Letter From the
President and Chair

Max Stier
President and CEO

Tom Bernstein
Chairman of the Board

Our federal government is facing an enormous opportunity.

To address a daunting set of domestic and international challenges, a series of historic measures—the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act—have provided federal agencies with significant funding to tackle issues that touch on nearly every aspect of American life, from economic uncertainty and climate change to infrastructure, technological development and COVID-19.

Our government must operate effectively to ensure that these once-in-a-generation investments make an impact, cultivating effective leadership, workforce and management strategies to implement programs and services that reach thousands of communities and individuals across the country. This work is essential to the health of our democracy. By solving its most critical operational challenges, our government can fulfill its promise to execute an ambitious national agenda that both reflects and seeks to meet the diverse needs of our nation.

At the Partnership for Public Service, we equip our government to meet this challenge.

Since 2001, we have worked to create a more dynamic, innovative and modern government that effectively serves the public. It has been an incredible journey filled with remarkable accomplishments—and 2022 was no exception.

This past year, we launched the Public Service Leadership Institute® as the preeminent source of programs, policies and perspectives related to leadership in government. The institute will serve as a critical hub for federal employees at all levels to learn and network, with an increased focus on career senior executives. We also supported senior executives at agencies that received major funding under recent legislation, including the departments of Health and Human Services and Transportation, the IRS, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

We launched new internship programs and reinvigorated our Call to Serve network, the only national network of colleges and universities that promotes public service to students and recent alumni. We envision this network as the single greatest contributor to helping attract next-generation talent into public service. In addition, our Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings provided agencies with a roadmap to improve employee engagement and satisfaction, a main driver of government performance, and match the best of the private sector.

Finally, we worked to increase public trust in government by improving knowledge about how government serves the public interest, by telling stories about exceptional public servants and their work through the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals®, and by providing agencies with the data and performance insights they need to succeed. Moving forward, our research will continue to be an authoritative source for assessing government effectiveness.

Together, these achievements help lay the groundwork for our government to transform the way it works and develop the management strategies it needs to effectively deliver and implement large federal investments that drive important outcomes for the public.

Today, we have a unique opportunity to advance this work. As we look to our new strategic era, we plan to build on the past, capitalize on our growth and prepare for the future. For 2023 and the years ahead, we will steadily grow and expand our work in four core areas.

	Public Service Leadership Federal leaders are equipped to achieve their agencies’ missions and contribute to the public good.
	Federal Talent Our government recruits, engages and retains the nation’s best talent.
	Society’s Commitment to Government Society trusts and engages with a well-functioning government.
	The Partnership The Partnership has the talent and organizational capacity to deliver on and sustain its nonpartisan mission.

This work will not be easy. Our government is facing turbulent times that may make progress seem unlikely, underscored by increased partisanship, low public trust and threats to our democracy.

However, our record of accomplishment makes us optimistic about the possibilities for meaningful change. As we enter our next era of work, we will position ourselves to deliver enduring and measurable impact on our government and the people it serves for decades to come.

In this Impact Report, we highlight the results of our programs and activities in 2022 and outline our plans for the coming year. Our accomplishments would not be possible without the generous support of our donors and partners, whom we thank for supporting our work.

Together, we can build a better government and a stronger democracy. Join us.

Our 2022 Impact

In 2022, the Partnership helped build a better government that more effectively served the public. Watch the video below to learn more about our impact.

Our Impact by the Numbers

Federal employees reached

Leadership development sessions

95% of all participants agreed their program made them a better leader.

Public Service Leadership Institute

Building on our more than 10 years of expertise in developing federal leaders, we launched the Public Service Leadership Institute in June of 2022 to serve as the preeminent source of programs, policies and perspectives related to leadership in government. A key element of the new institute is the Public Service Leadership Model, which seeks to set the standard for effective federal leadership.

The institute has three main goals:

• To amplify the importance of public service leadership.
• To develop government leaders at all levels—from aspiring supervisors to political appointees.
• To unify around a shared standard of federal leadership.

“The institute will serve as a ladder that public servants can climb and will drive us closer to an equitable and inclusive vision for our country and our government.”

