Independent oversight of Missouri state and local government
The Missouri Civic Accountability Project investigates how state and local government spend public money and exercise public power — publishes what it finds, in full, and shows Missourians how to follow the work themselves.
Most coverage of state and local government stops at the press release. MCAP does the slower work: reading the budgets, the contracts, the disclosure filings, and the meeting minutes that show how decisions actually get made — in Jefferson City, and in the city halls and county courthouses across Missouri. We publish every finding in full, and we collaborate with newsrooms across the state so the reporting reaches as many readers as possible.
That work is funded by the people who rely on it. No one else sets our agenda. When you give, you are paying for independence — and it shows in the reporting.
The only interest we serve is the public's.
This is what your support has already produced — and what it is producing right now. Every claim links back to the record.
Every finding we publish is based on the public record — and we show the record.
The Missouri Ethics Commission fined Citizens for a Better Columbia after campaign-finance reporting failures — including a $25,000 contribution to a mayoral campaign that was never disclosed. Our findings were published by ABC 17 News.
Read the story at ABC 17 NewsPublic-records requests are underway into automated license-plate reader contracts across Missouri — what cities and counties pay for them, what happens to the data they collect, and who has access to it. In Columbia, we're also working on a new city ordinance to expand protections against mass surveillance.
Donations go directly into the work. This is the ledger — held to the same standard of accounting we ask of government.
Every dollar goes into the work — the records, the reporting, and publishing it all free to read.
Filing and processing public records requests under Missouri's Sunshine Law — the budgets, contracts, and filings that show how public money is spent.
When an agency withholds records the public is entitled to see, enforcement takes a lawyer. Your gift pays for that fight.
Reporting time and records analysis that follows public money through state and local government.
Editing, verification, and free public access to every report we release.
Free classes on civic participation — how the Sunshine Law works, how to follow a local budget, and how to make your voice count.
MCAP answers to its donors and its readers. Your gift keeps it that way.
Gifts support Sunshine Law requests, legal enforcement, investigative reporting, publication, and civic education.
Independent. Nonpartisan. Nonprofit.
Funded by readers. Published for the public.
