Empire Center for Public Policy

What Empire Center for Public Policy does

Empire Center for Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank headquartered in Albany, New York. Founded in 2005, the organization conducts public policy research and operates the SeeThroughNY government transparency platform, which provides public access to payroll, pension, and spending data for New York State and local governments. Its core product surface includes SeeThroughNY, the Spend-O-Meter (a real-time visualization of the rate at which New York State spends its enacted budget), interactive Data Dashboards across policy areas, Research Publications (reports, blog posts, commentary), and the NY Public Payroll Watch. The organization's policy focus spans healthcare, education, taxes and spending, energy, and tort reform, with particular depth in Medicaid, Essential Plan, and single-payer analysis led by Senior Fellow Bill Hammond, and long-running expertise in fiscal and education policy from Founding Senior Fellow E.J. McMahon.

The Empire Center serves multiple stakeholder groups rather than paying customers: New York State residents and taxpayers seeking government transparency, state and federal policymakers and legislators who consume its research and testimony, and journalists covering state fiscal and healthcare policy. It distributes its work through its website (empirecenter.org), SeeThroughNY (seethroughny.net), email newsletter subscriptions, press releases, the "Messages of Necessity" podcast, and formal testimony before Congressional and state legislative committees. Zilvinas Silenas ("Z") was introduced as the new President and Executive Director, succeeding prior leadership, signaling a transition in organizational direction while maintaining the established mission.

The business model is non-commercial and donation-funded. All research and transparency tools are provided free of charge to the public. Revenue derives from individual donations, foundation grants, and contributions, with no disclosed pricing, subscription, or fee-for-service revenue stream. The organization is privately held, has no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed institutional investors. Geographic scope is limited to New York State, with no global footprint claimed. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors and operates with a small staff (11-50 employees) including named senior leadership across policy research, public affairs, and executive functions.

Name

Empire Center for Public Policy

Legal name

Empire Center for Public Policy

Website

https://empirecenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Empire Center for Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank in Albany, New York that conducts public policy research and operates the SeeThroughNY government transparency platform, serving New York State residents, policymakers, legislators, and journalists.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Policy Research

akta.pro primary industry

Think Tanks, Policy Research & Public Policy Institutes (BPAGAFAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Communications, Transparency & Open Government (BPAIAAAH), Education Policy Research Institutes & Think Tanks (EDADADAA), Public Affairs, Government Relations & Lobbying (BPAFADAB)

Keywords

• Public policy research
• Government transparency
• Fiscal policy analysis
• Think tank research
• Healthcare policy research

Headquarters

HQ city

Albany

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Contributions: The organization is a non-profit think tank that accepts donations from individuals, foundations, and other entities to fund its research and operations.
2. Transparency Services (SeeThroughNY): The organization operates SeeThroughNY.net, a government transparency website that provides public access to payroll, pension, and budget data for New York state and local governments.

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Empire Center for Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank that produces free-market public policy research and operates the SeeThroughNY government transparency platform for New York State. It delivers research reports, blog commentary, data dashboards, and legislative testimony on healthcare, education, taxes, energy, and government spending. It also offers interactive tools such as the Spend-O-Meter and NY Public Payroll Watch to track state spending and public employee compensation in real time.

Product overview

The Empire Center for Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank that operates as a single product platform focused on public policy research and government transparency. The core offerings include SeeThroughNY (a government transparency website), the Spend-O-Meter (real-time state spending tracker), Data Dashboards (interactive policy data visualizations), Research Publications (reports, blogs, and commentary), and NY Public Payroll Watch (public employee compensation tracking). The SeeThroughNY transparency website serves as the central data platform, integrated with the Spend-O-Meter for budget visualization and various dashboards for policy-specific data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SeeThroughNY: Government transparency website operated by the Empire Center that provides data on state and local government spending, including public employee salaries and pensions.

Products and services

• SeeThroughNY

Quantifiable outcome

• SeeThroughNY transparency website tracks $258 billion+ in annual state spending through Spend-O-Meter
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• State Policy Network: Umbrella organization for 60+ independent state-level free-market think tanks. Empire Center is positioned as a peer chapter within this network, sharing donors, training, and editorial coordination.
• Goldwater Institute: State-focused free-market public policy litigation and research organization producing model legislation and policy reports. Operates with a similar state-by-state policy reform model and shares donor networks and free-market ideological orientation with Empire Center.
• Pioneer Institute: Massachusetts-based independent, free-market think tank producing state-focused policy research and commentary on public finance, education, and healthcare. Operates the same single-state, free-market model as Empire Center, often cited as a comparable "model chapter" within the State Policy Network.
• Commonwealth Foundation: Pennsylvania-based free-market state think tank producing research on state spending, pensions, and education. Closely comparable operating model to Empire Center in size, scope, and State Policy Network affiliation.
• Reason Foundation: National libertarian-leaning think tank publishing research and commentary on government spending, transparency, and public-sector reform. Empire Center's SeeThroughNY work mirrors Reason Foundation's transparency and budget-reform tradition, and the two are often allied in donor coalitions.
• Manhattan Institute for Policy Research: New York City-based free-market think tank producing independent policy research on state and local issues, including pensions, education, and healthcare. Closest geographic and ideological peer to Empire Center and operates overlapping transparency-style research on New York public finance.
• Mackinac Center for Public Policy: Michigan-based free-market state policy research organization and a founding member of the State Policy Network. Pioneered the model of an independent state-level think tank with a transparency database component that Empire Center's SeeThroughNY parallels.
• Empire Research Center: If a like-named organization exists in the same state policy research space, it would map directly to Empire Center's New York state-policy focus; otherwise this slot is best understood as placeholder for state-focused free-market advocacy groups such as the New York State Association of Counties' research arm or Americans for Tax Reform's state chapter.

Broad incumbents

• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC): National organization of state legislators producing model legislation on free-market policy topics. Shares donor networks and policy agenda overlap with Empire Center and is a frequent indirect partner for state-policy reform proposals.
• Cato Institute: National libertarian think tank with broader portfolio in fiscal, healthcare, and regulatory policy. Operates at a larger scale than Empire Center and shares free-market orientation, providing national-level research context that Empire Center's state-level work feeds into.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/empirecenter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Empire Center for Public Policy