NCSL Foundation Awards for the 2025 Fiscal Year
The generosity of NCSL Foundation members makes it possible for the NCSL Foundation to award annual grants to support NCSL’s mission. These grants allow NCSL to serve its members beyond what state dues alone would allow. The NCSL Foundation approved $3.4 million in awards for fiscal year 2025, as detailed below.
State Services
Fiscal Instiitute
This NCSL Foundation award provides legislative stipends and general meeting support to the Fiscal Institute, which includes the Fiscal Institute Symposium and the Task Force on State and Local Taxes (SALT). The symposium is an annual convening of state budget and tax committee chairs and SALT members. It offers a high-level overview of state fiscal issues and covers a broad range of topics. SALT members meet two additional times during the year to dive deeper into specific tax issues.
Legislative Staff Management Institute
Since 1990, the Foundation has supported the operation of the annual Legislative Staff Management Institute (LSMI). The institute is the nation’s premier program for developing and enhancing management and leadership skills for America’s leading legislative staffers. The Foundation’s assistance enables NCSL to discount the tuition for senior legislative staff attending this executive management program. The FY 2025 award supports the 2024 LSMI program, held in July 2024 in Denver.
Legislative Staff Programs
NCSL’s Legislative Staff Services Program provides strategic, programmatic and administrative support to the nine professional staff associations of NCSL. It carries out the priorities and projects for the NCSL staff chair and the Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee (LSCC) and delivers many of the professional development programs designed specifically for legislative staff. This award supports NCSL staff time in the development, coordination and execution of key professional development programs for legislative staff. These programs include the annual Legislative Staff Management Institute (LSMI), professional development and networking for staff directors and chiefs of staff, the Legislative Staff Institutional Essentials program designed for staff new to the legislative profession, and NCSL Base Camp, an online experience designed primarily for legislative staff.
Quad Caucus and Women's Legislative Network
NCSL provides staff support to the Women’s Legislative Network and the Quad Caucus. The Quad Caucus includes the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL), the National Asian Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators (NAPACSL), and the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators (NCNASL). The Quad Caucus represents approximately 1,300 legislators of color, or 20% of NCSL’s members. Support to both groups continues to offer a unique opportunity to strengthen NCSL’s virtual programs, policy research, and response to increasingly diverse legislatures. The award supports NCSL staff time and general operating support to continue building the network and relationships among the groups.
Young and New Professionals
This award supports the Young and New Professionals (YNP) ancillary group, comprised of legislators and legislative staff who are either 35 years of age or younger, or with five years or less of legislative experience. The YNP mission is to engage, educate, and support the state legislative leaders of tomorrow through targeted professional development, networking opportunities and recognition.
Senior Staff Directors
This award is intended for programming aimed at legislative staff directors, who are the top staff decision-makers and leaders in either a centralized agency or legislative chamber. It provides specialized professional development and networking opportunities for networking, as well as in-person engagement events, such as the invite-only staff director luncheon at the Legislative Summit and a planned in-person experiential program.
Legislative Staff Exchange
This grant supports the new legislative staff exchange program. It provides funds to the nine staff associations to administer an exchange program among legislative staff in different states. Each association has developed a plan for how their specific program is administered and guidelines for its usage.
Leaders and Legislative Development
Program for Legislative Leaders
This award supports the NCSL Leaders’ Center, which provides legislative leaders with specialized products and services including high-caliber training, timely public policy briefings, and innovative ideas to effectively lead legislative chambers. Specifically, the award supports two symposiums, one leadership experience, outreach to leaders, and the development and delivery of programs for targeted groups of leaders.
New Legislator Programming
This award engages newly elected first-year legislators, identified by their leadership as up-and-coming. In partnership with NCSL’s Legislative Training Institute, the programming provides tools and information necessary for first-year legislators to be successful in their positions, while introducing them to all that NCSL has to offer throughout their legislative careers.
Legislator and Legislative Staff Training
This award supports the operations of NCSL’s Legislative Training Institute to better train NCSL members. By providing more specialized training to legislators and staff, the Training Institute equips them to become better at their jobs and operating the legislative institution. NCSL will use the award to support the staff who serve as trainers and facilitators and deliver products in-person and virtually. The trainers also develop ongoing training programs and support NCSL staff to improve their presentation skills.
