CivicMakers
CivicMakers is a San Francisco-based human-centered design consultancy serving California government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations through strategic planning, service design, community engagement, and capacity building. Founded in 2015, it operates via direct project contracts and certified procurement vehicles with a distributed team of approximately nine practitioners.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What CivicMakers does
CivicMakers, LLC is a San Francisco-based strategic consultancy founded in 2015 by Judi Brown and Cristelle Blackford that applies human-centered design (HCD) and systems thinking to public-sector challenges. The firm serves California state and local government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations across focus areas including workforce development, benefits access, housing and homelessness, environmental justice, climate sustainability, and social services, with named clients such as the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency, the San Francisco Human Services Agency, the City of Berkeley, BayREN, Rising Sun, and Cerritos College. Its core service lines are Service Design & Evaluation, Strategic Planning, Training & Capacity Building, and Community & Stakeholder Engagement, delivered through a five-phase Discover-Define-Co-create/Prototype/Test-Implement process adapted to government procurement and equity-centered contexts.
The firm's differentiated intellectual property centers on its Listen-Learn-Make framework, Participatory Experiential Futures (PXF) methodology, and the Lived Experience Leadership Institute (LELI). It supports these methods with a public Resource Library of templates (stakeholder identification, journey mapping, interview protocols, etc.), a Guide to Co-Design, and the long-running LINKS newsletter (150+ editions). The Ridiculously Hopeful Futures initiative, developed in partnership with Realize Impact (fiscal sponsor), Just Visions, Make Fast Studio, and Dalbert.Design, productizes futures-thinking and lived-experience engagement as scalable programs alongside the Learning Labs applied learning experience.
CivicMakers generates revenue through project-based professional services engagements procured via direct contracts and government vehicles including the California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS), San Francisco Local Business Enterprise (LBE), and Woman-Owned Enterprise (WBE) certifications; the firm holds California Small Business (Micro) status. The company is privately held and founder-owned with no external institutional investment disclosed, operates with a distributed team of approximately nine named members across the Bay Area, and has not raised funding rounds. There is no software product, API, or AI/ML component; the offering is fundamentally human-delivered consulting and facilitation.
CivicMakers firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CivicMakers
- Legal name
- CivicMakers, LLC
- Website
- https://civicmakers.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- CivicMakers is a San Francisco-based human-centered design consultancy serving California government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations through strategic planning, service design, community engagement, and capacity building. Founded in 2015, it operates via direct project contracts and certified procurement vehicles with a distributed team of approximately nine practitioners.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CivicMakers industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Public Sector Management Consulting
- NAICS
- Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Civic and Social Organizations (81341)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Management Services (8741), Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Civil Society Strengthening & Civic Space (BPADAGAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Youth Leadership, Civic Education & Service-Learning Nonprofits (BPAGADAI), Civic, Citizenship & Community Engagement Education (EDAAAEAI), Democracy, Voting Rights & Civic Participation Advocacy (BPAGAFAJ)
Keywords
Where CivicMakers is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
CivicMakers business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Strategic Consultancy Services: CivicMakers generates revenue through project-based consulting engagements with government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations. Services are contracted through various government procurement vehicles including California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS), San Francisco LBE certification, and direct contracts. The company is a certified CA Small Business (Micro) and San Francisco Woman-Owned Enterprise (WBE).
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
CivicMakers product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CivicMakers is a human-centered design consultancy that partners with government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations to design more equitable, effective, and community-centered services and programs. The firm delivers four integrated service lines — Service Design & Evaluation, Strategic Planning, Training & Capacity Building, and Community & Stakeholder Engagement — applying equity-centered design methods such as Listen-Learn-Make and Participatory Experiential Futures. CivicMakers also runs the Lived Experience Leadership Institute (LELI), a capacity-building program for leaders with direct experience of the systems they aim to change.
Product overview
CivicMakers is a strategic consultancy offering human-centered design services primarily to government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations. The company provides four core service areas (Service Design & Evaluation, Strategic Planning, Training & Capacity Building, and Community & Stakeholder Engagement) delivered through consulting engagements rather than a software product. Supporting offerings include Learning Labs (an applied learning program), the Ridiculously Hopeful Futures initiative (participatory experiential futures), the Lived Experience Leadership Institute (LELI), a Resource Library of templates and tools, the LINKS Newsletter community resource, and the Guide to Co-Design educational materials.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ridiculously Hopeful Futures: A bold project to transform how government programs are designed, featuring the Lived Experience Leadership Institute (LELI) in partnership with Dalbert.Design.
Products and services
- Service Design & Evaluation Human-centered design and evaluation of public and mission-driven services, helping government agencies and nonprofits redesign service delivery and measure outcomes.
- Strategic Planning Equity-centered strategic planning engagements for government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations to set direction and align stakeholders.
- Training & Capacity Building Training programs and capacity-building support that help client teams apply human-centered design and equity-centered practices internally.
- Community & Stakeholder Engagement Design and facilitation of participatory community and stakeholder engagement processes for public sector and mission-driven clients.
- Learning Labs Intensive learning experiences designed to build client team capability in human-centered design and equity-centered practice.
- Lived Experience Leadership Institute (LELI) A leadership development institute supporting leaders with lived experience of public systems to drive equity-centered change within their organizations and communities.
Companies that use CivicMakers
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
CivicMakers technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
CivicMakers partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.
- Realize ImpactflagshipRealize Impact serves as the fiscal sponsor for CivicMakers' Ridiculously Hopeful Futures in California initiative. This is a flagship project involving participatory experiential futures workshops across California to transform how government programs are designed with community input.
