The Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) is a nonprofit organization that empowers people to decide together how to spend public money, primarily in the US and Canada.

We create and support participatory budgeting processes that deepen democracy, build stronger communities, and make public budgets more equitable and effective.Since 2009, PBP has supported dozens of governments, public institutions, and organizations in launching and deepening participatory budgeting processes. This support ranges from technical assistance with specific stages of PB to fully implementing a PB process. For more details, visit our services page.

PBP Reports on Our Work

Our donors, funders support a tremendous amount of work done by staff and volunteers. Here is information on our annual finances and how we steward the resources we have:

 

The Munk School's Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) hosted an event examining participatory budgeting on May 5, 2016. The event focused on participatory budgeting, a concept first implemented in 1989, where public budgets are managed in part by community members. A panel of experts discussed the successes, challenges and implications of participatory budgeting and how the model is working in Toronto. Josh Lerner, executive director of the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), offered a keynote presentation highlighting examples of participatory budgeting across Canada and the U.S. The panel was moderated by Peter MacLeod, Co-Founder and principal of MASS LBP. Panelists included Shelley Carroll, Toronto City Councillor for Ward 33 Don Valley East; Alex Mazer, Co-Founder, Better Budget TO.

The Munk School's Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) hosted an event examining participatory budgeting on May 5, 2016. The event focused on participatory budgeting, a concept first implemented in 1989, where public budgets are managed in part by community members. A panel of experts discussed the successes, challenges and implications of participatory budgeting and how the model is working in Toronto. Josh Lerner, executive director of the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), offered a keynote presentation highlighting examples of participatory budgeting across Canada and the U.S.
The panel was moderated by Peter MacLeod, Co-Founder and principal of MASS LBP. Panelists included Shelley Carroll, Toronto City Councillor for Ward 33 Don Valley East; Alex Mazer, Co-Founder, Better Budget TO.

Areas of Expertise

  • Participatory rule-making and process design
  • Training and capacity-building
  • Planning and facilitation of workshops and meetings
  • Development of tools for budget deliberations
  • Preparation of educational materials
  • Production of publicity materials
  • Development of outreach tools and plans

We have launched or supported the following processes:

City / Level of PB

  • Boston, MA / City
  • Buffalo, NY / District
  • Cambridge, MA / City
  • Chicago, IL / District
  • Chicago, IL / School
  • Dieppe, NB / City
  • Greensboro, NC / City
  • Hamilton, ON / District
  • Hartford, CT / City
  • Long Beach, CA /District
  • New York City, NY / District
  • New York City, NY / College
  • Phoenix, AZ / School
  • Sacramento, CA / School
  • San Francisco, CA / District
  • San Jose, CA /School
  • Seattle, WA / City
  • St Louis, MO / District
  • Toronto, ON / Housing Authority
  • Vallejo, CA / City