As a community, nonprofit service providers, issue advocates, and policy wonks alike spend most of their time fighting against "bad" policies like program cuts or tax giveaways to the wealthy. Rather than remaining on the defensive, the sector should begin laying the groundwork for a positive vision of what it considers to be sound tax and budget policy.

In December 2003, OMB Watch released a "call-to-action" paper that led to a number of conversations and discussions which overwhelmingly indicated positive support, energy, and enthusiasm for the idea of a long-term, proactive federal tax and budget strategy. Many people in the nonprofit community understand the importance of this kind of effort and the urgent need to begin it.

Since the release of the paper, with support from the Open Society Institute and the Marguerite Casey Foundation, we have:

Conducted an Internet survey of nonprofits
We have developed, conducted, and analyzed preliminary results from an Internet survey. The survey had 709 respondents most of which were representatives from nonprofit organizations encompassing every state except Nebraska. The survey was to determine 1) in what activities nonprofit organizations are actively engaged on tax and budget issues, 2) how important people think it is to engage in long-term planning and action on tax and budget issues, 3) on what issues should a campaign focus, 4) what are the challenges to making such a long-term campaign successful, and what are the needs of groups who might participate. More information and results from the survey is available at the OMB Watch website.

Held regional strategy sessions
In collaboration with state co-hosts, four state/regional strategy sessions were held in Columbia, South Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; and Phoenix, Arizona. In each location, lively, rich and very helpful discussions were initiated with a presentation about the short and long-term federal budget situation and the preliminary results from the Internet survey. A state tax and budget expert (or experts from several states) presented the state budget situation.

From the very sobering picture of "where we are now" in terms of the current and future tax and budget crisis, the groups moved into envisioning where we want to be in ten years, the key outcomes and objectives, the challenges and opportunities, the strategies for achieving the desired outcomes, and the next steps. Summaries of each group are being completed and sent to participants to determine if we correctly captured and interpreted the content, and will eventually be posted on the web site.

Begun development of a tax and budget website
We are developing a prototype of a tax and budget Internet resource center designed to make it easy to access all the extremely useful existing federal tax and budget information, analyses, news, budget games, projects, campaigns, etc. The Internet survey identified this type of tool as a high priority. This resource may ultimately include sources of state tax and budget information as well. We hope that it will add to the creation of a network consisting of state, local and national issue-based advocacy groups, service providers, and other organizations, as well as tax and budget groups.

Planned a larger strategy meeting
With assistance from the Center for Responsible Funding, we have scheduled a larger meeting for Philadelphia-area nonprofits on April 28. In order to more fully flesh out five of the main themes that were consistently brought up in the regional strategy meetings, this meeting will be organized around breakout groups. The five main themes include: What would a vision statement look like? How do we address the attacks on the role of government? How do we strengthen civic responsibility? What infrastructure, leadership and resource issues need to be addressed to make a long-term initiative a success? What do we need to do differently with our strategies and tactics to make us more effective on the federal tax and budget front?

Started to plan a national retreat
We are in the midst of planning a two-day retreat in the DC/Baltimore area to bring together local, state, and national nonprofit leaders. Using the results of the Internet survey, the regional meetings, and our many discussions with other national groups, we intend for this meeting to be the vehicle that actually develops a proactive tax and budget strategy over the long-term. The retreat will be the starting point for making this initiative a reality. A planning committee is currently working on the details for this event.

OMB Watch does not intend to be "in charge" of this proactive initiative, though we hope to be a part of it. Our role now is that of "provocateur." We have already learned that there is widespread support for initiating a long-term campaign that will build a visionary tax and budget policy, which is full of viable alternatives to policies that are always being fought against.

After evaluating the energy and sentiments expressed in the survey and regional meetings we have learned that, despite the many challenges, our crafted goals -- better values-based framing and messaging, broadening and re-energizing the base, developing a leadership structure and improved coordination, and generally determining what we need to do differently to have a real impact on the long-term debate about tax and budget policy in this country -- are actually achievable.

We have heard a wealth of creative ideas and strategies over the past few months, and are looking forward to being part of the developing process. We welcome the opportunity to talk with you more about this project and get your thoughts and suggestions. Please see the project’s website for more information.