From the National Priorities Project Mission and Vision page: “National Priorities Project (NPP) makes our complex federal budget transparent and accessible so people can exercise their right and responsibility to oversee and influence how their tax dollars are spent. We are the people’s guide to the federal budget.
In 2014, NPP was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of our pioneering work to track federal spending on the military and promote a U.S. federal budget that represents Americans’ priorities, including funding for people’s issues such as inequality, unemployment, education, health and the need to build a green economy.
Vision for Change
National Priorities Project is the only nonprofit, non-partisan federal budget research organization in the nation with the mission to make the federal budget accessible to the American public. We believe that everyone can and should understand and participate in critical debates about federal spending and revenue. Our team takes a complex federal budgeting process and cracks it open for ordinary folks – providing the information, tools, and motivation necessary to catalyze strategic citizen action around fiscal issues that affect us all.
NPP envisions a nation where all Americans understand the federal budget choices made by our lawmakers – and where all people, as well as public-serving community and national organizations, have the power and inclination to influence our nation’s revenue and spending decisions.
Unlike other think tanks and watch-dog groups that focus solely on providing information, NPP turns knowledge into action to build a powerful movement toward positive social change. First, we provide real-life context by localizing and personalizing federal budget data, illustrating the ways in which the federal budget affects all Americans. At the same time, we foster a growing sense of agency by helping people understand how they can influence budget decisions and by demystifying federal legislative complexities. Finally, NPP makes information actionable by facilitating data-boosted advocacy and engagement in political debate around budget issues.
Our Work Includes:
Issuing timely and relevant reports that break down federal revenues and expenditures at the national, state, and local levels;
Providing unique localized datasets which allows people to assess the personal and societal impact of federal revenue generation and spending;
Creating highly accessible and easily-sharable web-based tools that foster engagement;
Implementing innovative communications and networking strategies dedicated to ensuring that NPP’s materials reach an increasing number and greater diversity of people and organizations;
Offering workshops that offer essential information about the national budget and the budget-making process.”