New nonprofit aimed at strengthening government effectiveness is launched by former Democratic White House staffers
“[We’re] looking at not just efficiency but also effectiveness and whether the way in which the government is working is really building trust with the American people,” said Cristin Dorgelo, the CEO of the new organization who served as a senior advisor in the Office of Management and Budget between from 2021 to 2023. “That's the opportunity we have today: Both to look at those cross-cutting systems that power all of the government's work and some of those specific agencies that have a particularly high impact on people's lives like Social Security.”
Nicole Wong, an outside advisor to Government Renewal and former deputy U.S. chief technology officer under Obama, said the organization will focus on government personnel, procurement and operations. While both Dorgelo and Wong also have Silicon Valley experience, Wong said the goal isn’t to make agencies operate like the private sector. Rather, she wants the federal government’s services to be as good as those from a corporation.
“Amazon will deliver my groceries in half an hour to my house. Government needs to deliver at the speed and with the ease that people have come to be used to in their lives,” Wong said. “So the task of focusing on operational capacity is to make that a reality.”
The Trump administration itself has prioritized improving governmental operations, promising that mass layoffs of federal employees will generate increased efficiencies. And the Department of Government Efficiency, which had been headed by tech mogul Elon Musk, was created to help modernize government technology; although, it’s better known for spearheading agency workforce cuts.
Dorgelo, however, said that Government Renewal is nonpartisan and is not meant to be a foil to DOGE. She said the organization also would be open to collaborating with Republicans, so long as their focus is on strengthening government services.
“This is a project that is born out of a desire to improve how the government delivers,” she said. “It is not a response to specific actions underway today, and that means we need to look at how the government has been working over the course of quite a number of years, and to be looking at ideas for what would improve that in the years to come, and to be ready to start implementing those ideas as soon as a window opens to do so.”
Dorgelo added that Government Renewal’s efforts are currently underway, but that they’ll reach “full swing” in 2026.
She also said that Government Renewal is operating as a nonprofit, but Dorgelo declined to answer specifically how the organization plans to secure funding, such as through individual donations or grants.
Some of the organization’s other outside advisors include:
- Yohannes Abraham, former ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from 2022 to 2024 and head of the 2020 Biden-Harris and 2024 Harris-Walz presidential transition teams.
- Vanita Gupta, who served as associate attorney general under Biden and established New York University’s Center for Law and Public Trust.
- Jason Miller, Biden’s deputy director for management at OMB.
Dorgelo said that Government Renewal also plans to work with other groups similarly focused on improving government operations like NYU’s Tax Law Center and the Federation of American Scientists.
“When I started my career in government, there were fewer groups outside of government thinking about government capacity issues and government operations. Today, we see a growing array of groups working in this space,” she said. “Our goal is to be adding value to those efforts, fostering connections among those efforts and spotting gaps where we can spot partners who might be able to fill and address those gaps in developing actionable options.”