Murmuration, a nonprofit software provider founded by Emma Bloomberg, is continuing to invest in tools targeted to low-budget grassroots advocacy groups.
Bloomberg says it’s been a gap in the advocacy software market that for the last 10 years her company has looked to fill. Now, they’re unveiling Organizer, a tool that builds on previous offerings but has a fresh interface and data integration with Atlas, its “enriched’ dataset.
“Our main priority is driving impact over seeking profit,” Bloomberg told C&E. “And that philanthropic funding model really allows us to continually invest in strengthening our core platform, our data and our analytics — making sure that our partners always have access to the most innovative and effective tools they need to drive change.
“But also because we’re really focused on the local level, we tune our data, we tune our tools towards that local context and really try to prioritize what someone needs to be effective, really, on the ground in their community.”
Murmuration started out as a provider for civic groups in the education space looking to change their school systems and has since grown into servicing a wider array of non-profit clients, some of whom engage electorally within certain guidelines, Bloomberg said.
Looking ahead, Murmuration plans more investment in Atlas, its community-focused dataset.
“The goal is just to continue to be able to differentiate ourselves and to continue to ensure that local organizations have what they need to be able to do their work,” Bloomberg said.
Despite the growth of the VC-powered political startup market over the last 10 years, she doesn’t see partisan software companies and startups as competitors.
“This is not about competition,” said Bloomberg. “This is not about duplicating efforts. It’s finding where there are sort of holes in the market and trying to figure out how to fill them.”
She noted that some “non-partisan community-based organizations … can’t actually access” partisan tools.
“I think there [are] lots and lots of tools out there that all do relatively similar things,” Bloomberg said. “And our unique perspective is that we have tailored them to what we think local organizations really need to get the job done.”
