Open Gov Hub’s 2021 Year in Review
A New Phase and Space,
to Advance Democracy & Hybrid Work
What We Did | What Difference It Made | What We Learned
2021 was another challenging year for us all. It was also a major year of learning and adapting to new ways of living and working - and we now know that hybrid ways of working are here to stay.
So throughout 2021, we adapted and improved the way that Open Gov Hub works as a dynamic meeting place in an era of hybrid work. Now we are a refreshed Open Gov Hub – a bigger, better and safer brand new space & a larger network of members that work together to empower citizens. As a revived democracy took center stage this year, we also took part in influential global and domestic policy conversations.
Despite being a nonprofit initiative almost fully funded by co-working memberships, we have not only survived, but actually thrived in another pandemic year! We look forward to exciting plans for the year ahead.
OUR NEW SPACE
Want to see more? Watch this 3-min guided virtual tour of the new Open Gov Hub space in D.C.
what we did in 2021:
Against all the odds, we retained 100% of our members (50+ organizations) for the full first year of the pandemic, and now almost 2 years since the pandemic started, have still retained 95%! How did we do it? Read more under What We Learned below.
“OGH 3.0” - We began the 3rd phase in the history of the Hub when we moved to a brand-new, bigger, and brighter space in April 2021! This was driven by high membership demand over the years (outgrowing our previous space as that lease came to an end), and a desire to improve the quality of our world-class space, so our community can continue to thrive and collaborate in new ways.
We welcomed 10 more impressive organizations as new members, like Project On Government Oversight (POGO), FACT Coalition, Open The Government, Crown Agents USA, and Geneva Global (see the logos on the right). We now have a richer mix of organizations focused on open government reforms both internationally, but also here in the U.S. This is now our largest-ever membership base with nearly 60 organizations, and a few more joining us in early 2022.
We began organizing and starting to master the art of hybrid events (with options to join in-person or virtually) – including 2 book launches (“Letting Go” and “The Enablers”). We continue to apply our Principles for Great Events, adapted to these new settings. We held our first-ever hybrid Open House, which sold out and brought back a beloved tradition of Ignite Talks, with four headliners. And we came full circle by opening and closing the year with perspectives from civil society leaders on policy reform windows and locally-led anti-corruption approaches, aligned with our programmatic themes for 2021.
What difference it made (our impact):
Helping our partners be more effective and adapt to hybrid work
We continued to coach and connect our 13 affiliate civic innovation hubs around the world Global Affiliate Hubs. These partners especially value the coaching calls, virtual retreat and Annual Collaboration Fund we organize. In part through our support, 87% of affiliate hubs grew their revenue during our last program cycle; over half recruited new members to their own networks; and one third reduced their staff’s risk of burnout.
We’ve helped members navigate the new world of organizing their very first hybrid events - including on topics like more democratized funding and locally led solutions to corruption. One of our members, Partnership for Transparency Fund, worked with us to host a fireside chat with Frank Vogl to launch his new book “The Enablers” with fellow anti-corruption experts & OGH Members, Johannes Tonn of Global Integrity and Shruti Shah of Coalition For Integrity
A Snapshot of Our Hybrid Events in 2021:
Despite continuing to face financial hardship as a result of the pandemic, we successfully secured a significant amount of financial relief in 2021 through a landlord negotiation; a small individual giving campaign (“Friends of the Hub”); and discussions with a philanthropic partner - to help us cover ongoing, core expenses without needing to pass on price increases to members
The new space offers new points of interaction, like the Media Lab, inspired by and named after our affiliate hub in Monrovia. The Lab has helped several member organizations produce timely, engaged multimedia content while saving time and money through utilizing our shared equipment and getting training from our team. Check out OGP's podcast series Voices of Open Government as one great example. In addition, our team has also helped members find media professionals to hire for certain jobs (ex: videographers). Several of our members, including OGP, BRAC, FACT, and Fair Trials, also used our space to shoot informative videos about their work. Here are two examples shot at the Hub about plea bargaining featuring Fair Trails and the OGP 2021 Global Summit invitation by the organization’s CEO.
Influencing Global and Domestic Policy Conversations
Our Hub Director was invited to share her expertise by nearly a dozen organizations throughout the year - from speaking to the World Bank and international NGOs about the pandemic’s impact on catalytic open government collaborations ; to being a judge in one of the country’s largest startup pitch competitions (George Washington University’s New Venture Competition - social impact track); to speaking at UNESCO’s first Open Government in Education Virtual Policy Forum; to supporting the Open Government Partnership to explore how the Biden Administration might successfully revive the US OGP process as a vehicle for needed domestic democratic reforms.
