Trimtab

What Trimtab does

Trimtab is a privately held, people-centered design agency founded in 2019 and headquartered in Oakland, California, with an additional presence in Washington, D.C. The firm partners with social impact organizations, including nonprofits, foundations, and community-led initiatives, to deliver professional design and research services. Its client base spans social justice (Liberation in a Generation, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights), environmental and rural safety (LiKEN), history and education (Alice Paul Institute), and labor and policy advocacy (UFW Foundation, Aspen Institute, Vera Institute). Named engagements include website platforms, traveling exhibits, donor reports, and co-designed community toolkits.

The company organizes its work around three integrated practice areas: Research (stakeholder needs assessment, opportunity identification, service delivery investigation), Strategy (ideation, project planning, funder and stakeholder communication), and Design (brand and identity, visual communication, digital design, prototyping, and service/experience design). The underlying methodology is human-centered design, emphasizing co-creation with communities and a deliberate mix of analog and digital components. There is no proprietary software platform, AI/ML tooling, or patented technology disclosed; the product is the consultancy engagement itself, delivered by a small team of practitioners sourced from large technology firms such as Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Salesforce, and Nokia.

Trimtab operates a project-based, quote-based professional services model with no publicly disclosed pricing tiers or retainers. Go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, relying on referrals and a portfolio showcased on its website to attract mission-driven buyers. The company has not raised institutional funding, is founder-owned, and has no disclosed parent, subsidiaries, or M&A activity. Customer relationships include both single-deliverable work (e.g., donor reports) and longer-form engagements (e.g., platform builds, multi-quarter co-design projects such as the LiKEN pipeline safety toolkit). The firm maintains no patents, trademarks, certifications, or regulatory filings of note.

Name

Trimtab

Legal name

Trimtab

Website

https://wearetrimtab.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Trimtab is a people-centered design agency that partners with social impact organizations to deliver integrated research, strategy, and design services. Founded in 2019 and based in Oakland, the firm serves nonprofits, foundations, and community-led initiatives on a project basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Design Services

NAICS

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (541), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAHAKAO

Community Engagement & Participatory Planning

Business & Public Services/Professional Services (Legal, Accounting, Consulting)/Architecture, Design & Planning Services

SECONDARYMPAAANAA

Transcreation (Creative Copy & Concepts)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Marketing Localization & Transcreation Services

Keywords

• Human-centered design services
• Social impact design agency
• Design research consulting
• Brand and identity design
• Service design consultancy

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Design Services: Professional services revenue generated through research, strategy, and design engagements with social impact organizations. Services include brand and identity development, digital design, service and experience design, and co-creation with communities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Trimtab is a people-centered design agency that partners with social impact organizations to deliver integrated Research, Strategy, and Design services. Engagements span stakeholder research, project planning and funder communications, and end-to-end design work including brand identity, digital design, prototyping, and service/experience design, delivered through co-creation with client communities.

Product overview

Trimtab is a people-centered design agency offering a unified set of services organized around three core practice areas: Research, Strategy, and Design. These services are delivered in combination to social impact organizations as an integrated consulting engagement rather than as discrete software products or modular offerings. The Research practice helps clients understand stakeholder needs and identify opportunities; the Strategy practice defines project plans and communication approaches; and the Design practice builds brand identity, digital experiences, and service solutions—all through co-creation with clients and communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Research Research services that help clients understand how their products and services are working for their clients, learn about stakeholder needs, identify underserved groups, and investigate opportunities to deliver services differently.
• Strategy Strategy services that generate ideas for new approaches, collaborate to define a design project plan, and communicate the project to funders and other stakeholders on behalf of the client.
• Design Design services that build or refine brand and identity, craft engaging visuals, deliver digital design for websites, prototype and test product and service solutions, and provide service and experience design for programs and services through co-creation with communities and audiences.

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Liberation in a GenerationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrimtab collaborated with LibGen Action to build a platform for community leaders to build a more just economy for people of color. The partnership involved crafting message structure, content creation, and website development to inform, engage, and challenge visitors to get involved in policy change.
• LiKEN (LikEN Knowledge)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrimtab partnered with LiKEN to develop a human-centered design project for community engagement in pipeline safety. Together they co-created a pipeline safety toolkit/workbook for communities living near pipelines, with Trimtab also training LiKEN staff in human-centered design practices.
• Alice Paul InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrimtab partnered with Alice Paul Institute to create an award-winning traveling suffrage exhibit. The collaboration involved incorporating historical knowledge into dynamic design concepts with ongoing feedback integration.
• Ella Baker Center for Human RightsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrimtab designed reports for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which received positive response from donors.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• NetGain Partners: Design and engineering firm focused on social impact and non-profit digital products, including platforms, websites, and tools for movements. Competes with Trimtab on the digital product side of social impact work.
• Be Heard: Purpose-driven creative and digital agency serving brands, non-profits, and movements. Comparable positioning to Trimtab in combining brand, digital, and content work for mission-aligned organizations.

Direct peers

• frog (frog design): Design and innovation consultancy with deep experience in research-led product, service, and experience design for mission-driven and Fortune 500 clients. Competes with Trimtab for the same human-centered design mandates across impact and commercial sectors.
• Hyperakt: Design-for-impact agency working with non-profits, governments, and cultural institutions on brand, digital, and service design. Comparable in size, vertical focus, and human-centered methodology to Trimtab.
• Livework: Service design consultancy applying human-centered research and design to public, social, and corporate service challenges. Comparable methodology and target buyer profile to Trimtab's Research and Strategy practices.
• Cooper: Experience strategy and design firm built on user research and service design, serving social impact, healthcare, and enterprise clients. Directly comparable to Trimtab in research-led design engagements.
• Sub Rosa: Purpose-driven design and strategy studio explicitly focused on social impact, cultural, and movement work. Closest direct competitor in the mission-led design niche Trimtab occupies.
• IDEO: Global human-centered design firm that pioneered the research–strategy–design integrated model Trimtab uses. IDEO serves many of the same social impact, foundation, and corporate purpose-driven clients and is the most established peer in the category.
• Purpose: Strategy and creative agency that partners with non-profits, foundations, and movements to build campaigns, platforms, and services for social change. Overlaps directly with Trimtab's social impact design and research work.

Broad incumbents

• Pentagram: Largest independent design consultancy, with many partners serving non-profits, foundations, and cultural institutions. Competes on brand and identity work but operates as a much broader generalist than Trimtab.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wearetrimtab
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/trimtabdesignforgood

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 Trimtab