Transparency by Design can be traced back to the Presidents' Forum of Excelsior College first held in 2004. The Presidents' Forum is a collaboration of regionally accredited, adult-serving institutions and programs that have embraced the power and potential of distance education. The mission of the Presidents' Forum of Excelsior College is to advance the recognition of innovative practice and excellence in serving adult students.

In early 2008, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) was engaged as the third-party data quality assurance reviewer and project management of the initiative and website.

In late 2008, Lumina Foundation for Education provided a grant to fund the development of the Transparency by Design initiative and the College Choices for Adults website. The Transparency by Design initiative supports Lumina Foundation for Education's mission of increasing the number of adults with some post-secondary education.

The Charter Institutions:

The charter institutions of Transparency by Design joined together to create this innovative resource because they believe that adult learners should have access to in-depth information to help them choose an educational institution and degree program that best meets their professional and personal goals.

The charter institutions are all regionally accredited and focused on serving adult students via distance or mixed modality education. They represent a rich mix of higher education institutions, including community colleges, graduate-only, public, private not-for-profit, and private for-profit institutions.