable outcome
- Comprehensive LES data from 93rd-118th Congress
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Center for Effective Lawmaking
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Center for Effective Lawmaking technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Center for Effective Lawmaking partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.
- University of Virginia - Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public PolicycoreFounding partner institution that hosts the Center. Craig Volden serves as Co-Director from this location. Provides institutional infrastructure, faculty, and research resources.
- Vanderbilt UniversitycoreFounding partner institution. Alan E. Wiseman serves as Co-Director from Vanderbilt. Provides institutional support and academic resources including the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and College of Arts and Science.
- American Political Science Association (APSA)secondaryAnnual conference partnership allowing CEL to present research and engage with over 5,000 political scientists through panels and presentations.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves2 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Center for Effective Lawmaking competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): Bipartisan organization serving all 50 state legislatures with research, data, and policy analysis. Directly comparable because CEL's SLES product is a state-legislature analytics layer that complements NCSL's institutional research.
- Congressional Research Service (CRS): Nonpartisan research arm of the U.S. Congress producing analytic reports for members and staff. Directly comparable in the production of legislative-process research that supports congressional decision-making.
- American Political Science Association (APSA): Scholarly association serving political scientists through conferences, journals, and awards. Directly comparable as CEL's primary research community and distribution channel for legislative-effectiveness scholarship.
- GovTrack: Civic-tech platform that tracks bills, votes, and legislator activity in the U.S. Congress and publishes free data. Directly comparable to CEL in providing legislator-level data products to the same researcher/journalist/lawmaker audience.
- Project Vote Smart (Vote Smart): Nonprofit that compiles biographical, vote, and performance data on U.S. federal and state elected officials. Directly comparable as a free, public-interest legislator evaluation dataset and lookup tool for citizens and researchers.
- LegiScan: Commercial legislative tracking service that indexes state and federal bills, sponsors, and votes in near-real time. Directly comparable in providing structured state-level legislative data that researchers and journalists use.
Broad incumbents
- ProPublica Represent: ProPublica's Congress-tracking project publishing investigative data on member activity, conflicts of interest, and stock trades. Comparable as a media-oriented legislator data product, but focused on accountability rather than effectiveness.
- OpenSecrets (Center for Responsive Politics): Established nonprofit tracking money-in-politics data across federal elections and lobbying. Comparable as a long-running, free, public-interest Congress data product, but focused on campaign finance rather than effectiveness scoring.
Others
- Brennan Center for Justice: Law and policy research center at NYU producing work on democracy, elections, and legislative institutions. Thematically adjacent as a nonprofit research organization producing policy-relevant outputs, though focused on reform advocacy rather than scoring.
- Brookings Institution: Large nonprofit public policy research organization with programs covering governance and U.S. legislative institutions. Thematically adjacent as a major think tank producing legislative and policy research, though far broader in scope than CEL.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Center for Effective Lawmaking social profiles
Digital presenceCenter for Effective Lawmaking financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Center for Effective Lawmaking leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Center for Effective Lawmaking funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Center for Effective Lawmaking M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Center for Effective Lawmaking
What does Center for Effective Lawmaking do?
The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is a joint academic research partnership between the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Vanderbilt University that produces proprietary Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES), State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES), Interest and Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES), and Congressional Bipartisanship Scores (CBS). It provides downloadable datasets, scholarly publications, classroom resources, new member guidance materials, and an annual research conference focused on measuring and improving lawmaker effectiveness across the U.S. Congress and all 50 state legislatures.
Is Center for Effective Lawmaking a public or private company?
Center for Effective Lawmaking is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Center for Effective Lawmaking founded?
Center for Effective Lawmaking was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Center for Effective Lawmaking based?
Center for Effective Lawmaking is headquartered in Charlottesville, United States, in the North America region.
How does Center for Effective Lawmaking make money?
One revenue line is on record: foundation and Institutional Support.
Who are Center for Effective Lawmaking's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Congressional Research Service (CRS), American Political Science Association (APSA), GovTrack, Project Vote Smart (Vote Smart) and LegiScan. Broad incumbents are ProPublica Represent and OpenSecrets (Center for Responsive Politics). Others are Brennan Center for Justice and Brookings Institution.
Does Center for Effective Lawmaking have an API?
No public API is recorded for Center for Effective Lawmaking.