About

Gross National Happiness USA is a 501c(3) Tax-Exempt non-profit organization with a mission to increase personal happiness and our collective wellbeing by changing how we measure progress and success.

We are building new pathways to sustainable happiness and wellbeing in the United States. Recognizing our abundant wisdom and tapping into our collect impact potential, we work with local, national and global partners to celebrate and create resonance between what we value and how we live, taking care to include the wellbeing of all living creatures and the planet.

Our History

In November 2008, 66 international guests attended the fourth Annual Gross National Happiness Research Conference in Thimphu, Bhutan. Six of those attendees were from the state of Vermont. We decided the time was ripe to import GNH concepts to the U.S., starting with our small but progressive New England home state.
In the spring of 2009, the Vermont-based, non-partisan, non-profit organization Gross National Happiness USA was established.

That fall, GNHUSA founders attended the fifth international GNH research conference in Brazil and, the following June 2010, hosted the first US-based conference on Gross National Happiness and other alternative indicators, at Champlain College in Burlington, VT.

In May of 2012, GNHUSA with co-sponsors organized Measure What Matters, a conference building a collaborative of data experts in Vermont. Since then the United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution to develop and use alternative indicators in global development efforts. The UN also declared March 20th the “International Day of Happiness.” The United States has appointed a federally mandated commission that will oversee implementation of the new Key National Indicator System, designed to help the American people better assess the nation’s progress. The state of Vermont declared April 13th (President Jefferson’s birthday) “Pursuit of Happiness Day,” and became the first state to pass legislation enabling development of alternative indicators and to assist in making policy.
From August 25th to October 7th, two GNHUSA board members walked 594 miles, from Vermont to Washington DC, to collect statements and stories that will inform the development of Vermont’s well-being Indicators and, eventually, a happiness guidebook.

Where we are today?

GNHUSA is an organization with a big vision and big plans. We have been spreading GNH ideas in the public and with many other organizations. Our vision is for a happy and sustainable future. We believe that we will get what we measure. Our current measures of progress (GDP, for example) are faulty, limited and dangerous. We want to implement measures to expand beyond economic production and consumption measures to indicators that better reflect our values. GNHUSA appreciates the importance of research and the power of policy-making and collaborates in developing well-being indicators, tools and best practices. Ultimately, the American people must demand this shift to a true pursuit of Happiness.

We know in our hearts, and research has proven, that happiness and well-being involve many domains which include:

1) Psychological Well-being
2) Physical Health
3) Time Balance
4) Community Vitality
5) Education
6) Culture
7) Environment
8) Good Governance
9) Standard of Living

Luckily, Americans are optimistic and scrappy. We are entrepreneurial, creative and inspired to solve problems. We invite you to rediscover, with us, a true pursuit of happiness.