Ethelo Comes Out on Top in Digital Democracy Ranking for Second Year in a Row

For the second year in a row, Ethelo is proud to be at the top of a new report ranking the biggest players in the digital democracy industry.

The Solonian Democracy Institute (SDI) was founded in 2017 to study alternative practices for deepening democracy and citizen engagement. Their annual Digital Democracy Report examines worldwide technology vendors with “solid development and a proven track record of implementation success” (pg. 1) and ranks them on criteria such as functionality, customer feedback, accessibility, and potential political impact.

The 2021 report reviewed twice as many technology providers as last year, proving that the digital democracy space is continuing to grow in exciting ways. Out of 22 vendors, Ethelo once again came out on top with a score of 92 percent, an improvement on last year’s score and almost 10 percent higher than the next highest-rated vendor.

Who should use Ethelo?

The SDI recommends Ethelo to “anyone who is serious about giving communities a transparent stake in decision-making or who has a complex decision to resolve”. As with last year, the report again noted two “stand-out features” that continue to stand alone in the market.

First, the Ethelo algorithm’s ability to analyze participant feedback and find the most highly-supported scenario allows for fully transparent outcomes on even the most complex decisions. Second, users can weigh their votes, making each outcome scenario more meaningful and more representative of actual voter preference.

As a result of these stand-out features,

“Ethelo is particularly strong in informing organisations as to the most ‘fair’ outcome of a combined vote, i.e. those scenarios that attract a high level of consensus.”

The SDI was particularly impressed by Ethelo’s participatory budgeting functionality. Local governments across North America have used Citizen Budget to cultivate trust and transparency by empowering residents to democratically build municipal budgets together. As well, detailed client testimonials solicited by the SDI reflect Ethelo’s commitment to helping communities bring diverse, representative participation to their engagements. According to the report, “We [the Solonian Democracy Institute] received overwhelmingly positive feedback from Ethelo’s clients with particular praise given to Ethelo’s focus on driving diverse engagement and the ability of its new Participatory Budgeting solution to represent the budget in terms of the user’s personal taxes.” In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to bring more democratic processes online and use new technologies to enhance citizen engagement. Ethelo’s 150+ local government clients are leaders in this new movement. With almost ten years of experience under our belt, we’re excited to continue helping communities innovate and transform their democracies for the better. Talk to us about how we can work together. Read the full 2021 Digital Democracy Report here.