These US OGP roundtables and resulting report titled Seize the Moment: Reviving the U.S. OGP Process with the New Biden Administration, and the public/private advocacy around that report, helped convince the Biden Administration to officially appoint a White House representative to re-ignite and lead this overall process (this was announced at the first US Open Government Public Meeting held since the Obama years, in late November). We also advocated for the US OGP process to be explicitly mentioned in the Administration’s plans to Restore American Democracy, which was announced during the Summit for Democracy week.
Enhancing professional networks and connecting people in new and meaningful ways
We connected our affiliate hub in the Balkans with the Open Government Partnership team, who worked together to help successfully evacuate 149 Afghan civil society leaders, journalists and government reformers who were at high risk during the Taliban takeover to resettle in the Balkans.
We connected one of our founding members Accountability Lab with one of our newest affiliate hubs (Open DRC), to explore collaboration and support Accountability Lab’s launch of its newest country office - to encourage young people with creative ideas to support integrity and accountability in the challenging environment of the DRC.
We host a long-running peer support group for Executive Directors/senior leaders in the Hub network. One of the participants has been inspired by her involvement in this group to create a new EDs peer learning group within her own nonprofit sub-sector.
We connected a young organization establishing their US/DC-based entity with pro bono legal advising through our network, to shepherd their process of incorporating and registering as a new 501(c)3 entity.
After hearing each other give 5-minute Ignite Talks at the Hub Open House, two member orgs are now exploring a partnership around applying political economic analysis to help minimize bureaucratic burdens and improve the business climate in developing countries.
We utilize a simple Slack integration (called “Donut”) to randomly connect people for virtual coffee conversations. This inspired one of our largest member organizations to use the same tool with their staff - to help maintain human connections within their growing, globally dispersed, and mostly remote organization.
Our events resonate with the public – we have filled our new event space each time that we have held a hybrid event with live speakers. We have learned some helpful tips along the way:
Always plan to have 2-3 designated hosts (one online and one in person – and optimally one that connects the two worlds), and remember that people want to interact differently depending on how they join (virtual members usually want to listen in and people physically gathered together want some time to socialize).
While most people are excited to be together again in real life, the silver lining of the pandemic is that the location of both speakers and audiences is no longer a barrier to hosting a truly international event (but of course be mindful of time zones, technology, and points of engagement).
WHAT OUR MEMBERS SAY:
Our 2021, By the Numbers:
We attracted 10 new organizations to join our space and network, while continuing to retain 95% of existing members, organizing over 100+ events, and matching nearly 50 requests for support. In addition, 97% of members surveyed are satisfied/highly satisfied with how the Hub has adapted through the COVID-19 era.
We attracted 10 new organizations to join our space and network, while continuing to retain 95% of existing members, organizing over 100+ events, and matching nearly 50 requests for support. In addition, 97% of members surveyed are satisfied/highly satisfied with how the Hub has adapted through the COVID-19 era.
WHAT'S NEXT:
In early 2022, we will host an “Unconference” – an unstructured but facilitated gathering to freely iterate ideas and identify our 2022 programmatic themes. In 2021, we focused on backsliding democracy, COVID resilience, and anti-corruption (see more here: blogs and events). This year, we will involve our members in collaborative and innovative ways to select 3 new themes to convene unique gatherings around - which are timely, relevant, and important for our network.
This Fall, we hired a new Operations and Facilities Manager and in the first part of 2022 we look forward to making additional efforts to enhance operations support and improve our processes and systems, for better member and user experience. We also revived our Community Catalyst Program and recruited a new Hub Member Council to support and advise all OGH activities.
We plan to continue growing our membership, with mission-aligned organizations seeking a valuable home and professional support services in the new world of flexible, hybrid working. Last year, we ran two recruitment campaigns to reach new organizations, and we are excited to have a few more join us next year. If you are a like-minded, mission-oriented organization or individual, see how you can become a member or contact us!
Many members and friends of Open Gov Hub were actively involved in the lead-up to President Biden’s first-ever Summit for Democracy. We very much welcome the recent White House plans to revive democracy at home (Action to Restore and Strengthen American Democracy) and abroad (The President’s Initiative for Democratic Renewal). We look forward to supporting collaborative efforts around these and related plans during the 2022 Democracy Summit Year of Action to bring these important ideas to life.
THANK YOU to all our members, partners and friends of the Hub who have accompanied us along this journey through another crazy year. See you in 2022!
