Sembrando Sentido

What Sembrando Sentido does

Sembrando Sentido is a Puerto Rico-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2021 to promote the fair distribution of public funds through transparency, good governance, and collective action. The organization serves Puerto Rican citizens, journalists, grassroots movements, workers and labor unions, public school communities, and policy makers by providing free digital platforms, training, and policy research that enable civic oversight of government contracting and public spending. Its core product is Contratos En Ley, the first digital platform in Puerto Rico that opens, monitors, and evaluates government contracting processes, structured around three modules: Busca for searching contracts and contractors, Infórmate for public spending education, and Fiscaliza for identifying contracts with corruption risk flags in real time.

The organization is also developing Monitor de Fondos Federales, a federal funds transparency platform that centralizes data on federal funds in Puerto Rico and the US, tracking from allocation to community impact and incorporating AI models for document extraction. A third product, ProAcción, is a web application that centralizes information about social initiatives to expand NGO reach and citizen participation. All tools are free to users and built on open-source and open-data principles.

Sembrando Sentido's business model is donations and grants, with no pricing for end users. Revenue streams consist of individual donations (tiered from $10 to custom amounts on one-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual cadences) and grants/sponsorships from partners such as MaríaFund, El Caño, and CoST-aligned collaborators. The organization has developed 6 legislative bills for contractor accountability and whistleblower protection, partnered with the Puerto Rico Office of the Comptroller and the Department of Justice, and reports 350% increased transparency on government contracting, 48,000 platform visits, 60+ trainings, 50+ partner groups, and 150+ media appearances as documented impact metrics.

Name

Sembrando Sentido

Legal name

Sembrando Sentido Inc.

Website

https://sembrandosentido.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sembrando Sentido is a Puerto Rico-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates free digital platforms, including Contratos En Ley and the developing Monitor de Fondos Federales, to enable citizen oversight of government contracting and public spending for communities, journalists, and policy makers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Transparency and Civic Technology

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Audit Management, Controls & SOX Compliance (BPAEAPAH)

Keywords

• Government transparency tools
• Public procurement monitoring
• Civic technology platforms
• Fiscal oversight services
• Anti-corruption advocacy

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Contributions: Individual donations accepted through the website with various options ($10, $20, $30, $40, or custom amounts) on one-time, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Donations are described as seeds of transformation supporting education, information, and Puerto Rico's transformation.
2. Grants and Sponsorship: The organization receives support from sponsors and collaborators who share their vision. Resellers and collaborators network is mentioned, along with annual impact reports available for donors.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sembrando Sentido develops and operates free digital platforms that open, monitor, and evaluate government contracting and federal fund distribution in Puerto Rico. Its core offering is the Contratos En Ley platform, which centralizes public contract data and identifies corruption-risk contracts, alongside the in-development Monitor de Fondos Federales for tracking federal funds from allocation to community impact. The organization also delivers community workshops, investigative support, legal aid, and policy advocacy to strengthen public resource accountability.

Product overview

Sembrando Sentido operates as a non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) focused on government transparency and accountability in Puerto Rico. The product portfolio consists of two main digital platforms: Contratos En Ley (the first digital platform for opening, monitoring, and evaluating government contracting in Puerto Rico) and Monitor de Fondos Federales (a federal funds transparency platform). Contratos En Ley includes three functional modules: Busca for searching contracts and contractors, Infórmate for public spending information, and Fiscaliza for identifying corruption risks. Additionally, ProAcción is a web application for centralizing social initiative information. All tools use open-source technology and open data principles to transform public spending into accessible and actionable information for citizen oversight.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Contratos En Ley: The first digital platform focused on transparency, monitoring, and evaluation of government contracting in Puerto Rico. It provides access to public procurement information, helps prevent corruption risks, and enables citizen oversight of the largest government expenditure in Puerto Rico.
• Monitor de Fondos Federales

Products and services

• Contratos En Ley

Quantifiable outcome

• 350% increase in transparency on government public contracting
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and major.

• Liga de Ciudades de Puerto RicocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Collaboration with Liga de Ciudades de Puerto Rico to develop strategies and mechanisms for transparency conversations, providing concrete tools and guides based on best practices. The organization has also collaborated on municipal infrastructure transparency projects.
• CoST (Infrastructure Transparency Initiative)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerFirst US member of CoST, evaluating use of public funds by municipalities for infrastructure purposes. Sembrando Sentido highlights municipalities with good governance models in the international CoST network.
• Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFacilitated a study by CLD that assessed Puerto Rico's Right to Information (RTI) index ranking 87th of 128 countries globally, providing benchmark data for transparency advocacy.
• Somos MáscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Somos Más to develop amendments to the Anti-Corruption Code aimed at increasing contractor accountability requirements and establishing whistleblower protection programs.
• HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development)majorOthersR3 (Repair, Reconstruction, and Reassignment) housing programs funded by HUD are being tracked. The federal monitor pilot focuses on Puerto Rico and other states benefiting from HUD programs.
• CBO (Congressional Budget Office) OfficescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Congressional Budget Office offices providing knowledge and technical support to stimulate and train lobbying and community advocacy efforts.
• LUMA EnergymajorOthersSubject of investigation for analysis of possible misuse of funds, lack of community participation, and socioeconomic impact of large-scale government contracting in energy sector.
• Puerto Rico Department of EducationmajorOthersSubject of investigation for analysis of public education budget allocation, spending effectiveness, and school closure/acquisition processes.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• OpenGov: For-profit civic-tech company providing government transparency, budgeting, and procurement software to US state and local governments. Comparable in product category (government contracting and budget transparency tools) but operates as a commercial SaaS vendor rather than nonprofit.
• Transparency International: Global nonprofit coalition fighting corruption and promoting government accountability. Comparable in anti-corruption mission and OECD/governance methodology use, but operates at global scale across 100+ country chapters rather than a single territory.
• ProPublica: US nonprofit investigative journalism outlet covering government accountability and misuse of public funds. Comparable in nonprofit model, donor-funded reporting on public spending, and use of data-driven investigations to drive impact.
• Public Citizen: US nonprofit consumer and democracy advocacy organization. Comparable in nonprofit advocacy model, government accountability focus, and use of policy research and litigation to drive accountability reforms.

Direct peers

• InfluenceMap: Nonprofit that maps influence over climate and energy policy. Comparable in nonprofit model focused on exposing corporate and political influence on public resource allocation — a thematic overlap with Sembrando Sentido's contractor accountability work.
• Open The Books: Nonprofit that tracks and publicizes government spending across US federal, state, and local levels. Directly comparable in mission of making public contracting and spending transparent to citizens, with similar investigative-journalism partnerships.
• Centre for Law and Democracy: International nonprofit promoting right-to-information and transparent governance. Already a documented partner of Sembrando Sentido; comparable in producing the RTI Index (where PR ranks 87/128) and providing the international benchmarking methodology that anchors the organization's advocacy.
• Code for America: US 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds digital tools to improve government services and transparency. Highly comparable in nonprofit civic-tech model, technology-for-public-accountability mission, and grant/donation funding base, though operating at national scale.
• GovTrack: Nonprofit that tracks US federal legislation,议员 voting records, and government activity. Comparable in nonprofit civic-tech model, free public-facing data platform, and mission of making government processes accessible for citizen oversight.
• Follow The Money: Nonprofit platform compiling government spending and campaign finance data from US states. Directly comparable in aggregating public-procurement data and exposing it to citizens, journalists, and watchdogs for accountability purposes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SembrandoSenti1

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 Sembrando Sentido