Groundswell

What Groundswell does

Groundswell Communications is a privately held public affairs and political consulting firm headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, founded by Tim Dickson. The firm provides customized public affairs campaigns, grassroots coalition building, community relations, initiative and referendum support, and land use development campaigns to major corporations, trade associations, nonprofit organizations, political parties, and labor unions. It operates two service divisions: a Public Affairs practice covering public policy campaigns, direct contact, grassroots and grasstops advocacy, community relations, initiative/referendum support, and land use campaigns; and a Telephone Services division branded "Groundswell Direct" that provides live and automated calling, predictive dialing, GOTV, surveys, and franking (member-recorded phone calls). The firm employs political campaign techniques — including direct mail, phone campaigns, door-to-door canvassing, and petition gathering — and applies them in the corporate and public affairs arena. Its competitive positioning rests on its founder-led expertise, an extensive national network of field organizers, and a project- or retainer-based professional services delivery model with quote-based pricing not publicly disclosed. The company is privately held, founder-controlled, with no disclosed institutional investment or parent company, and operates on a national footprint spanning nearly thirty U.S. states.

Name

Groundswell

Legal name

Groundswell Communications, Inc.

Website

https://groundswell.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Groundswell Communications is an Alexandria, VA-based public affairs and political consulting firm offering grassroots advocacy, public policy campaigns, direct contact services, and telephone campaign services to corporations, trade associations, nonprofits, political campaigns, and labor unions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Alexandria

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Services and Campaign Consulting: Groundswell generates revenue through providing strategic communications, public affairs consulting, grassroots campaign services, and advocacy support to corporate, association, and nonprofit clients. Services are tailored to individual client campaigns and delivered on a project or retainer basis.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Groundswell Communications is a professional services firm that provides public affairs consulting, grassroots and grasstops advocacy, and telephone-based campaign services (under the Groundswell Direct division) to corporations, trade associations, nonprofit organizations, political campaigns, and labor unions. The firm combines political campaign techniques with public affairs strategy, offering customized hands-on campaigns such as policy advocacy, direct contact programs, initiative and referendum support, community relations, land use campaigns, live and automated phone outreach, predictive dialing, and franking services.

Product overview

Groundswell Communications is a public affairs and political consulting firm offering a comprehensive suite of advocacy and campaign services. The company operates two primary service divisions: Public Affairs Services (covering public policy campaigns, direct contact, grassroots advocacy, community relations, initiative/referendum support, and land use campaigns) and Telephone Services (Groundswell Direct, providing telecommunications campaigns with live and automated calling, predictive dialers, and franking services). The offerings are service-based rather than a software platform, combining political strategy expertise with modern direct response tactics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Groundswell Direct: Telephone services division offering telecommunications campaigns, predictive dialing, and franking services

Products and services

• Public Affairs Services Comprehensive public affairs services covering public policy campaign services, direct contact, grassroots and grasstops advocacy, community relations, initiative and referendum support, and land use and development campaigns. Designed for corporations, trade associations, nonprofits, and political organizations needing public affairs and advocacy support.
• Groundswell Direct (Telephone Services) Telephone campaign services division offering live and automated phone capabilities, voter ID, persuasion calls, surveys, GOTV, telephone town halls, cloud-based predictive dialer technology, and franking services. Serves advocacy programs, political campaigns, and member communication efforts with universe sizes ranging from 50 to millions of phone numbers.

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Targeted Victory: Targeted Victory is a political consulting and digital media firm offering voter contact, data, and campaign services to Republican campaigns and conservative causes — a partisan counterpart peer with a comparable grassroots/voter contact service set to Groundswell.
• Mercury: Mercury is a high-end public affairs and strategic communications firm serving corporate, advocacy, and political clients — directly comparable to Groundswell's public affairs, direct contact, and advocacy offering.
• Bully Pulpit Interactive: BPI is a Democratic-aligned digital-first public affairs and political consulting firm serving corporate, advocacy, and campaign clients with paid media, creative, and grassroots — directly comparable to Groundswell's public affairs and direct contact services.
• FP1 Strategies: FP1 is a Republican-aligned public affairs, advertising, and direct marketing firm offering phone, mail, and grassroots services — a partisan counterpart peer with voter contact capabilities directly comparable to Groundswell Direct.
• BerlinRosen: BerlinRosen is a strategic communications and public affairs firm serving corporate, nonprofit, and political clients, with strong advocacy and campaign capabilities — comparable to Groundswell's public affairs and grassroots work.
• SKDKnickerbocker: SKDK is a top-tier Democratic-aligned public affairs and political consulting firm offering strategic communications, crisis, advocacy, and political ad services to corporate, nonprofit, and political clients — closely overlapping Groundswell's public affairs and political campaign offering.
• Global Strategy Group: GSG is a research-driven public affairs, communications, and campaigns firm serving corporate, nonprofit, and political clients — directly comparable in client mix and service scope to Groundswell.
• The Prosper Group: The Prosper Group is a political digital and direct marketing firm offering online advertising, email, and donor outreach to campaigns and causes — a comparable peer in the digital/direct outreach adjacency to Groundswell's phone-based services.

Broad incumbents

• Hill+Knowlton Strategies: Hill+Knowlton is a global public relations and public affairs firm offering advocacy, crisis, and stakeholder engagement to corporate clients — a larger incumbent with overlapping capabilities to Groundswell's corporate public affairs services.
• Burson (BCW): Burson is one of the world's largest public relations and public affairs firms, offering corporate communications, advocacy, and crisis services — a broad incumbent competing for the same corporate and association public affairs clients as Groundswell.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

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 Groundswell