National Center for Policy Analysis: History
Institutional Growth
Avoiding the bureaucratic obstacles that plague larger organizations, the NCPA is able to respond quickly to changes in the public policy landscape because the organization is lean and efficient. For example, when former President Clinton proposed to expand Medicare coverage to the near elderly in 1999, the NCPA had an analysis on the desk of key Congressional members and national health reporters the next day. Within a week, the NCPA had published its analyses in the Wall Street Journal and in syndicated columns across the country. Analyses from other think tanks appeared several weeks later.
Revenue Growth
Through productive use of resources and sound management practices, the NCPA provides contributors with the highest return on investment. The NCPA continues to grow by seizing opportunities at the right time. With revenue increasing at 20 percent per year, the NCPA was one of the fastest-growing think tanks in the 1990s, increasing from a $1 million budget in 1990 to a $4.6 million budget in 2003.
Washington Office
The NCPA has also increased its presence in Washington, D.C. and on Capitol Hill. In the 1980s, Congress had little interest in debating such NCPA ideas as MSAs, taxpayer choice for welfare, educational vouchers and the privatization of Social Security and Medicare. Since organizations inside the Washington Beltway must focus on immediate Congressional proposals or risk being ignored, the NCPA chose to headquarter itself outside the Beltway – reaching target audiences through broadcast and print media.
As support for NCPA ideas grew around the country, these proposals became increasingly popular on Capitol Hill as well. Today the NCPA has a highly effective Washington office to further the NCPA’s message with direct legislative contact. NCPA scholars frequently testify before congressional committees and the NCPA often briefs congressional aides on important policy issues.
New Personnel
These organizational changes coincided with personnel changes that brought the NCPA enhanced national visibility. In 1994, Policy Chairman Gov. Pete du Pont became Policy Chairman of the NCPA and began promoting NCPA ideas on television, radio and speeches across the country. Barry Asmus, whom the National Speakers Bureau calls "one of the five best speakers in America," took the center's message on the speaker's circuit as the NCPA's Senior Economist.
A New Publications Strategy
The NCPA discovered a much more effective way to relay messages to Capitol Hill leaders without drowning staffers weekly in full-length studies. The NCPA began producing a one-page, two-sided Brief Analysis (BA) containing serious analyses, graphics and callouts..
It was later determined that the summarized and informative BA was all the information most congressional staffers needed. The novel publication was an instant hit; the NCPA continues to publish 40 to 50 BAs each year.
When several BAs concerning a specific policy area are bound together, the core of a briefing book is formed for members of Congress, congressional aides and candidates. NCPA Briefing Books – especially those on tax policy and health care – are among the most useful publications on Capitol Hill.
The NCPA's organizational, personnel and publications changes had a strengthening impact on the organization's unique approach to public policy marketing.
Marketing Innovations
The NCPA developed numerous techniques for marketing public policy research and proposals. The following is a brief summary:
TELEVISION: In addition to regular appearances on shows such as Crossfire, C-Span and The News Hour With Jim Lehrer, the NCPA participated and co-sponsored over twenty 30-minute debates and five two-hour, prime time debates with Firing Line – shown on 238 PBS stations nationwide. NCPA scholars also appear regularly on DebatesDebates, shown on nearly 200 PBS markets.
RADIO: Gov. du Pont presents NCPA ideas on Focus Point radio commentaries which, on occasion, are also sponsored by the NCPA.
TALK SHOWS: The NCPA has a well-organized outreach program regularly blast faxing critical information on timely topics to 750 television and radio talk show hosts, producers and personalities.
OPINION COLUMNS: The NCPA sponsors two of its own syndicated columnists: du Pont (Scripps Howard) and Bruce Bartlett (Creators Syndicate). du Pont writes a weekly column distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service and another column for the Wall Street Journal’s OpinionJournal.com. Bartlett's column appears twice a week in the Washington Times and the National Review online. Bartlett regularly contributes to the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Indianapolis Star and the Detroit News.
GUEST EDITORIALS: The NCPA's track record in placing editorials in highly visible newspapers is superior, with regular placements in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, Investor's Business Daily, Los Angeles Times and other major publications.
HARD NEWS COVERAGE: In the first decade of the organization’s founding, over half the NCPA’s studies were covered in wire service stories – the result of highly focused press releases and well-planned press conferences.
CONGRESSIONAL CONNECTION: Dozens of NCPA studies have been released by members of Congress – a rare feat for a think tank – and members of Congress frequently appear at NCPA Capitol Hill briefings for congressional aides.
DAILY POLICY DIGEST: This online newsletter summarizes public policy research findings appearing on the editorial pages of major newspapers and in studies released by think tanks each day. In 2003, the journal claimed 7,500 subscribers receiving the e-mail free of charge.
INTERNET: The NCPA's Internet site delivers one-stop shopping, linking viewers to the best publications from scholarly minds across the world and from various think tanks and organizations. The site promises well-rounded, non-biased, relevant and timely content every business day, as well as links to the NCPA’s five other Web sites.
NCPA ideas about public policy issues reached U.S. households almost 1.1 billion times through print and broadcast media in 2002 — 10.3 times per residence in one year. We average over 4.25 million hits on our main website per month; hits for all the sites topped 52 million and subscribers for all five newsletters totaled near 15,000.