IGPA was founded by the Illinois General Assembly in 1947 and has long played an important role in connecting decision makers with scholarly research. IGPA provides non-partisan evidence-based analyses of public policy issues by drawing on the expertise of faculty from the U of I’s three campuses spans the three campuses (Chicago, Urbana-Champagne and Springfield). IGPA houses the Fiscal Futures Project which focuses on Illinois and is dedicated to informing the public and policymakers about state budget transparency and long-term budget concerns. With support from the University and external sources the project has worked closely with the Illinois state comptroller to assemble a definitive data set that consistently measures all state revenues and expenditures over time. The project tracks state fiscal conditions, projects future state spending and revenues and provides non-partisan evidence-based research about alternative budgetary policies.