Over the past few years, there has been growing demand for greater transparency and accountability in incentive use. We know from our work across the country that there are real technical challenges associated with answering questions about how well incentive programs work. We also know that it can be a struggle to create the systems that enable staff to collect, manage, and report data across their incentive portfolio.  

The infographic below describes the steps that are the foundation for incentive program compliance and evaluation. Once in place, these steps can help economic development organizations manage incentives for transparency and accountability.

We view this as a process or a system. Compliance work is technical and specialized, but it should not be isolated or an afterthought. It should fit into your broader incentives framework conceptually and in practice in your organizations. This infographic demonstrates how and why compliance is critical to the economic development enterprise. 

When we look at incentives as a process it helps us keep our eye on the big picture that we are using these tools to accomplish our economic development objectives. Compliance helps states figure out if their incentive programs are working as intended toward those objectives and helps us meet the growing demand for greater transparency and accountability in incentive use.