Urban Permaculture Institute

What Urban Permaculture Institute does

Urban Permaculture Institute (UPI, operating as UPISF) is a San Francisco-based worker-owned cooperative structured as a California General Partnership and a democratic collective. Founded in 2008 by Kevin Bayuk and David Cody, the organization delivers Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) training adapted from Bill Mollison's 72-hour standardized curriculum to an urban audience, supplemented by an asset-based "People's Planning" community resilience methodology and standalone Urban Resilience Workshops on Soil, Water, Climate, Perennial Urban Agriculture, and Design. The PDC runs approximately 75 hours across 18 weekday-evening and weekend sessions, with tuition listed at $1,200 and an unusually broad set of payment plans (up to 24 monthly installments) plus work-trade and scholarship options, which historically cover roughly 70% of participants.

UPI serves five primary customer archetypes: urban professionals and students seeking flexible certification; activists and progressive thinkers; food and agriculture enthusiasts; design and planning professionals (architects, urban planners, landscape designers); and front-line communities facing climate and economic stressors, including men and women returning from incarceration through the Pathways to Resilience program. Distribution is primarily direct, via the upisf.com website (self-serve Squarespace registration), in-person training across the SF Bay Area with field trips to permaculture project sites, and reciprocal makeup-session arrangements with other regional PDC trainers. The organization monetizes through one-time tuition payments and a small professional-services revenue line from People's Planning consulting.

The technology layer is essentially non-software: the "platform" is a permaculture design framework, a small set of human facilitators, and a Squarespace website, with no mobile app, no public API, and no AI/ML components. UPI's strategic differentiators are content (urban-focused curriculum plus People's Planning), community ecosystem (1,200+ alumni, lifetime makeup membership, affiliation with Resilient by Design, Project Drawdown, LIFT Economy, and Black Permaculture Network), and a talent collective whose members co-founded multiple adjacent nonprofits and alliances. The organization has no external funding rounds, no disclosed revenue, and is currently emerging from a COVID-19-induced hiatus with a planned hybrid 2022 training program.

Name

Urban Permaculture Institute

Legal name

Urban Permaculture Institute

Website

https://upisf.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Urban Permaculture Institute is a San Francisco-based worker-owned cooperative that delivers urban-focused Permaculture Design Certificate training, standalone resilience workshops, and community-driven "People's Planning" consulting to residents, professionals, and front-line communities across the SF Bay Area.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainability Education and Permaculture Training

NAICS

Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (9251), Administration of Environmental Quality Programs (9241)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Education, Capacity Building & Community Engagement (BPADALAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Urban Planning & Master Planning (BPAHAKAD)

Keywords

• Permaculture design training
• Sustainability education
• Community resilience planning
• Urban agriculture workshops
• Ecological design certification

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. PDC Training Tuition: Permaculture Design Certificate training offered at $1,200 for approximately 75 hours over 18 sessions. Flexible payment plans available ($300 x 4 months, $100 x 12 months, $50 x 24 months). Work trade options cover up to half of tuition. Need-based scholarships available.
2. Urban Resilience Workshops: Single-topic workshops offered at $40 each covering Soil, Water, Climate, Perennial Urban Agriculture, and Design topics. Standalone modules for ongoing education.
3. Specialty Workshops: Specialty workshops including Grafting Workshop ($20), How to Love Our Planet ($350). Scholarship options available for low-income participants.
4. Community Resilience Consulting: Capacity building and learning experiences facilitated for individual communities based on their unique assets and needs. Asset-based methodology for sustainable community development.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Urban Permaculture Institute delivers a 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) training program across 18 sessions (approximately 75 hours) in the SF Bay Area, using Bill Mollison's standardized curriculum augmented with urban applications and Bay Area-specific techniques. It also offers a People's Planning service that facilitates asset-based community resilience planning for front-line communities, alongside standalone Urban Resilience Workshops on Soil, Water, Climate, Perennial Urban Agriculture, and Design topics. The organization is a worker-owned California General Partnership operating as a democratic collective.

Product overview

Urban Permaculture Institute (UPI) operates as a single unified educational offering centered on Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Training, augmented by standalone Urban Resilience Workshop modules covering Soil, Water, Perennial Urban Agriculture, Climate, and Design topics, and a People's Planning service for community resilience facilitation. The core PDC is a 72-hour certification delivered over 18 sessions (weekday evenings and weekend days) for $1,200, with multiple payment plan options including installment arrangements. Supplementary workshops and training programs (Grafting Workshop, How to Love Our Planet) are offered as individual add-on modules at various price points.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Training A 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate training program delivered over 18 sessions (approximately 75 hours total) on weekday evenings and weekend days, designed for working professionals and students in the SF Bay Area. Curriculum follows Bill Mollison's standardized format augmented with urban applications; tuition is $1,200 with multiple payment plan, work-trade, and scholarship options.
• People's Planning Community Resilience Service
• Urban Resilience Workshop Series
• Grafting Workshop
• How to Love Our Planet

