PLACE Initiative
PLACE Initiative is a Portland-based nonprofit that develops climate-resilient urban planning resources, including the Climate Receiver Places Guide, resource sheets, and workshops, for policymakers, equity organizations, and receiving communities.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersPortland, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What PLACE Initiative does
PLACE Initiative is a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit organization founded in 2016 that operates at the intersection of urbanism, climate change, and social equity. The organization develops resource sheets, assessment tools, guides, and planning frameworks rather than technology products; its core offering is the Climate Receiver Places Guide, a four-resource suite comprising a Project Summary Document, Receiving Geography Guide, Community Principles Guide, and an interactive Community Assessment spreadsheet that helps communities plan for equitable, climate-resilient growth and the absorption of climate migrants. PLACE also publishes policy resource sheets covering Climate Change & Urbanism, Equity, Housing, Adaptation & Resiliency, and Enhancing Federal Climate Strategies, and runs educational programming including Small Developer Incubator Workshops, Transportation Talks, and Urban Thinkers Campus events.
The organization serves federal, state, and local policy makers, professional equity organizations, communities identified as Climate Receiver Places, and BIPOC communities seeking equitable development support. Its business model is non-commercial: all resources are distributed free of charge via the PLACE Initiative website, and the organization is funded through donations (Stripe donation page is published) and grants — the only disclosed funding event is a $50,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission in October 2024. Strategic distribution is delivered through partnerships with high-credibility organizations including UN-Habitat's World Urban Campaign, the Congress for the New Urbanism, ULI Northwest Arkansas, the City of Sacramento, StopWaste, Build It Green, and the Incremental Development Alliance. Management team visibility is limited to Camille Cortes (presenter at the 2021 Climate Summit and credited author) and Laura Clemons (federal policy presenter).
PLACE Initiative firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- PLACE Initiative
- Legal name
- PLACE Initiative
- Website
- https://placeinitiative.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- PLACE Initiative is a Portland-based nonprofit that develops climate-resilient urban planning resources, including the Climate Receiver Places Guide, resource sheets, and workshops, for policymakers, equity organizations, and receiving communities.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
PLACE Initiative industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Climate Policy Advocacy and Urban Planning Resources
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation (BPAGAGAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Climate Adaptation & Resilience Programs (BPADALAD), Environmental Education, Capacity Building & Community Engagement (BPADALAO)
Keywords
Where PLACE Initiative is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Portland
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
PLACE Initiative business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels7 records
PLACE Initiative product offering
Product offeringCore offering
PLACE Initiative develops and distributes free educational resource sheets, planning guides, assessment tools, and frameworks that position urbanism as a platform for climate solutions. Its core offering is the Climate Receiver Places Guide suite, which provides communities with strategies for equitable, climate-resilient urban growth and preparation for climate migration. The organization also produces federal policy recommendations and delivers workshops, conferences, and transportation policy events.
Product overview
PLACE Initiative is a non-profit policy and advocacy organization focused on urbanism as a platform for climate solutions. Its core product is the Climate Receiver Places Guide, a four-part resource suite consisting of the Receiving Geography Guide (identifying climate-resilient regions in the US), Community Principles Guide (equitable climate-resilient principles), Community Assessment Guide (interactive rating system), and Project Summary Document. The organization also produces policy resource sheets (Climate Change & Urbanism, Enhancing Federal Climate Strategies), and delivers educational programs including Small Developer Incubator Workshops and Transportation Talks events.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Climate Receiver Places Guide A comprehensive guide consisting of four resources (Project Summary Document, Receiving Geography Guide, Community Principles Guide, and Community Assessment Guide) that provides policy and practice strategies for communities to achieve equitable, climate-resilient urban growth in response to climate change migration. Intended for policymakers, planners, and community organizations.
- Receiving Geography Guide A document that defines receiving geography, identifies specific cities, towns, and regions with relatively low climate change risk exposure in the continental United States, and explains the methodology used to determine these areas, including localized flooding risk and well-connected infrastructure systems.
- Community Principles Guide A guide that defines equitable, climate-resilient community principles and provides goals and practical guidance for climate receiver places to strengthen their communities, including a set of next steps for implementation.
- Community Assessment Guide An interactive checklist and rating system in spreadsheet format that allows communities to qualitatively assess their current conditions, direct priorities, and conduct post-assessments against the Community Principles Guide.
- Climate Change & Urbanism Resource Sheet An educational resource explaining how urbanism serves as a force multiplier for reducing GHG emissions and adapting communities to climate change, including guidance on walkable neighborhoods and emission reduction targets.
- Enhancing Federal Climate Strategies A policy resource providing recommendations for integrating urbanism into federal climate policy across multiple government departments including Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health & Human Services, and others.
- Small Developer Incubator Workshop An 8-hour in-person training workshop teaching small-scale incremental development approaches to cost-effectively preserve existing buildings, strengthen blocks, and improve financial fundamentals, conducted in partnership with cities and the Incremental Development Alliance.
- PLACE Transportation Talks A hybrid meet-up series discussing advancement of local and national policy reform for safer and more equitable transit, featuring transportation reform advocates.
- Urban Thinkers Campus A virtual conference series (held May 2021) in partnership with World Urban Campaign by UN-Habitat and Congress for New Urbanism, featuring discussions on resilience & adaptation, transportation, natural & working lands, and equitable development.
Quantifiable outcome
- Urbanism alone can achieve 3/4 (75%) of emission reduction goals toward 80-90% below 1990 levels by 2050
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use PLACE Initiative
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
PLACE Initiative technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
PLACE Initiative partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- City of SacramentocorePartnership to host the first Small Developer Incubator Training Workshop in Sacramento on March 8th, 2024. The 8-hour in-person class explained processes and concepts for small-scale incremental development, covering topics including business models, market research, zoning, pro formas, financing, and Sacramento's code implementation.
