Plural, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered policy tracking platform, today announced the availability of a free offering of its legislative solution. With this version of the platform, users such as policy professionals, researchers, students and concerned constituents can now leverage Plural’s capabilities without the factor of cost, making public policy data more discoverable, interpretable and collaborative for all.
In 2022, total federal lobbying spending skyrocketed to $4.1 billion – the highest since 2010. With conglomerates dishing out millions of dollars to advocate for and against policies on the state and federal levels, smaller organizations with tighter budgets face an uphill battle. Plural’s no-cost offering comes at a time when full participation in the policy creation process is crucial for organizations of any size.
“The policymaking process is opaque, hard to access and difficult to influence,” said Damola Ogundipe, CEO and co-founder of Plural. “This makes advocacy work notoriously grueling, especially for smaller organizations. With this offering, we’re providing bill information at no cost for individuals or organizations that may have limited funds. We’re leveling the playing field for all, and in doing so, making democracy more transparent and accessible.”
When using a manual research method, bill data can be significantly outdated and hard to find. Plural’s platform enables users to search through the most up-to-date, comprehensive and custom data sets specifically catered to each legislature. In addition to the platform’s rich data, the AI integrated into the platform sends automated updates to users on bill text changes as well as if a bill is gaining momentum through Congress, ensuring users keep up with fast-moving sessions. The free version of Plural’s platform also incorporates the “Search a Bill” and “Find Your Legislator” functionalities, which are a result of Plural’s acquisition of OpenStates.org back in December 2020.
“Policy isn’t something that only lawmakers need to know about,” said human rights activist and athlete Colin Kaepernick. “It has a real impact on all of us, but it’s often hard to follow and track. I’m proud to invest in a company like Plural that’s using AI for good to help smaller, grassroots organizations stay informed on pending legislation free of cost. Casting a bright light on processes that are purposefully opaque and difficult to understand helps to ensure that we all have the power to influence policies.”
Plural was founded in 2015 by Yemi Adewunmi, Damola Ogundipe and Shawntera Hardy. With expertise in politics, government, AI and lobbying, the team originally developed an app to encourage civic engagement of constituents. Years later, Plural was revamped into a full platform tailored for lobbyists with AI capabilities to make public policy data more accessible, discoverable, interpretable and collaborative and in turn, encourage better public policies and quality of life for people everywhere. Today, Plural has over 34,000 users and works with over one hundred organizations including Common Cause, Equal Justice USA and The Nature Conservancy.
About Plural
Plural is a policy-tracking platform that uses artificial intelligence to make policy creation more transparent, responsive and inclusive. Its platform enables organizations to easily sift through the overwhelming amount of updates that happen during legislative sessions, making research smarter, faster and less expensive. To date, Plural has raised $12.3 million from investors such as S3 Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Bread & Butter Ventures, Debut Capital and Colin Kaepernick. In partnership with companies and organizations like Common Cause, Equal Justice USA and The Nature Conservancy, Plural is democratizing democracy for all.
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