Schema Labs

Introduction

In November 2024, our Foundation became the founding donor of Schema Labs, a newly established nonprofit organization committed to bridging the gap between citizens and governments.

Schema Labs focuses on creating democracy-enhancing technology that questions public sector bureaucracy and the status quo while maintaining a deep respect for these institutions. Its flagship initiative, OpenCouncil, aims to demystify local government and enable active citizen participation.

Operating under a steward-ownership model, Schema Labs fully owns a for-profit subsidiary responsible for developing and commercializing these solutions.

Utilization of Donation

Our grant primarily supports the development and expansion of OpenCouncil, a project designed to make civic engagement more accessible and natural by:

• Automating the transcription and analysis of city council meetings using AI technology

• Creating easily digestible summaries and multimedia content from council meetings

• Distributing meeting content through various channels

• Building a searchable database of council meetings and decisions

• Developing AI-powered tools to analyze trends and patterns in local governance

OpenCouncil acts as an "AI journalist", transforming lengthy and complex city council meetings into concise, objective formats like AI-generated podcasts, TikToks, and Reels. Personalized WhatsApp updates keep citizens informed about council topics relevant to their neighborhoods, enabling frictionless participatory democracy.

The platform also converts extensive PDFs into open relational schemas and creates engaging multimedia formats from political speeches. By simplifying government spending data and complex legislation into easy-to-understand infographics, OpenCouncil makes public information transparent and accessible. Additionally, it empowers grassroots movements with user-friendly data visualization tools.

OpenCouncil serves as a fully owned for-profit entity under Schema Labs, ensuring sustainable development while staying true to the nonprofit's mission of advancing democracy and citizen engagement.