- Dalbert.DesigncoreDalbert.Design (founded by Loren Dalbert, a CivicMakers team member) is a co-development partner for the Lived Experience Leadership Institute (LELI), a training and research platform that equips Californians with lived experience with tools to embed their expertise into county government processes.
- Grounded ResearchcoreCivicMakers partnered with Grounded Research on the BayREN Climate Careers Program Evaluation and the BayREN Equity Assessment. Grounded Research led quantitative research while CivicMakers led qualitative research, combining mixed-methods evaluation approaches.
- Make Fast StudiocoreMake Fast Studio (founded by Virginia Hamilton, a CivicMakers advisor) is a partner in the Ridiculously Hopeful Futures initiative, contributing public sector innovation expertise and co-leading experiential futures workshops.
- Just VisionscoreJust Visions (founded by Hillary Carey, CivicMakers Design Futures Advisor) is a partner in the Ridiculously Hopeful Futures initiative, bringing expertise in participatory experiential futures for racial justice and future-thinking methodologies.
- San Francisco-Marin Food BankcoreCivicMakers partnered with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank alongside SFHSA to co-design the Mobile Benefits Center pilot program, bringing food, cash, job, and healthcare assistance directly to San Francisco neighborhoods.
- Ecology Center (Berkeley)coreThe Ecology Center led parallel community engagement efforts with frontline communities for the City of Berkeley Environmental Justice & Safety Planning project, coordinating with CivicMakers' engagement strategy.
- Equity First ConsultingcoreEquity First Consulting served as an advisor to ensure equitable design of community engagement approaches for the City of Berkeley Environmental Justice & Safety Planning project, bringing racial justice and trauma-informed expertise.
- Rincon (consultants)minorRincon Consultants served as technical partners on the City of Berkeley Environmental Justice & Safety Planning project, supporting the planning and development team.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
CivicMakers competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- IDEO: IDEO is a global design consultancy with a long-running public sector practice applying human-centered design to government challenges. It is a much larger incumbent that competes with CivicMakers on the same HCD-for-government value proposition but at vastly greater scale and brand recognition.
- Living Cities: Living Cities is a collaborative of philanthropic and financial institutions working to close racial income and wealth gaps in urban areas. While larger and more coalition-oriented, it operates in the same civic equity and government partnership space as CivicMakers.
Direct peers
- FUSE Corps: FUSE Corps places experienced professionals inside government agencies to advance equity-focused innovation and service improvement. It is directly comparable to CivicMakers in mission (government innovation, equity-centered change) while operating a different delivery model (embedded fellows).
- Public Policy Lab: Public Policy Lab is a nonprofit design and research organization that works with public agencies to improve services through user research and prototyping. It directly overlaps with CivicMakers' service design, evaluation, and equity-centered community engagement offerings for government clients.
- Mission Analytics Group: Mission Analytics Group is a California-based consulting firm providing research, evaluation, and capacity-building services to public agencies and nonprofits. It overlaps directly with CivicMakers on program evaluation, equity-focused research, and government engagement work.
- CityFi: CityFi helps cities and civic leaders tackle complex urban challenges through strategy, design, and partnerships. It is directly comparable to CivicMakers on civic engagement consulting and strategic planning work for local government clients.
- Civic Consulting Collaborative: Civic Consulting Collaborative is a boutique firm specializing in community engagement, strategic planning, and organizational development for local governments and nonprofits. Its offerings and target clients closely mirror CivicMakers' core services.
- The Reboot: The Reboot is a civic design and public policy consultancy that applies human-centered design to government institutions. It is one of the closest direct competitors to CivicMakers, operating with a similar boutique model serving federal and city agencies on service design and strategic planning.
Emerging players
- Code for America: Code for America is a nonprofit civic technology organization that builds digital services and advocates for people-centered government. It overlaps with CivicMakers on the civic-engagement-for-equity mission and on government service redesign, though it focuses more on software delivery than consulting.
- Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation: The Beeck Center at Georgetown University drives social impact by training leaders and conducting research on government innovation and economic mobility. It overlaps with CivicMakers on training, capacity building, and human-centered design for public sector challenges.
Market position
Strengths2 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
CivicMakers social profiles
Digital presenceCivicMakers financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CivicMakers leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
CivicMakers funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CivicMakers M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CivicMakers
What does CivicMakers do?
CivicMakers is a human-centered design consultancy that partners with government agencies, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations to design more equitable, effective, and community-centered services and programs. The firm delivers four integrated service lines — Service Design & Evaluation, Strategic Planning, Training & Capacity Building, and Community & Stakeholder Engagement — applying equity-centered design methods such as Listen-Learn-Make and Participatory Experiential Futures. CivicMakers also runs the Lived Experience Leadership Institute (LELI), a capacity-building program for leaders with direct experience of the systems they aim to change.
Is CivicMakers a public or private company?
CivicMakers is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was CivicMakers founded?
CivicMakers was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is CivicMakers based?
CivicMakers is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does CivicMakers make money?
One revenue line is on record: strategic Consultancy Services.
Who are CivicMakers's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are IDEO and Living Cities. Direct peers are FUSE Corps, Public Policy Lab, Mission Analytics Group, CityFi, Civic Consulting Collaborative and The Reboot. Emerging players are Code for America and Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation.
Does CivicMakers have an API?
No public API is recorded for CivicMakers.
What industry is CivicMakers in?
CivicMakers's product category is Public Sector Management Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADAGAD, Civil Society Strengthening & Civic Space, with a secondary code of BPAGADAI, Youth Leadership, Civic Education & Service-Learning Nonprofits. Its NAICS code is 8133 and its SIC code is 8742.