International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)

What International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) does

International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) educational foundation founded in 2002 that studies and disseminates scholarly and practitioner knowledge on civil resistance and nonviolent movements. The organization's core products are an online learning management system hosted at courses.nonviolent-conflict.org, an ICNC Press publishing line of case-study monographs, and a multilingual resource library of curated scholarship and primary materials translated into more than 70 languages. Distribution historically combined a centralized Summer Institute with Regional Institutes (introduced in 2017) and a network of partnerships with universities and civil society organizations. Its business model is a hybrid nonprofit revenue structure: paid tuition on selected online courses, publication sales through ICNC Press, free public educational programs, and grant and donor contributions underwriting the majority of programmatic activity. The organization serves activists, educators, students, journalists, and policy analysts across more than 100 countries, and holds a 2014 Nobel Peace Prize nomination, a 2012 Woodrow Wilson Award, and a 2013 Grawemeyer Award as third-party markers of reputational standing in the field.

ICNC's technical surface is intentionally modest: a standard LMS for course delivery, a public-facing resource archive, and a small in-house publication operation. Content is the core asset, and the multilingual corpus functions as both curriculum and reference library. Following a 2017 restructuring that replaced the Summer Institute with Regional Institutes and spun off the James Lawson Institute, ICNC has continued to invest in online courses and publications while operating with reduced core staffing during an ongoing organizational transition. Recent product and partnership activity includes Spanish-language courses targeting Latin America, the publication 'Anatomy of the Plenum' (2026), and a 2025 partnership with ActionAid Denmark on the REACT program.

Financial visibility is limited: ICNC does not publicly disclose revenue or audited financials, and the operating budget is estimated in the $1M-$5M range consistent with small U.S. peacebuilding nonprofits. Customer concentration on the end-user side is structurally low given the global long-tail audience, while funder-side concentration on a small set of institutional grants and donor contributions remains the principal financial vulnerability.

Name

International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)

Legal name

International Center on Nonviolent Conflict

Website

https://nonviolent-conflict.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ICNC is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit educational foundation that studies and teaches civil resistance through online courses, multilingual resource libraries in 70+ languages, and case-study publications, serving activists, scholars, and educators across 100+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Education and Civil Resistance Training

NAICS

Educational Services (611), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Workshops, Webinars & Live Masterclasses (MPACALAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

MOOC & Open Course Platforms (EDAFAIAA), Open Courseware & Course Modules (OCW) (EDAGAJAB)

Keywords

• Civil resistance education
• Nonviolent conflict training
• Activist education programs
• Civic education resources
• Social movement research

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Educational Services (Paid): ICNC offers fee-based workshops, staff training, coaching, and Training of Trainers programs to clients who can pay. Pricing is developed based on initial consultation and may include advance preparation, content customization, logistical planning, and follow-up.
2. Publication Sales: ICNC Press publishes monographs, special reports, and practitioner resources available for free download and low-cost print purchase via Amazon.
3. Free Educational Programs: Many programs are offered free of charge, including online courses, webinars, the Academic Online Curriculum, resource library access, and most grant-funded educational initiatives for activists and scholars.
4. Grants and Donations: As a nonprofit educational foundation, ICNC relies on grants and charitable funding to support its mission-driven work and free programming.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ICNC is an educational nonprofit foundation that develops and delivers educational programs, training, publications, and digital resources on civil resistance and nonviolent conflict for activists, scholars, students, policy professionals, NGOs, and journalists worldwide. Its core offerings include online courses, interactive workshops, staff training, coaching, Training of Trainers programs, ICNC Press monographs and special reports, a multilingual resource library, Regional Institutes, and competitive research and activist education grants.

Product overview

The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) is an educational foundation offering a comprehensive portfolio of educational programs, publications, and resources on civil resistance. The core offerings include: (1) Online Courses Platform with multiple formats (participant-led, partnership, fellowship, and self-paced courses); (2) Interactive Workshops including Checklist Workshops, Strategic Planning Workshops, Movement Design, and Customized Workshops; (3) Coaching and Training of Trainers (ToT) services; (4) ICNC Press publications including the Monograph Series and Special Report Series; (5) Academic Online Curriculum (AOC) as an extensive digital resource library; (6) Regional Institutes (week-long intensive courses) and former Summer Institute; (7) Research fellowships and grants including Doctoral/Junior Faculty Fellowships, Rapid Field Research Grants, and Activist Education Grants; (8) Minds of the Movement blog and Webinar Series; (9) Resource Library with materials in over 70 languages; and (10) Movement Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) consulting services. The portfolio is organized around supporting activists, scholars, students, and the policy community through educational programs, publications, research support, and grantmaking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ICNC Press: ICNC's publishing arm launched in 2015 to support extensive circulation of free or low-cost resources about civil resistance.
• Minds of the Movement
• ICNC Summer Institute
• ICNC Regional Institutes

