Believing that the burden of budget cuts resulting from military spending fell hardest on low-income communities, the Norman Foundation funded a constellation of research and advocacy organizations throughout the 1980s to document and disseminate this case to policymakers and the public.

• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Norman grantee 1982–1988): Founded in 1981, CBPP engaged in analytic work examining the impact of military spending-driven budget reductions on social programs. 
• Children’s Defense Fund (Norman grantee 1983–present): CDF implemented a military expenditures analysis project that produced and disseminated A 1984 Analysis of the President’s Budget and Children — examining how military budget priorities affected funding for children’s programs.
• Employment Research Associates (Norman grantee 1983–1985): ERA produced reports documenting the impact of the military budget on jobs in each state and across occupational sectors, making the economic consequences of military spending tangible at the local level.
• Highlander Center (Norman grantee 1982–1991): Norman provided two grants supporting the Human Needs Project: one to develop community responses to the impact of federal budget cuts on social programs, and the other focused on the impact of military spending on the Southern economy.
• Pacific News Service (Norman grantee 1983 and 1989): PNS developed a cost analysis of US defense strategies and disseminated findings through national media outlets.