About ORS Impact

Since 1989, ORS Impact works alongside renowned social impact leaders, supporting their work to accomplish their missions.

U.S. 2020 Census

The U.S. decennial Census is a constitutionally mandated count of the population to ensure equal representation in Congress, and its data is widely used to craft policies, plan initiatives, deliver services, and promote economic mobility.

The 2020 Census faced unprecedented challenges including a global pandemic, racial justice uprisings, wildfires, hurricanes, and inadequate funding and staffing. Additionally, it was politicized by a federal administration that initiated harsh anti-immigrant policies, deepening further distrust of government, especially among communities of color. In response to these challenges, a network of foundations came together to support the 2020 Census, focusing on historically undercounted populations, through a multi-year national initiative that brought together a diverse array of national, regional, and local funders and census stakeholders. ORS Impact and Barsoum Policy Consulting served as evaluation partners at the time.

We are republishing our evaluation results in 2025 in light of the challenges we are already seeing to a fair and accurate 2030 census, like the recent termination of all three of the Census Bureau's committees of outside advisers, including the Census Scientific Advisory Committee, the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations, and the hashtag#2030Census Advisory Committee. The 2030 Census is already under threat, and time is of the essence to advocate and act in support of a fair and accurate Census. The evaluation reports from 2020 include an evaluation of the Census Funders’ Collaborative, two case studies (Census Appropriations Advocacy: A Surgical Strategy and The Fight Against The Citizenship Question: Ensuring Everyone Counts in the 202 Census) detailing efforts to ensure adequate appropriations and to advocate against the inclusion of a citizenship question, and brief memos describing Get Out the Count and other census support efforts across each of the 50 states.

About ORS Impact

U.S. 2020 Census

The U.S. decennial Census is a constitutionally mandated count of the population to ensure equal representation in Congress, and its data is widely used to craft policies, plan initiatives, deliver services, and promote economic mobility.

50 State Census Reports