USAFacts Names Poppy MacDonald as First Managing Director

"Over the last three years, USAFacts has gone from an idea about informing the public debate with non-partisan, understandable data to a real, useable platform," said USAFacts founder Steve Ballmer, who also owns the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.  "At POLITICO, Poppy MacDonald had expertise in developing new, customized news products for specific audiences – making the platform more effective and engaging.  Poppy will help lead USAFacts to greater relevancy to the lives and work of government leaders, media, academics, students, and engaged citizens, giving them more of the tools they need for rational debate."

"Our goal at USAFacts will be to go beyond simply serving up and visualizing government data, to serving key constituencies with data packaged in ways that can be easily leveraged to inform the most effective use of public dollars and the best policy outcomes," said Poppy MacDonald.  "As polarization in our public debate and distrust of public institutions have both increased, there has never been a greater need for non-partisan, non-profit-driven numbers and context to align conversations around federal, state, and local government spending. We will also start tailoring USAFacts for better use in upcoming election cycles, to equip voters and candidates to engage."

At POLITICO, MacDonald led the business strategy for the launch of POLITICO Pro, which now accounts for over half of its revenue and continues to generate double-digit growth for the company year-over-year.  She helped lead geographic expansion and significant enhancements to the portfolio of tools and services available to subscribers, including Legislative Compass, and custom-brand programs like Women Rule and What Works. At POLITICO and previously as publisher of the National Journal, MacDonald has led media companies focused on in-depth coverage of politics and policy and ensuring transparency in government. She was part of the team that launched Gallup's World Poll to create more transparency and context around commonalities and differences among regions of the world. MacDonald began her career working for members of Congress from the Pacific Northwest, where USAFacts is based.

About USAFacts 
USAFacts is former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's non-profit, non-partisan civic initiative aimed at making government numbers more available, accessible, and understandable to Americans, which he created after discovering that government does not provide the kind of comprehensive reporting for citizens that publicly-traded companies are required to do for shareholders. This is the second year USAFacts has created an Annual Report and 10-K — modeled on the form public companies file each year with the Securities and Exchange Commission — to provide a comprehensive view of US federal, state, and local governments' combined revenues and expenditures, as well as key metrics that measure progress towards objectives established in the Constitution.

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SOURCE USAFacts

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https://usafacts.org