POWERBACK is an innovative platform that empowers small-dollar donors to make a real impact on democracy by aligning politicians with their campaign's values. This README provides an overview of POWERBACK, how it works, and how you can contribute.
POWERBACK draws inspiration from the #ForceTheVote
movement of 2021, which challenged members of Congress to demand a vote on Medicare For All
. This platform takes the concept further, allowing users to harness their collective power to promote accountability from our representatives.
POWERBACK is a digital revolution for wherever political corruption has become the new normal. We are not and will never be affiliated with any political party or individual candidate. Instead, POWERBACK focuses on serving voters, citizens, and regular people like you who just want their voices heard.
POWERBACK's operation is simple yet impactful:
-
Search for House
Representatives
who matter to you. -
Create a
Celebration
agreement. This agreement means that POWERBACK commits to deliver your prepaid campaign donation on your behalf, to the House congressional candidate of your choice, if and whenMedicare For All
is brought to the House floor for a vote. -
Choose your campaign donation amount, and proceed with payment. For larger amounts, POWERBACK takes care of proper filing with the FEC. (Learn more at our FAQ)
-
Your voice is heard, and you contribute to the cause you care about.
- You must be
18 years old
to donate. Read more at the Eligibility requirements.
-
Party Free: POWERBACK will forever be nonpartisan, weaved into its very design of how information is presented.
-
Your Data: Your peace and privacy is our top priority. POWERBACK will never sell or unilaterally share your identifying data with anyone or anything outside of our network.
-
Low Fees: Our fees are the lowest out there, ensuring that democracy doesn't require paying a premium. Virtually all fees are to cover the payment processing service, Stripe. Learn more about these fees at the FAQ.
-
No Profits: This is not a for-profit organization. POWERBACK relies on user and public support to continue our mission. You can make a difference by giving a Tip along with your
Celebrations
, or by giving directly via Patreon. You can also give Bitcoin at1Q1HmBh9Wiqg5Kv12aY2zqhAnfz1CDz7Wr
POWERBACK welcomes contributions from the open-source community to help improve the application. A great place to start is the Project Overview.
We are ambitious to grow beyond this single issue in the House to include all elections and all legislation at all levels of government. If you're interested in contributing, please read the Contributing Guidelines for more information on how to get involved.
To get started with a local instance of POWERBACK, follow these steps:
-
Clone the Repository: Clone this GitHub repository to your local machine.
-
Set Up Your Environment: Install dependencies, configure your environment variables, and customize settings as described in the Development Setup Guide.
-
Acquire Keys: Several third-party APIs that POWERBACK utilizes require private keys. They are free-to-apply and are typically approved instantly. Check out the API Key list.
If you'd like to contribute to the development of POWERBACK, please see the Contributing Guidelines.
This project is licensed under the GPL License - see the LICENSE file for details.