What Involve does

The Involve Foundation (trading as Involve) is a UK-registered charity and company limited by guarantee, founded in 2003, that designs and delivers participatory and deliberative democracy processes for governments, parliaments, civil society organisations, and public bodies. Its core offerings span Citizens' Assemblies, Citizens' Juries, Community Conversations, Public Dialogues, Citizen Visioning, Distributed Dialogue, Participatory Budgeting, Citizens' Summits, Crowdsourcing, and e-Panels, anchored by two proprietary methodological frameworks — the Nine Principles of Effective Deliberative Engagement and the Ten Standards for Participatory and Deliberative Processes — developed over two decades of practice. The organisation supplements its project-based consulting work with a training portfolio (Public Engagement Training and Facilitation Skills Training in 0.5 to 3 day formats) and an extensive knowledge base of publications, toolkits, and a Digital Tools Database used as sector reference materials.

Involve generates revenue through three primary streams: professional services consulting (project-based commissions ranging from approximately £5,000 to £500,000+ for major contracts), training services with tiered pricing across private, public, and third sectors, and grants from foundations and government bodies. Major disclosed 2024/25 funding lines include £956,229 from Innovate UK for the Thriving Places programme, £357,146 from UK Research and Innovation for Sciencewise, £291,072 from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust for the Democracy Network, and £280,808 from the National Lottery for the School for Everyday Democracy, alongside core unrestricted support of £51,250 from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Headcount is approximately 30 core staff augmented by a Senior Associates and Associates network providing scalable delivery capacity. The organisation operates from London (headquarters) and Belfast (Northern Ireland regional office) and incubates three sector networks — the Democracy Network, Open Government Network, and Engagement and Participation Network — that function as community-led distribution and thought leadership platforms.

In 2024/25 the organisation reported disclosed funding income of approximately £2.15 million across its top funding lines, up materially from £1.26 million in 2023/24. Customer concentration is high: a small number of government funders and large charitable trusts account for the majority of disclosed income, with notable client engagements including the National Gallery, Belfast City Council, Gateshead Council, UK100, the Care Quality Commission, West Midlands Combined Authority, Northern Gas Networks, and the RSPB. In June 2025 the organisation underwent a leadership transition with Sarah Castell's departure as CEO, joint interim leadership by Stephanie Draper and Carly Walker-Dawson, and the appointment of Kevin Steele as Chair of Trustees, followed by Sue Tibballs OBE joining as Chief Executive in April 2026.

Name

Involve

Legal name

The Involve Foundation

Website

https://involve.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Involve Foundation is a UK charity founded in 2003 that designs and delivers participatory and deliberative democracy processes — including Citizens' Assemblies, Citizens' Juries, and training programmes — for governments, local authorities, civil society organisations, and public bodies across the UK.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Participation and Democratic Engagement Services

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries (BPAGAKAE)

Keywords

• Deliberative democracy consulting
• Participatory engagement training
• Citizens assembly facilitation
• Community engagement services
• Democratic innovation advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Project-based consulting work delivering participatory and deliberative processes for clients including government departments, local authorities, universities, and civil society organisations. Revenue ranges from small engagements (£5,000-£20,000) to major contracts (£500,000+).
2. Training Services: Public engagement training and facilitation skills training offered to organisations. Pricing varies by sector (Private, Public, Third) and includes off-the-shelf and bespoke offerings. Training durations range from 0.5 day to 3 days.
3. Restricted Grants: Funding for specific projects and programmes from foundations and trusts including Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, National Lottery, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and others. Typically tied to specific initiatives like Democracy Network, School for Everyday Democracy, and Local Climate Engagement.
4. Core/Unrestricted Grants: Unrestricted funding primarily from Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust providing core operational support (£51,250 in 2024/25).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Involve is a UK public participation charity that designs and delivers participatory and deliberative democracy processes for governments, local authorities, parliaments, and civil society organisations. It runs training programmes in public engagement and facilitation skills, and maintains a knowledge base of methods, principles, and standards used by the sector. Revenue is generated through project-based consulting, training fees, and grants from foundations and government bodies.

