What One Project does

One Project is a Palo Alto-based nonprofit social venture founded in 2019 that builds infrastructure for economic democracy. Its flagship product, Common, is a web-based platform for democratic resource allocation that lets organizations, municipalities, and funders direct budgets and grants through participatory processes; the platform is live across six regions and four languages and has supported over $550,000 in collectively allocated resources. Building on Common, One Project operates two financial instruments: the Horizon Fund, launched in 2025 to support organizations building shared infrastructure and governance models, and the Common Action Fund, a planned $100M pooled fund governed through Common that is targeted for launch in 2027.

The organization monetizes primarily through philanthropic grants and mission-aligned capital rather than commercial platform fees, with $65M committed toward economic democracy by 2028 and a current grantee portfolio of 74 organizations spanning municipalities, community nonprofits, and philanthropic funders. Distribution runs through direct partner outreach, ecosystem referrals from allied coalitions such as the New Economy Coalition, People Powered, and the Democracy Narratives Alliance, and a waitlisted self-serve signup at common.oneproject.org. Marketing emphasizes research-driven narrative change via an extensive publication library covering participatory funding, AI governance, shared ownership, mutual aid, and trust-fund-for-everyone proposals.

Operationally, One Project is led by CEO Aaron Tanaka and Founder & President Justin Rosenstein (co-founder of Asana and former early product leader at Facebook and Google), supported by an 11–50 person team spanning product, research, ecosystem engagement, and operations. The organization earned Great Place to Work certification in 2026 with a 95% employee trust score. Revenue model terms (managed services and subscription/recurring platform access) are listed, but no commercial pricing for Common is publicly disclosed and the platform appears to be provided to partners at no cost.

Name

One Project

Legal name

One Project

Website

https://oneproject.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Technology / Participatory Governance Software

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Social Advocacy Organizations (81331)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB), International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

Keywords

• Participatory budgeting
• Democratic decision-making
• Grantmaking technology
• Civic engagement platform
• Economic democracy infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grants and Funded Programs: One Project mobilizes resources for the economic democracy ecosystem through grantmaking. The Common Action Fund is a $100M pooled fund where field and funder leaders collectively direct resources. The Horizon Fund launched in 2025 supports organizations building shared infrastructure and governance models.
2. Platform Services: Common platform enables organizations and municipalities to allocate resources democratically. Organizations interested in using Common can reach out for access.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

One Project builds the Common platform, a digital infrastructure for democratic resource allocation that enables organizations and municipalities to direct budgets and money transparently through participatory decision-making. On top of Common, the organization operates pooled grantmaking funds (Horizon Fund launched 2025 and Common Action Fund planned 2027) and produces research and narrative work to advance economic democracy globally, supporting 74+ ecosystem organizations with $65M+ committed by 2028.

Product overview

One Project operates a platform-plus-financial-instruments architecture centered on Common, a digital platform enabling democratic resource allocation at scale across 6 regions and 4 languages. Built on this platform are two major funds: the Common Action Fund (a $100M pooled fund launching in 2027) and The Horizon Fund (launched in 2025). The organization complements its technology with a substantial portfolio of research publications including participatory funding studies, AI governance frameworks, shared ownership guides, mutual aid case studies, and visionary essays on economic democracy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Common: A platform that makes democratic resource allocation practical at any scale, in any language, for any organization. It connects people, organizations, and resources to coordinate and grow economic democracy at global scale.

Products and services

• Common Platform A web-based platform for democratic resource allocation that lets organizations and municipalities direct budgets and money transparently through participatory decision-making processes, live across 6 regions and 4 languages.
• Common Action Fund A $100M pooled philanthropic fund governed through the Common platform, in which field and funder leaders collectively direct resources toward organizations advancing economic democracy.
• The Horizon Fund A grantmaking fund launched in 2025 and hosted on Common, which directs resources to organizations building shared infrastructure, strengthening digital tools, and developing new governance models.

Quantifiable outcome

• Participatory budgeting reduced infant mortality by nearly 20% in Brazilian cities
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Center for Economic DemocracycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Center for Economic Democracy builds practices and systems for a more just, accountable economy. They are part of the ecosystem that One Project supports and collaborates with in advancing economic democracy infrastructure.
• New Economy CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA coalition of 200+ organizations building the solidarity economy in the U.S. and demonstrating that another world is already happening. One Project works with NEC as part of the economic democracy ecosystem.
• People PoweredcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA global hub for participatory democracy - the direct participation of community members in making policy decisions that affect their lives. One Project identifies them as an ecosystem partner.
• Infrastructure for Shared OwnershipminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProducer of the 'Assets in Common' book report on shared ownership infrastructure. One Project supported the publication.
• Common TrustminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProducer of the 'Assets in Common' book report on shared ownership infrastructure.
• Purpose FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProducer of the 'Assets in Common' book report on shared ownership infrastructure.
• Coding RightscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConducted the AI Commons field scan commissioned by One Project, identifying 234 key entities building alternative AI futures from decolonial, transfeminist, antiracist, indigenous, decentralized, post-capitalist perspectives.
• Democracy Narratives Alliance (DNA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA coalition of 35+ organizations and funders coordinating narrative change efforts across the democracy field. One Project is a member standing with DNA and other partners in the fight for democracy.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Loomio: Collaborative decision-making tool used by cooperatives, nonprofits, and community groups for proposals, discussions, and votes. Comparable as infrastructure for participatory group decision-making, though less focused on resource allocation specifically.
• Decidim: Open-source participatory democracy platform used by Barcelona, Helsinki, and other municipalities for participatory budgeting and citizen assemblies. Directly comparable to Common in enabling collective decision-making and resource allocation at municipal scale.
• Consul (Madrid): Open-source civic participation platform originally developed for Madrid's municipal government and now used in hundreds of cities worldwide for participatory budgeting and proposals. Direct competitor in the civic-tech participatory-governance space.
• People Powered: Global hub for participatory democracy supporting citizen-led decision-making in cities. Functionally overlaps with One Project's municipal/community segments and is a named ecosystem partner, operating in the same participatory-governance category.

Broad incumbents

• Mozilla Foundation: Major philanthropic funder and policy voice focused on trustworthy AI, internet health, and civic tech. Operates in adjacent space with overlapping AI-governance and public-interest technology missions, with significantly larger scale.
• New America Foundation: Large policy think tank with programs on democracy, technology, and equitable economy—often publishing on AI governance and participatory policy. Considered a broad incumbent in adjacent thematic territory to One Project's research.

Emerging players

• Pol.is: Open-source, real-time deliberation platform that scales conversations and surfaces consensus. Underpins several large-scale participatory processes and addresses adjacent problems in collective sense-making for resource decisions.
• Civic Foundation: Nonprofit advancing civic technology and democratic infrastructure. Operates in the participatory-governance/civic-tech space with similar grantmaking and platform-building activities for democratic renewal.
• vTaiwan / g0v: Civic-tech movement and platform built around Taiwan's vTaiwan deliberative process (using Pol.is). Operates participatory governance technology at scale and addresses many of the same democratic-infrastructure problems One Project targets.

Others

• New Economy Coalition: Coalition of 200+ organizations building the solidarity economy in the U.S. One Project is a named ecosystem collaborator, and the organizations share grantmaking and narrative strategies around economic democracy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/oneproject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/oneprojectorg

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about One Project