United States Common Sense (USCS) (formerly California Common Sense) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy organization that advocates for government transparency. USCS collects data from local and state governments and develops policy recommendations based on its data analysis in an effort to educate the public about government finances. ¹

United States Common Sense was founded at Stanford University in 2010, and does not currently appear to be operational. ²

Activities

In 2016, United States Common Sense launched GovRank.org with support from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. GovRank is a public finance platform comprised of data from local and state governments, intended to make government finances more transparent. GovRank ranks the relative performance of local and state governments based on its collected data and fiscal sustainability research. ³

United States Common Sense’s Open Records Initiative aimed to hold public officials accountable by making public financial records available and easily accessible to the public. ⁴

Funding

United States Common Sense was funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. USCS discloses some of its donors on its website ⁵ and tax filings confirm donations from the Mercer Family Foundation ($100,000 in 2017) ⁶ and the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco ($100,000 in 2017). ⁷ Arnold Ventures, a philanthropic entity associated with Laura and John Arnold, donated nearly $1 million to USCS between 2014 and 2017. ⁸

Board of Directors

Joe Lonsdale is the chair of the board of United States Common Sense and a co-founder of both OpenGov and the Cicero Institute. ⁹

Zac Bookman is a co-founder and CEO of OpenGov. ¹⁰

David Crane is the president of Govern for California and sits on the boards of the California State Teachers Retirement System, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Crane formerly worked as a special adviser to former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA). ¹¹

Tayler Lonsdale is the secretary and treasurer of the board of USCS and sits on the board of the Cicero Institute. ¹²

George Shultz, who died in 2021, has been an honorary member of the board and a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution. Shultz formerly worked as Secretary of Labor, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Secretary of the Treasury during the Nixon administration and as Secretary of State in the Reagan administration.

1.  “About.” United States Common Sense, 2019. Archived from the original February 28, 2019. Accessed February 3, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20190228085036/http://uscommonsense.org/about/.
2. “About.” United States Common Sense, 2019. Archived from the original February 28, 2019. Accessed February 3, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20190228085036/http://uscommonsense.org/about/.
3. “Home.” GoveRank. Archived from the original May 6, 2019. Accessed February 7, 2022.  http://web.archive.org/web/20190306021500/http://www.govrank.org/.
4. Open Records Initiative.” United States Common Sense, 2019. Archived from the original May 6, 2019. Accessed February 7, 2022.  http://web.archive.org/web/20190506201311/http://uscommonsense.org/ori/.
5. “About.” United States Common Sense, 2019. Archived from the original February 28, 2019. Accessed February 3, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20190228085036/http://uscommonsense.org/about/.
6.  Mercer Family Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part XV, Line 3a.
7. Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2017, Schedule I, Part II.
8. “Grantee: United States Common Sense.” Arnold Ventures. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grantees/united-states-common-sense.
9. “Joe Lonsdale.” Cicero Institute, 2021. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://ciceroinstitute.org/authors/joe-lonsdale/.
10. “Leadership.” OpenGov, 2022. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://opengov.com/leadership/.
11. “About.” David Crane, 2021. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://davidgcrane.org/about-2/.
12. “Tayler Lonsdale.” Cicero Institute, 2021. Accessed February 3, 2022. https://ciceroinstitute.org/authors/tayler-lonsdale/.