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland

Working with Senior Leadership

We facilitated leadership retreats with the secretaries of commerce, transportation, and health and human services. These retreats offer executive teams the opportunity to address their unique needs and develop meaningful action plans through structured collaboration and custom working sessions.

Our work with senior leaders also includes various custom engagements and the AI Federal Leadership Program, which helps members of the Senior Executive Service understand and apply AI and other emerging technologies to improve their agencies’ service delivery.

“The program opened my eyes to what I thought I knew about AI and helped me gain more leverage to advance it at my agency.”

Sarah Pollock, director of NASA’s IT Procurement Office; AI Federal Leadership Program participant

The Center for Presidential Transition^®

The Partnership’s Center for Presidential Transition® is the premier nonpartisan source of information to help presidential candidates and their teams prepare for a new administration or a president’s second term. In 2022, the Center raised awareness about the broken Senate confirmation process, prepared new political appointees to lead, and developed thought leadership that shared best practices and shaped the national conversation on transitions.

200+

New and prospective political appointees reached in 2022

Championing Legislative Reform

In 2022, Congress enacted two legislative mandates that we championed to ensure smoother presidential transitions and more transparency around federal leadership vacancies:

• That presidential candidates receive transition assistance even if there is a delay in our government’s official recognition of an apparent election winner.
• That our government publish a new modernized, online and yearly updated Plum Book, the most comprehensive directory of federal political appointees and senior career officials.

“I cannot imagine doing a presidential transition in a modern era without the Partnership. If a transition team itself had to assemble the information that the Partnership provides to every presidential transition, it would turn an incredibly difficult job into a complete nightmare. What the Partnership does is incredibly worthwhile.”

Edward “Ted” Kaufman, Former chairman of the Biden Transition; former United States Senator

Building Critical Connections

We convene roundtables and other forums for federal executives—including deputy secretaries, general counsels, public affairs officers, chief diversity officers, customer experience leads, assistant secretaries for administration and management, innovation and human resources leaders, and others—to collaborate with their peers, share ideas and solve problems.

These meetings provide us with insight into the major issues of concern to federal leaders. Recent discussion topics include implementing return-to-office plans, building productive relationships with congressional committees and managing surge staffing for emergencies.

In 2022, we also emerged as a trusted partner in the field of public interest technology, bringing together cross-sector leaders in dozens of convenings to discuss issues such as federal innovation, the tech workforce, cloud computing, accessibility in government, and more.

Future Leaders in Public Service

Encouraging college students to consider careers in public service and strengthening federal internship and fellowship programs are key to helping government fill critical talent gaps and solve future challenges.

To meet this need, we launched the Future Leaders in Public Service Internship Program with support from Schmidt Futures. The program placed more than 140 students from schools across the country in paid summer internships with the departments of Commerce and Transportation and serves as a powerful model for agencies. We are on track to place 250 interns in government during the summer of 2023.

Future Leaders in Public Service interns discuss their experiences.

Call to Serve

As part of our goal to encourage college students to consider careers in the federal government, we visited nearly 60 campuses—and made many virtual presentations—to promote our Call to Serve network, a community of approximately 700 colleges and universities we train to recruit the next generation of public servants.

Our Call to Serve communications campaign received honorable mention from PRNEWS’ 2023 Nonprofit Awards, which honor talented communicators who work to make the world a better place.

97%

Program participants who said they would be likely or extremely likely to pursue a career in the federal government.

“This program provides you with a really strong foundation if a career in public service is something you’re interested in.”

Hannah Lyons, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Commerce intern

Answering the Call to Serve

In 2022, we redesigned our GoGovernment.org website, a one-stop shop for job seekers to better understand the federal hiring process. The revamped site provides a more user-friendly and interactive experience that helps young people learn about the Partnership’s internship and fellowship programs, access career guides and find the right federal agency, better understand the federal application process, explore inspiring stories from public servants, and much more.

After enrolling in the Partnership’s Cybersecurity Talent Initiative, a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership aimed at developing a cybersecurity workforce, Sangi Ranadeeve joined the State Department as an IT cybersecurity specialist.

Learn more about why Sangi chose public service in our Call to Serve video.

Building a Better Workplace

In partnership with Boston Consulting Group, we released our 2021 and 2022 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings, the most comprehensive insight into the federal employee experience and an invaluable tool for agencies to better engage their workforce.

