Open Progress was a left-of-center text messaging and social media platform designed to connect volunteers to potential Democratic voters. Open Progress provided targeted messaging to potential voters, assisted in voter turnout in targeted states, and in 2020 assisted local organizations with promoting and providing vaccinations against COVID-19. After five years, Open Progress announced that it would cease operations as of July 2022. ¹

History

Open Progress was founded in 2017 as a combination of multiple text and social media platforms to enable direct communication between volunteers and potential voters. ² Open Progress provided a platform where volunteers could send text messages to both friends and family and potential voters around the country. ³ Open Progress announced that it would cease operations in July 2022. ⁴

Programs

Open Progress was an umbrella organization that ran Text Troop, Turnout Troop, Messaging Lab, and Let’s Protect. ⁵ Text Troop provided volunteers a platform to send out texts supporting Democratic candidates in elections. Past races included Doug Jones for U.S. Senate in Alabama, Jennifer Riley Collins for Attorney General in Mississippi, and Vote Pro-Choice in Georgia. ⁶ Turnout Troop focused on sending text messages to registered voters in targeted states to increase voter turnout for left-leaning candidates in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. ⁷

Messaging Lab and Let’s Protect was a joint combination during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage people to get vaccinated. ⁸ Messaging Lab worked with organizations in Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; and New York, New York to send text messages and encourage residents to get vaccinated. ⁹ Let’s Protect provided a platform to allow volunteers to directly contact people and assist in finding local vaccination providers and schedule appointments for people. ¹⁰

Funding

In 2020, Open Progress had total assets of $1,570,547. ¹¹ According to the organization’s tax returns, in 2020 Open Progress recorded $1,231,812 in revenue and $625,257 in expenses. ¹²

Leadership

Mahender Nathan was president and co-founder of Open Progress. ¹³ Currently, he serves as managing director at Tall Turmeric, an investment firm. ¹⁴ From 2019 to 2021, Nathan was interim chief operating officer at The Movement Cooperative, an organization that provides left-leaning groups with technology and digital infrastructure. ¹⁵ Nathan is married to Elizabeth Haynes, the other co-founder of Open Progress. ¹⁶ Nathan’s political contributions include donations to the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania, Barack Obama (D-IL), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Joe Sestak (D-PA). ¹⁷

1.  Open Progress Twitter page. www.twitter.com. July 11, 2022. Accessed August 12, 2022. https://twitter.com/WeOpenProgress/status/1546604013759729665?cxt=HHwWgsC8hYCK0vYqAAAA.
2. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 2, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/new-page.
3. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/new-page.
4. Open Progress Twitter page. www.twitter.com. July 11, 2022. Accessed August 2, 2022. https://twitter.com/WeOpenProgress/status/1546604013759729665?cxt=HHwWgsC8hYCK0vYqAAAA.
5. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/new-page.
6. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/text-troop-case-studies.
7. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/turnout-troop-case-studies.
8. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/messaging-lab-case-studies.
9. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/messaging-lab-case-studies.
10. Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/lets-protect.
11. Open Progress, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2020.
12.  Open Progress, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2020.
13. Open Progress, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2020; Open Progress website. www.openprogress.com. Accessed August 2, 2022. https://www.openprogress.com/meet-team.
14. Mahender Nathan LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com. Accessed August 2, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahender/details/experience/.
15. Crunchbase website. www.crunchbase.com. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/mahender-nathan; The Movement Cooperative website. www.movementcooperative.org. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://movementcooperative.org.
16. Southeast Missourian website. “Haynes-Nathan.” March 28, 2004. Accessed August 2, 2022. https://www.semissourian.com/story/134227.html.
17. Center for Responsive Politics. Donations of Mahender Nathan. www.opensecrets.org. Accessed August 8, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Mahender+Nathan.