- StopWastecorePartnership with StopWaste to host the Alameda County Small Developer Incubator Training Workshop in Oakland on March 7th, 2024. The workshop focused on cost-effective preservation of existing buildings, strengthening blocks, and improving financial fundamentals.
- Build It GreencorePartnership with Build It Green to co-host the Alameda County Small Developer Incubator Training Workshop alongside StopWaste and Incremental Development Alliance.
- Incremental Development AlliancecorePartnership to deliver Small Developer Incubator Training Workshops in both Sacramento (March 8) and Oakland (March 7), 2024. Provided the curriculum and expertise for the 8-hour training on small-scale incremental development approaches.
- ULI Northwest ArkansascorePartnership with ULI Northwest Arkansas to hold the Urban Thinkers Campus series at the 2024 ULI Northwest Arkansas Place Summit. The theme was 'Getting Around In The 21st Century: Transportation, Mobility, and the Public Realm' featuring sessions on Building for Bikes, Placemaking and Systemic Change, and Integrating Transit.
- World Urban Campaign (UN-Habitat)corePartnership with UN-Habitat's World Urban Campaign to host the 2021 Urban Thinker's Campus virtual event from May 17-22, 2021. The event elevated urbanism as a platform of participatory, inclusive solutions to climate change, drawing on industry leaders for discussions on resilience & adaptation, transportation, natural & working lands, and socially equitable development.
- Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)corePartnership to co-host the 2021 Urban Thinker's Campus as an integrated 'shoulder' event with CNU 29, the annual Congress convened by the Congress for the New Urbanism. The UTC event was free and separate from the paid CNU conference.
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
PLACE Initiative competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU): National nonprofit advancing urbanism principles through advocacy, education, and an annual congress. PLACE Initiative is a core partner (co-hosted the 2021 Urban Thinkers Campus as a shoulder event to CNU 29) and operates in the same urbanism-advocacy niche with overlapping content themes (climate, equity, housing, transportation).
- Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT): Chicago-based nonprofit that works at the intersection of urbanism, equity, and climate impact analysis. Operates in the same urbanism + equity + climate niche as PLACE Initiative, with a stronger analytics/research capability.
- Incremental Development Alliance: Nonprofit that educates small-scale developers and advocates for incremental, neighborhood-scale development. Co-delivered PLACE Initiative's Small Developer Incubator Workshops in Sacramento and Oakland in March 2024 — same content domain (small developer training, zoning, pro formas).
- Coalition for Urban Transitions: International coalition focused on national-economy urban climate policy, hosted by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Alliance and World Resources Institute. Direct peer in producing urbanism-climate policy briefs for government decision-makers.
- Smart Growth America: National nonprofit coalition advocating for walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented development. Operates in the same urbanism-as-climate-solution policy lane as PLACE Initiative, with comparable federal-level policy advocacy on infrastructure and land use.
- Strong Towns: Nonprofit media and advocacy organization that promotes bottom-up urbanism, walkable neighborhoods, and incremental development — directly overlapping with PLACE Initiative's walkable-neighborhood framing, climate-urbanism content, and incremental development workshops.
Broad incumbents
- Climate Central: Established climate-science communication nonprofit that produces research and visual storytelling on climate impacts. Comparable to PLACE Initiative on the climate-adaptation and communication side, though with a broader communications scale and scientific research base.
- Urban Land Institute (ULI): Large, established global organization focused on land use and real estate development. PLACE Initiative partners with ULI Northwest Arkansas to host Urban Thinkers Campus sessions, and ULI operates broadly across the same urban planning, development, and policy topics PLACE Initiative addresses.
- UN-Habitat (World Urban Campaign): United Nations agency for sustainable urbanization and a direct partner of PLACE Initiative via the World Urban Campaign and the 2021 Urban Thinkers Campus. Operates globally across the same urbanism and climate-resilience agenda, with vastly greater resources and reach.
Regional players
- 1000 Friends of Oregon: Oregon-based nonprofit (same Portland geography as PLACE Initiative) advocating for responsible growth, land-use planning, and climate-aligned urbanism. Highly comparable mission focus on state-level land use, growth boundaries, and climate-resilient communities.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
PLACE Initiative social profiles
Digital presencePLACE Initiative financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
PLACE Initiative leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
PLACE Initiative funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
PLACE Initiative M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about PLACE Initiative
What does PLACE Initiative do?
PLACE Initiative develops and distributes free educational resource sheets, planning guides, assessment tools, and frameworks that position urbanism as a platform for climate solutions. Its core offering is the Climate Receiver Places Guide suite, which provides communities with strategies for equitable, climate-resilient urban growth and preparation for climate migration. The organization also produces federal policy recommendations and delivers workshops, conferences, and transportation policy events.
Is PLACE Initiative a public or private company?
PLACE Initiative is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was PLACE Initiative founded?
PLACE Initiative was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is PLACE Initiative based?
PLACE Initiative is headquartered in Portland, United States, in the North America region.
Who are PLACE Initiative's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), Incremental Development Alliance, Coalition for Urban Transitions, Smart Growth America and Strong Towns. Broad incumbents are Climate Central, Urban Land Institute (ULI) and UN-Habitat (World Urban Campaign). 1000 Friends of Oregon is listed as a regional player.
Does PLACE Initiative have an API?
No public API is recorded for PLACE Initiative.
What industry is PLACE Initiative in?
PLACE Initiative's product category is Climate Policy Advocacy and Urban Planning Resources. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAGAF, Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation, with a secondary code of BPADALAD, Climate Adaptation & Resilience Programs. Its SIC code is 8600.