Innovate Your State to Provide $500,000 in Grants to Help More California Governments Open Finances to Citizens

SAN MATEO, Calif., June 24, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Innovate Your State and OpenGov, Inc. today announced that as part of the "Fix California Challenge", Innovate Your State's crowdsourcing challenge to find innovative ideas to improve the state, Innovate Your State will make up to $500,000 available to give California county governments access to OpenGov's powerful financial analysis platform.

OpenGov's cloud-based financial analysis platform transforms complex government financial data into intuitive, interactive reports that make it easy to see how taxpayer money is collected and spent. Citizens can easily review how their counties' funds are allocated, and public administrators can analyze historical financial trends, manage current-year spending and operations, and use data to make decisions about the future.

"When we started the 'Fix California Challenge', I said that, in addition to statewide ballot initiatives, if there was a venture governance idea out there that could fundamentally improve government, we might fund that idea directly," said Tim Draper, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and President of Innovate Your State. "OpenGov is such an idea. This platform advances our shared mission to make public administration more transparent, data-driven and efficient. We need a fresh approach to the way citizens and officials access and engage with government finance data."

The transparency delivered by OpenGov creates an environment of collaboration and productivity among internal staff, improves dialogue with council and elected officials, and leads the way for today's governments to build trust and engagement with their constituents. Founded in 2012 with headquarters in Silicon Valley, the OpenGov platform powers more than 300 governments of all sizes across the country.   

"Our local governments touch our daily lives, but for too long, government has been underserved by technology and innovators. OpenGov was founded to help governments overcome the challenges of accessing and analyzing their financial data, enabling them to get back to governing and engaging constituents by showing them how their tax dollars are collected and spent," said Zachary Bookman, CEO of OpenGov. "Because of this fantastic collaboration with Innovate Your State, even more California governments will gain access to cutting-edge OpenGov technology."

With one in five of California's counties already using OpenGov, the Innovate Your State grant will enable even more governments to leverage the platform so that citizens, county officials, and staff state-wide have better access and analysis of government financial data.

The first California counties that purchase a subscription to the OpenGov financial analysis platform and complete the reimbursement grant application will be eligible for a reimbursement grant from Innovate Your State for the first year of service. Counties wishing to apply for an Innovate Your State OpenGov grant, can get started by visiting http://info.opengov.com/innovate-your-state.

The "Fix California Challenge," is looking for ideas from Californians to fundamentally transform California and get it back on track. Innovate Your State, through "The Fix California Challenge," will promote the ideas of everyday Californians as they pitch their ideas to fix California. The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2015. To submit your idea or join the conversation and share your thoughts, visit www.FixCal.org.

Innovate Your State is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and encouraging public participation to fundamentally improve government. More information about the organization can be found at www.innovateyourstate.org.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150206/174107LOGO

SOURCE OpenGov, Inc.