Jonathan Zucker, CEO

"Democracy Engine is a bellwether for politics. The need is there, the organizations are there, the people are there. This is the kind of fundraising innovation the Left has been waiting for."

- Lara Bergthold, Chair of the Board of Directors, People For the American Way

"What I find most compelling about Democracy Engine is that my customers don’t need a merchant account. They can be up and running with little hassle in just a few hours. And, as a developer, the API is much easier to work with than traditional gateways like Authorize.net. I highly recommend Democracy Engine to all my US-based customers."

- Jim Gilliam, Founder and CEO, NationBulder.com

"What makes Democracy Engine such a powerful tool is its flexibility. Each time we came up with a new way we wanted to fundraise for our candidates, we discovered that the platform could accommodate our needs -- it really could go with us. … The power and simplicity of this platform allowed us to engage our existing members, significantly grow our list, and dramatically multiply our technology investment into serious hard dollars for our endorsed candidates."

- Ilana Goldman, President, Women’s Campaign Forum (2005-2009)

"In the 2008 cycle, HRC PAC started using Democracy Engine, and we were instantly impressed. Democracy Engine's system is incredibly easy to use, allows for instant updates and editing, and made reporting effortless. Many of our donors and bipartisan candidates have thanked HRC for having such a simple and useful system."

- Mike Mings, PAC Director, Human Rights Campaign

"Together, Jonathan, Erik and Josh make for a truly innovative team. They have worked hard to build a visionary yet practical platform, one that will be taking politics well into the 21st century."

- Jackson Dunn, National Finance Director,
Democratic National Committee (2001-2005)

“Integrating our processing system with Democracy Engine's API was a breeze and their technical support while we programmed and tested was exceptional. In less than 48 hours we were ready to go ... taking new customers live now takes less than a day.”

- Chris Lundberg, CEO, Salsa Labs

"Perhaps most importantly, in Jonathan Zucker we never had a vendor or consultant, but rather another member of our own team, with the same goals and mission -- it made a huge difference to have a trusted professional on our side when launching a new and important initiative."

- Ilana Goldman, President, Women’s Campaign Forum (2005-2009)

"As a political consulting firm, we've set up a lot of clients to accept online contributions. We're used to the lengthy process that you go through via traditional gateways like Authorize.net, in which most of the time they're asking for information that political campaigns almost never have. Your sign-up and validation process could not have been easier: a simple process asking for information we have on hand and one day later our client was accepting online donations."

- Kevin Yee, Stearns Consulting, San Francisco

Jonathan Zucker, CEO

Jonathan Zucker is one of the most innovative minds in politics, operating at the nexus of technology, fundraising and the law. He is the pioneering force behind Democracy Engine, a cutting-edge, Web-based platform designed specifically for organizations that fundraise for candidates and causes. With his extensive background in online campaign finance and law — paired with his experience in the trenches of political fundraising — Zucker was able to identify the need for a universal, nonpartisan fundraising platform and a legal and organizational infrastructure to back it up.

Zucker's Democracy Engine offers the flexibility to serve the unique needs of lobbyists, political organizations and PACs and provides unparalleled expertise in dealing with each. With Democracy Engine, Zucker has blazed a trail in political fundraising: partnering with clients to achieve their fundraising goals while streamlining and simplifying compliance with complicated and ever-changing campaign finance regulations.

Before forming Democracy Engine, Zucker was the executive director for ActBlue, the nation’s largest source of funds for Democrats. During his tenure, Zucker transformed the organization into a fundraising powerhouse and a key element of Democratic infrastructure with more than $87 million raised. Zucker was the chief architect of ActBlue’s rapid expansion from serving only federal candidates in 2004 to a truly national platform allowing fundraising for state candidates and committees in 48 states in 2008. He authored both of ActBlue’s groundbreaking advisory opinions with the Federal Election Commission. Under his leadership, ActBlue became firmly established as a fundraising standard in political circles.

Before joining ActBlue, Zucker served as national director of operations for finance at the Democratic National Committee, where he was responsible for legal and compliance issues, vetting and data management for the DNC’s then record-breaking $100 million major-donor program in the 2004 election cycle. For more than a decade, Zucker has worked with a wide variety of progressive and Democratic organizations as a field organizer, fundraiser, administrator and attorney, including The Interfaith Alliance, Human Rights Campaign, Gill Foundation and the Democratic Leadership Council.

Zucker earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and a law degree from Georgetown University. He is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Maryland.