The Power Map covers 29 boards and commissions with influence in Philadelphia. Twenty are entities of the City of Philadelphia -- including seventeen identified by the Board of Ethics as the boards that exercise "significant powers of government." Some are state entities or partnerships between state and city. We intend to add more boards to the Map. And we welcome your suggestions and input at powermap@phillynews.com.
The Power Map contains information about board service, such as who appointed board members, when they were appointed, how long their term is and whether they're compensated for their service. It also includes biographical information about individual members, such as current and former income sources (as well as spouses' and children's income sources), other boards, gifts received and affiliations.
The information on the Power Map was compiled from financial disclosure forms filed with the city and state, as well as data requests made to the boards themselves. We should note that approximately 50 board members did not submit required financial disclosure forms last year.
It has to change. Board positions change regularly, as, of course, do board members' income sources and affiliations. If you have new or updated information about a board or board member, please email it to powermap@phillynews.com.
In addition to updating the information we have, we're planning to expand the scope of the Power Map by integrating data about political contributions, as well as adding other boards. We intend to build this Map into the definitive transparency tool for Philadelphia government and politics.
The Power Map is a collaborative project of It's Our Money, the Philadelphia Daily News, WHYY and the Fels Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, made possible by a grant from the Enterprise Reporting Fund, funded by the William Penn Foundation and administered by J-Lab.