International and Leaders Program Support
This grant will fund a support position for the NCSL Leaders’ Center and Institute for International Cooperation. Responsibilities in both these programs have grown substantially, requiring additional capacity to meet NCSL members' needs. The position will serve as a senior coordinator of services, support the CEO, and provide additional capacity for the team members.
State Policy Research
Center for Legislative Strengthening
The Center for Legislative Strengthening (CLS) is NCSL’s hub for consulting, projects, training and research in service of the legislative institution. The award provides CLS with continued staff capacity to provide legislatures with analysis and expertise on enduring and emerging issues impacting legislative operations, legislative processes, legislator pay and demographics, human resources issues, and the separation of powers.
Research Databases
This award provides NCSL staff with access to LexisNexis State Net, Lexis+, Westlaw and Quorum. These research databases include the ability for customized searches of state bills, laws, regulations, and related information from every state, territory, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Congress. These tools allow NCSL staff to analyze policies, identify trends, and support responses to research requests from members, Foundation sponsors, media and others. Additionally, they support testimony to legislative committees, reports, briefs, webpages and other media for members. They also support NCSL’s publicly available legislative databases that track, categorize and analyze legislation on various topics as well as the Bill Information Service (BIS), powered by State Net, which is NCSL’s bill-tracking tool for members.
Grant Identification and Support
This award boosts staffing and innovation in the state policy and research area to support fundraising through grants and contracts. Fundraising sustains more than 90 NCSL staff devoted to providing timely, unbiased, quality research and analysis to legislators and legislative staff, which is among NCSL members’ most valued services.
Task Force and Standing Committee Administration
This award provides staff capacity support to NCSL Executive Committee task forces and the NCSL standing committees. Through this work, NCSL supports 25-30 meetings and enhances engagement with task force and standing committee members.
Technical Assistance and Fly-In Support
This award strengthens NCSL’s ability to provide timely, essential in-person member services by providing resources for technical assistance in the states and connections with congressional delegations. NCSL technical assistance includes in-state committee testimony and presentations—high-demand services that help legislators and legislative staff engage with NCSL policy experts on pressing policy matters in real time. Congressional fly-ins allow state legislators to engage and build relationships with their congressional counterparts, amplifying the state legislative perspective in the nation’s capital.
Standing Committee Officer Stipends
This award will allow NCSL to provide stipends to the legislator and legislative staff co-chairs of NCSL standing committees to cover some of their expenses associated with attending the 2024 Legislative Summit. NCSL recently expanded the number of its standing committees from eight to 11 and is focused on improved outreach and engagement with committee officers and members.
Communications and Outreach
Legislator and Legislative Staff Engagement
Engaging state legislators and legislative staff is critical to NCSL’s mission. This funding supports NCSL state liaison travel to state capitols for policy assistance, professional development training and relationship-building; welcoming newly elected legislators; producing dedicated content for legislative staff; designing, printing and mailing the NCSL calendar and other materials; and developing new content and strategies for engaging members. The funding is also used to support leader-directed stipends for legislator travel to the Legislative Summit.
"Our American States" Podcast
This award provides funding for NCSL’s “Our American States” podcast. The podcast serves as an additional communications channel to reach NCSL members and the broader public, with each episode having the potential to reach more than 1,700 listeners. The Foundation grant encompasses the expenses associated with producing, hosting, editing and distributing the podcast.
Operations
Berufliche Entwicklung
This award supports professional development opportunities for NCSL staff, including access to workshops, seminars, conferences, and other learning opportunities. By investing in professional development opportunities, NCSL fosters a culture of growth and innovation, resulting in increased efficiency, productivity, and capability to address emerging challenges. NCSL is striving to invest more resources in opportunities for staff. Staff continually prioritize professional development opportunities among the most important actions the organization can take to support and value them.
Challenge and Innovation Programs
For more than a decade, the Foundation has awarded funds designed to motivate and inspire NCSL staff to create new initiatives to serve legislators and legislative staff. Through a competitive process, NCSL staff submit ideas for smaller grants. Micro-grants are selected for seed projects that allow NCSL staff to complete critical work that might not have resources available and to explore new areas that might lead to expanded projects. Grants typically range from $5,000 to $20,000. NCSL staff are strongly encouraged to think creatively and strategically about how to invest these small awards so that they might lead to discoveries about new products and services to meet the needs of NCSL’s members.
