The executive branch is where policy is supposed to be turned into action; yet, the public knows little about what happens there – about which agencies are doing useful work and which are wasting the public money. Understanding Government is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to improving the performance of the executive branch by helping journalists do a better job of covering it.

Understanding Government raises funds from a variety of private sources in order to achieve its mission. These funds support the three major activities of the foundation: Understanding Government: The Forum, an electronic facility that gives government employees an anonymous but public venue to discuss common concerns, debate issues of public interest and share information and ideas. We also give awards to journalists to help finance reports on the performance of federal, state and local agencies and we plan awards to recognize outstanding articles that have already been published.