Quantifiable outcome

• Trained 500+ people in San Francisco and 1,200+ total participants
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 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

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Black Permaculture NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by Pandora Thomas, this network supports Black practitioners and advocates in the permaculture movement. Represents UPI's commitment to diversity and inclusion in sustainable design.
• Toyota Green InitiativecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCoalition member initiative supporting African Americans in understanding the benefits of adopting sustainable lifestyles. Pandora Thomas designed and served as coalition member for 6 years.
• Pathways to ResiliencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPermaculture and social entrepreneur training program working with men and women returning home after incarceration. UPI team co-designed, taught with, and directed the program.
• Resilient by DesigncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUPI led permaculture design team P+SET (Permaculture plus Social Equity) working alongside nine other teams to collaboratively design climate adaptive solutions with and in the most vulnerable Bay Area communities.
• Seedles: Grow the RainbowminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by Ei Ei Samai, this initiative inspires children and adults to positively impact the planet through wildflower planting. Has made possible the growing of millions of wildflowers for pollinators across the US.
• Regeneration RisingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by Brandon Harrell, this workshop and event series focuses on equitable food systems, regenerative agriculture, and AgTech.
• LIFT (LIFT Economy)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKevin Bayuk is a partner with LIFT where he provides strategy, financing, and guidance for social enterprises helping them grow, operating at the intersection of ecology and economy.
• Project DrawdowncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKevin Bayuk serves as Senior Research Fellow with Project Drawdown, the major research organization compiling and analyzing climate solutions.
• San Francisco Permaculture GuildminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDavid Cody helped form this guild and currently serves on the Wisdom Council, representing the local permaculture practitioner community.
• Hayes Valley FarmminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInterim use project transforming unused freeway ramps in San Francisco into productive and educational garden. David Cody was founding member, lead designer and first year site manager. Created green jobs for local residents.
• Alemany FarmminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by Antonio Roman-Alcala, this urban farm serves as a community resource for urban agriculture education and food production.
• San Francisco Urban Agriculture AllianceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by Antonio Roman-Alcala, this alliance advocates for urban agriculture policy and supports urban farming initiatives across San Francisco.
• 18th and Rhode Island GardenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocated in Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, David Cody was founding member, lead designer and long-time steward of this community garden.
• Regional PDC Trainers NetworkminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorReciprocal arrangements with other PDC trainers in the region who have similar format and will accept UPI participants into class sessions at no cost for makeup purposes.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Earth Activist Training: Founded by Starhawk, Earth Activist Training offers PDC programs that explicitly integrate permaculture with social justice and activism, closely mirroring UPI's dual emphasis on design certification and community resilience. Both serve mission-driven adult learners willing to pay modest tuitions.
• Permaculture Research Institute: Founded by Bill Mollison, PRI is the canonical global permaculture training organization offering the standardized 72-hour PDC curriculum and train-the-trainer programs. UPI's curriculum directly descends from PRI's framework, making it the foundational direct peer for any permaculture education provider.
• Occidental Arts and Ecology Center: OAEC is a Northern California permaculture demonstration site and training center offering PDC programs and adult education in regenerative design. Located in the same broader California geography, it competes for the same pool of West Coast permaculture students and educators.

Emerging players

• Holistic Management International: Nonprofit offering training and certification in holistic land and grazing management, an adjacent regenerative design framework with overlapping practitioner audience. Comparable in mission and educational delivery model but distinct in technical focus.
• Schumacher College: UK-based college offering short courses in ecological and transformative education with strong permaculture and sustainability curriculum. Comparable adult-education model and learner demographic but distinct geography and broader topic mix.
• Cascadia Permaculture Institute: Regional permaculture training organization operating in the Pacific Northwest with a similar PDC curriculum and grassroots community focus. Comparable in scale and mission to UPI but geographically distinct, serving Portland and Seattle metro permaculture learners.

Others

• Project Drawdown: Major research organization compiling and analyzing climate solutions, where Kevin Bayuk serves as a Senior Research Fellow. Related as a thought-leadership partner and ecosystem participant rather than a permaculture training competitor.
• Movement Strategy Center: Social movement infrastructure organization that awarded Pandora Thomas a fellowship focused on Community Driven Resiliency Planning. Ecosystem partner and capacity-building ally rather than a direct education competitor.
• Resilient by Design: Bay Area collaborative designing climate-adaptive solutions with vulnerable communities, of which UPI's P+SET team was a member. Related as a partner organization and shared ecosystem actor in community-driven climate resilience planning rather than a direct training competitor.
• LIFT Economy: Social enterprise support organization where Kevin Bayuk is a partner providing strategy and financing guidance. Comparable audience of mission-driven entrepreneurs and ecosystem actor rather than a training competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upisf

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 Urban Permaculture Institute