The Foundation also sought foundation colleagues who would be committed to developing a new analytic capacity. In June 1993, the Ford, Charles Stewart Mott, and Annie E. Casey foundations, in conjunction with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, hosted an invitational meeting for prospective grantees. After an intensive evaluation process, eleven states were selected. California was added in 1994 and three additional states were added in 1997. The initiative was expanded further in 1999 bringing the total number of state groups to 22.
Some grantees are state associations of non-profit organizations.
Still others were newly founded and focus exclusively on fiscal policy, such as the California Budget Project and the Maine Center for Economic Policy. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities plays a central role with this network of grantees, as both research partner and technical assistance provider. In some instances, the Center has co-authored a grantee's first report on state budget or tax structure, lending the Center's credibility and expertise to help a new organization or effort get established. Each year, the Center hosts an annual meeting attended by all of the SFAI grantees and open to other state-level organizations engaged in fiscal policy analysis. The conference has become a way to disseminate the ideas and analysis generated by the Center and the SFAI grantees, as well as build relations among them.