“The investigative work of Open the Books has fomented a revolution in fiscal transparency.”
– The Wall Street Journal, Roger Kimball Editorial, July 11, 2017

Our Mission

Every Dime. Online. In Real Time.

Who We Are

At OpenTheBooks.com, we work hard to capture and post all disclosed spending at every level of government – federal, state, and local. We’ve successfully captured nearly 4 billion public expenditures, and we are rapidly growing our data in all 50 states down to the municipal level. We won’t stop until we capture every dime taxed and spent by our government.

As a government watchdog organization, we accept no government funding.

OpenTheBooks.com is a project of American Transparency – a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan charitable organization. All donations are tax deductible for federal or state income tax purposes to the fullest extent of the law.

What We Do

OpenTheBooks.com operates under three distinct magnifying glasses.

1. Current Events
   We follow the national news cycle closely and apply our unique data to breaking news stories. Our data adds to the national narrative and provide a new angle for the country’s most-covered stories.

1. Oversight Reports
   We publish in-depth oversight reports on the federal, state, and local government entities. Our reports are unique, providing detailed insight to the intricate ways tax dollars are spent.

1. Unique Database 
   Perhaps our most important microscope for long-term impact, we have worked to make our data easy to use, accurate, and accessible. OpenTheBooks.com is the world’s largets private database of government spending. Our goal is to put every government expense – local, state, and federal – online in real time. The data is accessible via cell phone, iPad, and computer to everyone including public citizens, investigative reporters, academics, think tanks, politicians, and more.

What We Believe

It’s your money, and you deserve to see where every dime is spent! We believe taxpayers have a constitutional right to government oversight. We believe hard data is a game changer. Once citizens are able to see how the government spends their money, it will influence how they vote and how they view their government.

To review our latest IRS 990 Informational Return click here. 

“OpenTheBooks.com is putting sunlight through a magnifying glass.”
– Dr. Tom Coburn, Honorary Chairman, retired U.S. Senator (OK)