Product overview

Involve is the UK's leading public participation charity offering a portfolio of training programs and advisory services for participatory and deliberative democracy. The core offerings include Public Engagement Training and Facilitation Skills Training (available in multiple durations), supported by a Knowledge Base of resources covering methods, planning guides, evaluation frameworks, and cost calculators. The organization provides various deliberative methods including Citizens' Assemblies, Citizens' Juries, Community Conversations, Public Dialogues, Distributed Dialogues, Citizen Visioning, Participatory Budgeting, Citizens' Summits, Crowdsourcing, and e-Panels. Additional resources include publications (research reports, practical guides, toolkits), the Local Climate Engagement (LCE) Resource Hub for climate-specific engagement guidance, and the Inclusive Climate Action Toolkit developed with UK100. The portfolio also includes a Digital Tools Database. Rather than a unified software product, Involve's offering is a service-based model combining training, consultation, and practical resources for governments, parliaments, and civil society organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Public Engagement Training A training program designed to empower teams with tools and strategies for high-quality public engagement, deliberative dialogue processes, and inclusive decision-making. Available in 0.5 day, 1 day, and 3 day formats and offered to private, public, and third sector organisations.
• Facilitation Skills Training Training designed to give participants tools, knowledge, and confidence to effectively manage public and deliberative meetings, workshops, and events. Covers facilitation principles, core skills, dialogue and deliberation, managing challenging situations, engagement methods, and session design. Available in 0.5 day, 1 day, and 2 day formats.
• Citizens' Assembly / Jury A representative group of citizens selected by sortition who deliberate on complex policy issues and make recommendations, providing a structured process for public participation in major decisions.
• Community Conversation A deliberative engagement method that brings community members together to discuss and provide input on local issues and decisions.
• Public Dialogue A structured engagement method that facilitates two-way communication and exchange between the public and decision-makers on policy issues.
• Citizen Visioning A participatory process that engages citizens in imagining and articulating their desired future for their community or organization.
• Distributed Dialogue An online engagement method that uses technology to facilitate large-scale, asynchronous deliberation across diverse participants.
• Participatory Budgeting A process that gives community members direct decision-making power over how public funds are allocated.
• Citizens' Summits Large-scale deliberative events that bring together diverse citizens to discuss and make recommendations on significant policy questions.
• e-Panel An online deliberative panel that enables ongoing engagement with a representative group of citizens on policy issues.
• Knowledge Base An online resource providing comprehensive guidance on participatory and deliberative democracy, including definitions, principles, standards, planning guides, evaluation frameworks, and cost calculators for engagement processes.
• Publications Research reports, annual reports, practical guides, and toolkits covering topics such as climate engagement, citizens' assemblies, public participation, and democratic innovation.
• Inclusive Climate Action Toolkit A practical toolkit developed with UK100 providing guidance for local authorities on effectively engaging the public in climate-related decision-making, supporting the transition from 'doing to' approaches to collaborative 'doing with' strategies.
• Local Climate Engagement (LCE) Resource Hub A free online resource hub providing how-to guides, case studies, step-by-step resources, and an engagement methods bank to help local authorities design and run high-quality public engagement on climate change.
• Digital Tools Database A database of digital tools for synchronous and asynchronous public engagement, part of the Knowledge Base guidance on digital engagement.

Quantifiable outcome

• 60-90% of recommendations being progressed or delivered by councils
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• UK100coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Partnership to develop the Inclusive Climate Action toolkit for local authorities. UK100 is a network of local authorities committed to climate action. Joint development of practical guidance for public engagement in climate decision-making.
• National GalleryflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Five-year partnership to deliver a UK-wide Citizens' Assembly with 50 participants to involve the public in shaping the National Gallery's future. Involve leads process design and facilitation while the National Gallery provides institutional context. This is a sector-leading initiative in cultural sector engagement.
• The Sortition FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Partnership for the National Gallery Citizens' Assembly focusing on participant recruitment through sortition (random selection) to ensure representative sample of the UK population. The Sortition Foundation provides expertise in random selection methodologies.
• Community PlacescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2023Joint partnership with Belfast City Council and Community Places to develop the Belfast Co-Design Framework. Community Places provides expertise in community engagement in Northern Ireland context. Framework development involved resident and partner workshops.
• Belfast Community Planning PartnershipcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 June 2023Client partnership with Belfast Community Planning Partnership (CPP) including Belfast City Council and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. Development of co-design framework for community planning over 12 months.
• Democracy NetworkflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Network incubated, expanded and coordinated by Involve following JRRT funding. Aims to build and strengthen the democracy sector across the UK, bringing together people passionate about democracy to support collaboration and build collective power and influence.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• New Local: UK think tank and charity focused on local-government reform, community empowerment and resident voice. Comparable mission around citizen voice and local democratic engagement and similar UK public-sector customer base.
• Centre for Public Impact: Global public-sector innovation organisation (affiliated with Boston Consulting Group) implementing innovative approaches including citizen engagement in government. Adjacent but directly comparable in mission and public-sector customer focus, though with broader consulting capacity.
• mySociety: UK civic-technology charity building digital tools for citizen participation, transparency and democratic accountability. Comparable mission (empowering citizens) and UK-charity structure; differs by being a product-led rather than services-led organisation.
• The Consultation Institute: UK membership body promoting best practice in public consultation and stakeholder engagement. Comparable to Involve's network/standards function and serves the same UK public-sector and civil-society audience.
• Collaborate: UK social-purpose consultancy working with public-sector and civil-society clients on collaborative approaches, place-based working and citizen participation. Comparable mission, methodology focus and customer overlap with Involve.
• Common Ground: UK deliberative-engagement consultancy delivering citizens' assemblies, public dialogues and co-design processes for public-sector and charity clients. Closely comparable service portfolio, methodology and customer base to Involve.
• Democratic Society: UK-based organisation working on democratic innovation, civic participation and digital democracy. Directly comparable to Involve in mission, methodology stack (deliberative engagement) and customer base across UK governments, local authorities and civil society.
• Shared Future: UK consultancy specialising in deliberative engagement and citizens' assemblies for public-sector and institutional clients. Highly comparable service portfolio and methodology stack to Involve, with similar council and central-government engagements.
• Sortition Foundation: UK charity specialising in sortition (random selection) methodology for citizens' assemblies. A direct partner of Involve on the National Gallery Citizens' Assembly and closely comparable in deliberative-democracy focus and stratified participant recruitment expertise.

Broad incumbents

• RSA (Royal Society of Arts): Major UK fellowship and thought-leadership organisation running civic-participation programmes (e.g. RSA Heritage, Citizen Power). Significantly larger and broader than Involve but with overlapping deliberative-engagement work and shared public-sector audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/involveFDN
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/involveuk
• Xx.com/InvolveUK

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Involve