In collaboration with The Washington Post, we also released a special top 10 edition of the 2022 Best Places to Work rankings and data, featuring the highest-ranked large, midsize and small agencies, and agency subcomponents. Our full rankings release and annual awards event took place on April 12, 2023.

Fostering Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Through two executive orders, the Biden administration has recognized government’s need to strengthen diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the federal workforce, and advance federal support for underserved communities.

To help our government deliver on these twin imperatives and regain the public’s trust, we delivered DEIA training to nearly 2,000 employees at the Department of Labor, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several other agencies in 2022.

With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, our 18-month program with the CDC helped the agency work toward becoming more diverse, equitable and inclusive, a key pillar of its new strategic plan focused on health equity.

Toward a More Trusted Government

On Sept. 20, we hosted the 21st annual Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals® at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Luminaries from the government, business and social sectors, and notable media personalities, attended the event to recognize eight outstanding honorees chosen from more than 330 nominations and 30 finalists.

Our honorees were recognized for a range of accomplishments—from overseeing the launch of the James Webb Telescope and coordinating the resettlement of more than 72,000 Afghan refugees to designing the plan to distribute millions of COVID-19 vaccines to different states and localities.

Alicia Menendez of MSNBC emceed the event, which featured remarks from Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough and others. The ceremony received honorable mention from PRNEWS’ 2023 Nonprofit Awards.

Bloomberg TV and YouTube Live also aired an hour-long Service to America Medals® special that was emceed by Ashley Nicole Black and showcased remarks from numerous celebrities.

Since 2001, the Service to America Medals, or the Sammies, have honored more than 700 public servants.

We also recognized Darren Walker (left), president of the Ford Foundation, as our 2022 Spirit of Service award winner. The award recognizes individuals outside of government who make significant contributions to public service. Raj Shah (right), president of the Rockefeller Foundation, spoke with Walker about his work.

Media coverage about the 2022 Sammies appeared in publications that reach nearly 200 million people.

The G Word

We held a special event to celebrate “The G Word,” a Netflix docuseries based on Michael Lewis’ book, “The Fifth Risk,” that shows government’s unheralded positive impact on our lives. The event featured a panel discussion with “The G Word” host and creator Adam Conover; Jamie Rhome, acting director of the National Hurricane Center and a 2019 Service to America Medals® winner; and Ada Chiaghana, a senior vice president at Higher Ground Productions.

Toward a More Trustworthy Government

We issued recommendations to help agencies improve their customer experience and shed light on new performance data to hold government accountable for better serving the public.

National Poll

Conducted in partnership with Freedman Consulting, our first-ever national poll examined public attitudes toward the federal government.

“Trust in Government: A Close Look at Public Perceptions of the Federal Government and Its Employees”

Based on this polling, our report revealed that despite low trust in government, Americans demonstrate more positive attitudes toward nonelected federal employees and some of the agencies they work in.

Op-Ed: “Why Democracy’s in Such Trouble: A Crisis in Public Trust of Government”

Our research report became the basis for an op-ed in Politico co-authored by Max Stier, Partnership president and CEO, and Tom Freedman, president of Freedman Consulting, outlining how and why public trust in government must be rebuilt.

Building our organization’s future

In the coming years, we will continue to improve our management and workforce to realize our ambitious goals and vision. Guided by our 2023-2026 strategic plan, we will prioritize several areas that will help us expand and grow our work, including:

	Supporting the growth, development and long-term engagement of our employees.
	Meeting our evolving talent needs.
	Maintaining an inclusive workplace.
	Growing and diversifying our revenue streams.

Throughout, we will be unwavering in our commitment to supporting our government and the public servants who work there.

In March, we transitioned to a new office and hybrid work environment. Our new state-of-the-art facility provides the technology, space and setup to engage our customers and federal partners, attract talent, and deliver our mission in new and exciting ways.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The Partnership for Public Service is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace culture.

To pursue meaningful change for both the federal government and the millions of public servants who comprise it, we strive to uphold the nonpartisan values of fairness and equity—values rooted in our representative democracy—and engage in social discourse about how we can achieve equity in both our society and in our federal institutions.