Hear the other side.
Dear friend,
Help us keep the room open.
You are reading this because something about a public courtroom matters to you. It matters to us too. OpenVerdict is run by three college students who believe the verdict belongs to the people who must live with it. The platform is free, the cases are public, and the cost of keeping it that way is real.
Whatever you give, we are grateful you are here.
Give once, or monthly.
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Three students. One conviction.
Open Verdict started as a side project among friends in college, after one of us met a family carrying a sentence that the public never saw imposed. The conviction was simple: courtrooms used to be the public's room, and somewhere along the way the public stopped showing up.
We are a small founding team. We do this on top of classes, internships, and unpaid hours. Donations go into the platform itself: the database that stores juror arguments, the proxy that pulls federal court records, the deploy pipeline, and the legal review of language that touches real cases. If the org ever grows enough to support staff, that funding will come from grants, not from the donations on this page.
We will tell you exactly what your contribution funds, and we will not pretend the work is bigger than it is. It is small. It is growing. It is real.
Infrastructure
Database hosting, the CourtListener API proxy, deploy and analytics. The platform's monthly bill grows with every juror who shows up.
Legal Review
We talk to lawyers. We pay them, when we can, to review the public-facing language that touches real defendants and live cases. This is non-negotiable for us.
Case Records
Court transcripts and filings are public but not free. Donations pay for the pages behind each new case, so what people read and argue about here is the real record.
Your contribution is tax-deductible.
OpenVerdict Inc. is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) public charity (determination issued April 2026). Donations made to OpenVerdict are deductible to the full extent allowed by U.S. tax law.
- Federal deduction. Reduces your taxable income for the year you give.
- Employer matching. Many employers double or triple gifts to qualifying nonprofits. Ask HR.
- Donor-advised funds. We accept grants from DAFs and community foundations.
- Stock and crypto. Available on request.
- Receipts. A formal acknowledgment letter is sent for every contribution.
EIN: 41-4726223 · Incorporated Tennessee, March 4, 2026 · How we handle money
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