Understanding public service starts with listening.
We invest in research to better understand the people, institutions, and conditions that shape public life. We study questions we believe deserve deeper attention—sharing what we learn to strengthen public service and inform what comes next.
Insights
Featured research
What local government managers need to lead, endure, and thrive.
City, town, and county managers and other local government operators hold together extraordinarily complex systems. What does their work actually demand of them—and what could help them better serve their communities?
Our first company-funded study examines the experiences, pressures, and support needs of local government managers across the United States.
Holding local government together
Research findings coming soon.
Sign up to receive the findings and updates on future Public Servants research.
That’s why we invest our own resources in asking questions, listening across roles and places, and looking for both shared patterns and meaningful differences.
What we learn informs our decisions about where to contribute, what to invest in, and what questions to pursue next. But we believe its value should extend beyond us. We share what we can so public servants, civic organizations, practitioners, and others working in the public interest can learn from it, too.
Public service is under enormous pressure. Institutions are navigating constrained resources, rapidly changing technology, workforce challenges, shifting expectations, and growing demands from the communities they serve. At the same time, decisions about public systems are often shaped by assumptions and interests far removed from the experiences of the people doing the work—or the people who depend on it.
We believe those experiences deserve sustained attention.
We invest in understanding
