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At OpenTheBooks, we believe that transparency is not just a value—it’s a foundation of accountable, representative government. For too long, many governments operated in shadows, but we’re changing that one data point at a time.
We operate the largest private database of public spending in human history, containing 10 billion data points—from federal salaries and line-by-line spending to 50 state government “checkbooks”, millions of state salary and pension records, and expenditures across over 17,000 municipalities.
We are on a mission to capture and publish every disclosed dollar spent—in near real-time.
“The investigative work of Open The Books has fomented a revolution in fiscal transparency.”
– Roger Kimball, Wall Street Journal, July 2017
“Before DOGE there was Open the Books. For some 20 years they have been bringing the receipts.”
– Bill Martinez, April 2025
“Your watchdog group, you’re revered in DC. You’re the gold standard for rooting out and finding the corruption going on and the abuse of taxpayers.”
– Elizabeth McDonald, Fox Business, April 2025
“Open The Books is doing the work I envisioned…putting sunlight through a magnifying glass.”
– The Late Sen. Dr. Tom Coburn, Honorary Chairman, Open the Books
Open the Books 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.
As a government watchdog organization, we accept no government funding.