NCSL Base Camp
This award will support the fifth iteration of NCSL Base Camp, to be held in October 2024. NCSL Base Camp is a two-day virtual training experience designed primarily for legislative staff. In 2023, a record 1,236 people registered for NCSL Base Camp, reflecting participants from all 50 states and several territories. Foundation funding for this event will cover the cost of the production platform.
FY 2024 Proposed NCSL Foundation Supplemental Awards
When NCSL Foundation revenue exceeds projections, NCSL can recommend supplemental awards. For fiscal year 2024, the NCSL Foundation approved $600,000 in supplemental awards as detailed below.
State Services
Legislative Staff Week
This award will support programming and outreach efforts during NCSL’s Legislative Staff Week. Legislative Staff Week is an annual celebration of the more than 33,000 legislative staff and the critical work they do to serve the legislatures in the U.S. states and territories. Held each May, it features professional development for staff through webinars and podcasts and includes a shoutout competition with prizes awarded in daily drawings and to the top-participating states.
Leaders and Legislative Development
Chiefs of Staff Meeting
The Leaders’ Center and the Legislative Staff Services department will partner to provide specialized services and training to partisan staffers serving the top legislative leaders in each chamber in the role of chief of staff (or equivalent position). Most funds will be used to pay upfront costs associated with an in-person professional development conference for chiefs of staff in the fall of 2025. The conference will focus on building meaningful relationships between chiefs and equipping them with practical skills to better serve their bosses, subordinates, and the legislative institution in their home state.
New Leaders Programming and Outreach
This award allows NCSL to engage newly elevated top leaders (speakers and Senate presidents) to support their influential roles within the legislature. The NCSL Leader’s Center will provide targeted and unique training and networking opportunities.
International Exchanges
This award supports NCSL’s ongoing work to connect state legislatures with peer organizations around the world. It funds NCSL’s collaboration with Germany’s Partnership of Parliaments (PoP) and other international legislative organizations. In FY 2025, the award will support the hosting of PoP in Georgia in November 2024, enable legislator participation in international conferences such as Brazil’s UNALE and India’s National Legislator Conference, and further the integration of NCSL’s international affiliate members. These efforts will strengthen global legislative exchanges, foster international cooperation, and enhance the professional development of state legislators through exposure to diverse legislative practices.
State Policy Research
Leaders Federalism Project
This award will fund NCSL’s support of a bipartisan effort led by more than 20 top legislative leaders. The goal is to convene all top leaders from the states, territories and the District of Columbia to discuss the evolving nature of federalism. The aim is to identify common ground among leaders on the current state of the relationship between states and the federal government. The leaders will explore what is working and what is not working with federalism today. NCSL's deep history of working on this issue will inform the conversations. Over the next 12 months, NCSL will support roundtables with leaders to develop the processes and procedures for a convening of all 106 top leaders in late 2025.
Communications And Outreach
NCSL 50th Anniversary Commemoration
The National Conference of State Legislatures first convened in 1975 when three organizations merged to form the powerhouse that today is NCSL. The organization’s 50th anniversary is an opportunity to not only reflect on the extraordinary historic work of legislatures, but to tell the story of the critical role that the first branch continues to play in fulfilling the great American experiment. Through its 50th anniversary, NCSL will tell the story of how state legislatures drive representative democracy, civility and innovation, and how NCSL is the indispensable partner in achieving all three. This award supports ongoing work to commemorate the anniversary, including the production of videos, podcasts, written materials and commemorative items. The award also supports the culmination of the project to photograph every state capitol and legislative building, which will be documented in a book to be published concurrent with the 2025 Legislative Summit.
Marketing Support
This award will support the NCSL marketing team’s work to better understand and engage its members. The funding will be used to develop a conference-wide survey to benchmark NCSL’s effectiveness at engaging and supporting its members. It will also provide temporary contractor support for NCSL’s more than 40 policy newsletters.
Operations
Program Interns
This award will support eight hourly interns for a semester at NCSL. Interns work across program areas to provide support to members while learning about the legislative institution. NCSL interns conduct research, write articles and perform a variety of other tasks central to NSCL’s mission.
Employee Onboarding
The NCSL Human Resources Department will use this award to enlist a consultant’s support to enhance the organization’s employee onboarding program. This will include training for hiring managers to provide them with the necessary skills to deliver organized, relevant and timely content, ensuring a personalized and welcoming NCSL employee experience.