Oath is a political advising platform that empowers Democratic donors to maximize their impact. They provide guidance and tools that identify the most critical races in need of support to eliminate wasteful spending and protect donors from spam.
Co-founders Brian Derrick and Taylor Ourada met during their first week of freshman year at The Ohio State University. They bonded over their passion for philanthropy and worked together to help more students get involved in charitable giving.
When they sought to make the same kind of impact in the political space, they found it difficult to know where their efforts could really make a difference. So these friends-turned-cofounders became motivated to create a tool to help Democratic donors maximize their impact on the issues they care about.
In 2021, they founded Oath, a donor-first platform that uses the power of big data to help grassroots donors and activists direct their resources more efficiently. This platform offers people the unique opportunity to educate themselves on key elections around the country and invest in changes they want to see made based on the specific issues they care about such as gun reform, healthcare access, and LGBT+ rights.
Oath’s features include an impact score which allows donors to view the relative value of their dollars in different races and personal donor profiles to help users track their impact throughout the cycle. Perhaps donors’ favorite aspect of the platform is Oath’s commitment to data privacy, which combats the flood of incoming email and text appeals overwhelming donors.
This is what oath.vote looks like:
Brian and Taylor are excited to create pathways for individuals to become informed, engaged, and empowered in politics. Brian noted that the 2020 election caused great anxiety and negative emotions for Democratic donors who were unsure whether their money was making an impact. For individuals eager to help out in politics but unsure of where to start, Oath is the solution.
The Oath team has enjoyed watching new political innovations emerge and are thrilled to assist in helping allocate the resources already available in the political tech space. HGL is proud to have Oath in the 2023 Accelerator cohort.