Products and services

• Online Courses Platform A sophisticated and customized educational platform offering multiple course formats including participant-led courses, partnership courses, fellowship courses, and self-paced courses on civil resistance topics, for activists, scholars, and the policy community.
• Interactive Workshops World-class workshops including Checklist Workshops, Strategic Planning Workshops, Movement Design workshops, and Customized Workshops delivered by international trainers for movements and organizations.
• Staff Training Professional development seminars for governments and NGOs on civil resistance fundamentals and customized content for incorporating movement support into field programs.
• Coaching Services On-call or regular coaching sessions to help practitioners improve their work related to civil resistance movements, available as follow-up after education and training programs.
• Training of Trainers (ToT) Long-term engagement programs (3+ months) that help movements build their own training capacities, enabling individuals to become knowledge redistributors and experienced trainers to improve their skills.
• ICNC Resource Library A massive clearinghouse of information on civil resistance containing hundreds of free or nominally-priced resources available in over 70 different languages and dialects, accessible globally via the ICNC website.
• ICNC Monograph Series Peer-reviewed monographs that build on in-depth scholarly research on civil resistance topics, written for both practitioner and academic audiences with external review processes.
• ICNC Special Report Series Shorter publications on civil resistance subjects relevant to policy experts, decision makers, and international governmental and non-governmental practitioners, bridging academic and policy communities.
• Academic Online Curriculum (AOC) An extensive and regularly updated set of resources on civil resistance organized into clearly structured topics and case studies to facilitate curriculum development, requiring free registration.
• Regional Institutes Week-long intensive courses on civil resistance offered around the world in partnership with local institutions (generally universities), taught by leading international scholars and practitioners.
• Doctoral, Post-Doctoral & Junior Faculty Research Fellowships Competitive fellowship enabling prospective doctoral students, post-doctoral and new faculty to carry out research on civil resistance as part of dissertation, book, or journal article writing.
• Rapid Field Research & Data Collection Grant Grant supporting local partners (journalists, activists, scholars) in recording, documenting, and analyzing dynamics of current or recently ended civil resistance movements with rolling application process.
• Activist Education Grants Competitive grants supporting educational initiatives including developing resources, online courses, translations, curricula, workshops and educational gatherings about civil resistance.
• High School Curriculum Fellowships Program supporting high school teachers in developing and incorporating curricula on civil resistance into existing junior- or senior-level social science and history courses.
• Movement Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Consulting services helping movement funders develop and implement meaningful monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes that deliver value to movements, donors, and allies.
• ICNC Translations Program Program identifying and sharing existing translations of resources on civil resistance and supporting new high-quality translations into diverse languages, with resources in over 70 languages.
• ICNC Webinar Series Online webinar series featuring activists, scholars, and experts discussing critical ideas, case studies, and questions related to civil resistance and nonviolent movements since 2010.

Quantifiable outcome

• 94% of online course respondents reported improved civil resistance campaign planning skills
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 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

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ActionAid DenmarkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with ActionAid Denmark for the REACT (Research-in-Action) initiative focused on activist writing. Also collaborated on the 2025 Copenhagen People Power Conference and 'Towards a People's Peace' publication bringing together activists and peacebuilders.
• Rutgers University - International Institute for PeacecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership since 2011 to offer the 'People Power: The Study of Strategic Nonviolent Resistance' online course, providing free education on civil resistance dynamics to international audiences.
• Tufts University - Fletcher School of Law and DiplomacycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with the Fletcher School from 2006-2016 to organize the ICNC Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict, the first professional education program on civil resistance in the world.
• RhizeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerICNC collaborated with Rhize (a global community supporting nonviolent social movements) on the Global Coaching Fellowship program and the 'Adopting a Movement Mindset' course materials, provided under Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0.
• Various Local Academic Institutions (Regional Institutes)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional Institutes conducted in partnership with local institutions including universities in Quito, Ecuador; Kathmandu, Nepal; and Kiev, Ukraine to provide accessible civil resistance education in different regions.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• International Crisis Group: Global think tank producing field-based analysis and policy advice on conflict. Comparable policy-community audience and scholarly rigor, with broader geographic and thematic coverage.
• Freedom House: Large democracy and human rights organization with broader advocacy, research, and policy mandate. Comparable audience in policy community and democracy-support space, though wider scope than ICNC's civil resistance specialization.
• United States Institute of Peace (USIP): U.S. federal institution providing training, analysis, and resources on conflict management and peacebuilding. Comparable audience (policy/government) and training offering, though serving a much broader peace/conflict mandate.

Direct peers

• Waging Nonviolence: Independent media outlet covering nonviolent movements and providing educational content on civil resistance strategy. Comparable content/audience overlap with ICNC's Minds of the Movement blog.
• Nonviolent Peaceforce: Deploys unarmed civilian peacekeepers to conflict zones and trains activists in nonviolent methods. Closely comparable as a civil resistance training and field-deployment organization.
• Peace Direct: INGO that supports local peacebuilders and nonviolent conflict actors globally through funding, training, and capacity-building. Comparable mission, beneficiary base, and grant-funded educational model.
• A.J. Muste Memorial Institute: Provides grants and resources to grassroots nonviolent movements in the U.S. and internationally. Comparable mission and grantmaking-to-activists model to ICNC.
• Pace e Bene / Nonviolence International: Nonviolence education and advocacy organization offering training programs and resources on nonviolent action. Comparable educational mission and activist/practitioner audience to ICNC.
• Albert Einstein Institution: Founded by Gene Sharp, the leading organization studying and promoting strategic nonviolent action. Directly comparable to ICNC as a civil resistance strategy and education specialist with scholarly-practitioner focus.
• Rhize: Global community supporting nonviolent social movements through resources, training, and practitioner networks. Active ICNC partner with directly overlapping activist-support programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nvconflict
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/NonviolentConflict
• Facebookfacebook.com/nonviolentconflict
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/international-center-on-nonviolent-conflict

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)