About Us
Upturn promotes equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of digital technology. Our research and advocacy combines technical fluency and creative policy thinking to confront patterns of inequity, especially those rooted in race and poverty.
We work in partnership with many of the nation’s leading civil rights and public interest organizations. Our issues include:
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Safety & Justice: We work to ensure that technology in the criminal justice system supports civil rights and functions fairly for all people. This includes technologies that surveil (especially those in the hands of police) and technologies that predict (especially those that inform key decisions that implicate people’s rights).
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Markets & Opportunity: We work to ensure that technology expands, not diminishes, opportunities for consumers and workers in the digital age. This includes shedding light on predatory new marketplace practice as well as promoting opportunities for greater inclusion through new uses of data and technology.
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Open & Secure Communication: We work to ensure that people in the US and around the world can meaningfully communicate over a free, open, and secure Internet. This includes working to develop and deploy anti-censorship software and policy support for issues related to privacy, digital security, and content moderation.
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Decisions, Automation and Power: We work to ensure that when people’s lives are shaped by high tech predictions and automated decisions, the results are fair and the process is accountable.
Upturn is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC.
Our Team
Board of Directors
Our Funding
Upturn is generously supported by the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, and Luminate.
Upturn received its determination of tax-exempt status in November 2017. We will post our IRS 990s, financial statements and annual reports here as they become available.
If you’re interested in supporting Upturn’s work, please get in touch.