Federal Policymakers Can Leverage Evidence to Power Results

The Results for America Federal Evidence-Based Spending Guide describes the following strategies for how the federal legislative branch (Congress) and executive branch (White House and Federal Agencies) can invest in what works:

What's in the Guide

  • This guide provides practical approaches for the Executive Branch and Congress for incorporating evidence-based policy into grant-making and legislation.
  • It lays out both how to integrate existing evidence into federal spending, as well as how to build new evidence around what works. 
  • The guide is also focused on how to improve outcomes for all by centering community needs in government services. 
  • Because the scope of federal financial assistance is so large – approximately $1.1 trillion annually – the potential benefits from using federal grants to put evidence to work, build new evidence, and center community needs are correspondingly large.


Federal Spending on the Rise
The U.S. Congress, White House and federal agencies have significantly increased the amount of federal taxpayer funds invested in evidence-based solutions since 2013. The number of federal economic mobility programs, for example, that define and prioritize evidence of effectiveness has increased from six in FY13 (funded at $660 million) to 98 in FY24  (funded at $8 billion). Results for America promotes federal evidence-based spending through our Federal Standard of Excellence each year.
OMB Incentivizes Evidence-Based Policy
The White House Office of Management and Budget’s implementing memo for its 2024 Uniform Grants Guidance RevisionsM-24-11 Reducing Burden in the Administration of Federal Financial Assistance, encourages federal agencies to define and prioritize evidence of effectiveness within Notice of Funding Opportunities. The memo directs them to “consider prioritizing federal awards to applicants that propose evidence-based practices and encourage applicants to include these types of costs in their proposed budgets.” More information is here.

Strategies

Get actionable guidance on how to use these six strategies to strengthen the impact of your investments and explore examples of how other government agencies are already putting the strategies into action.