Open Media Foundation offering grants to help governments move to virtual meetings during COVID

The Open Media Foundation (OMF) is offering a free 90-day trial for new users of Open.Media, its vital government transparency software-as-a-service (SaaS), together with a free Zoom Pro account, capable of streaming live to YouTube and integrated with OMF’s Open.Media SaaS. Governments serving populations under 50,000 will receive a full or partial grant as long as they use the service.

During this historic pandemic, OMF especially recognizes the importance of civic participation and government transparency. The Open.Media software works with YouTube and Zoom to allow municipalities to continue their important work while maintaining social distancing. With Zoom’s ability to stream to YouTube Live, an unlimited number of citizens can watch the proceedings live in the safety of their own homes. Meetings are then archived with automatic, searchable transcriptions and agenda timestamps, allowing citizens and legislators to easily search through videos and find the topics of interest to them.

Open.Media clients such as Lakewood, Cherry Hills Village and Takoma Park are successfully employing these technologies to hold their city council meetings. In addition, various nonprofit partners are beginning to leverage our software for remote learning and fundraising events.

During this limited time, Open.Media is also offering grants to help pay for Zoom accounts.

For more information about the grants and the 90-day free trial, please contact John Aden at [email protected].

Open.Media is operated by Open Media Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in Denver.