Depave

What Depave does

Depave is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2008 in Portland, Oregon, that removes underutilized impervious pavement and replaces it with permeable, living greenspace in collaboration with community partners. Since its founding, Depave has completed approximately 80 projects, removing 8.4 acres of pavement and stewarding a total project footprint of 366,535 square feet, with measured impact of 24.4 million gallons per year of stormwater redirected into on-site soils and up to 7.7°F reduction in reflected heat as measured by NASA across six sites. The organization serves schools, churches, housing developments, and community groups, with an explicit focus on communities impacted by environmental injustice, and offers community depaving projects, Green Streets initiatives, a Care Corps stewardship program, training and consulting, and a replication-oriented Depave Network.

The organization's core technology is its community pavement removal methodology: site identification, stakeholder planning, volunteer mobilization, physical depaving, soil restoration, and native planting using permeable design techniques. Free educational resources, including a Creative Commons-licensed How-to-Depave Guide and Depave 101 webinars, support movement building. The flagship project, Future Green Plaza at the SE 7th and Sandy Boulevard intersection, is a multi-agency capital project combining traffic calming, placemaking, and green infrastructure, with community events and mural painting scheduled for summer 2026.

Depave operates a donation- and grant-funded business model with no paid service revenue from partner organizations. Revenue streams include individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and foundation grants from funders such as Metro, Oregon Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and AARP. The organization employs approximately 6-7 paid staff led by Executive Director Malena Marvin (joined 2025), is governed by an 8-member board of directors, and is supported by a network of trained volunteer Crew Leaders. Operations are concentrated in the Portland metro region, with methodology replication extending through the Depave Network to groups across the United States, Canada, and beyond.

Name

Depave

Legal name

Depave

Website

https://depave.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Depave is a Portland, Oregon-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2008 that removes impervious pavement and transforms it into permeable greenspace, serving schools, churches, housing developments, and environmental justice communities through volunteer-led projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Environmental Services

NAICS

Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGALAC

Affordable Housing & Community Development (Housing, Community Land Trusts)

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Social Enterprises & Impact Organizations

Keywords

• Urban depaving services
• Green infrastructure
• Stormwater management
• Community greenspace development
• Volunteer environmental programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland, OR

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Sponsorships: Depave receives support through individual donations and corporate/organizational sponsorships to fund community project planning, volunteer events, and greenspace transformations.
2. Grants and Fundraising Initiatives: The nonprofit receives grant funding from organizations like Metro, Oregon Community Foundation, and others, as well as participating in fundraising initiatives like Give!Guide.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Depave is a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit that partners with schools, churches, housing developments, and community organizations to remove underutilized impervious pavement and transform those areas into gardens, play spaces, rain gardens, and green gathering places. The organization executes these transformations through community-led volunteer events and offers complementary programs including Green Streets (street-focused depaving), Care Corps (land stewardship/maintenance), Training and Consulting, and the Depave Network (replication support across the US and Canada). All services are funded through donations, sponsorships, and grants.

Product overview

Depave is a nonprofit organization offering community-focused environmental services, not a software or technology company. Its core offerings include physical depaving projects (Community Projects, Green Streets), volunteer land stewardship programs (Care Corps), professional training and consulting services, and a network for replication of depaving efforts. The flagship initiative is the Future Green Plaza project in Portland. Additionally, Depave provides free educational resources including a How-to-Depave Guide. All offerings are service-based rather than software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Projects Partnerships with schools, churches, housing developments, and community groups to identify over-paved sites, plan with stakeholders, organize volunteer events, and transform former paved areas into gardens, play spaces, rain gardens, and green gathering places.
• Green Streets Street-focused depaving initiatives that transform urban streetscapes into greener, more permeable environments with improved pedestrian and bicycle connections.
• Care Corps Community volunteer events focused on land tending at completed project sites, including weeding, pruning, raking, mulching, and trash removal, with instruction and training for best practices around safety and tool use.
• Training and Consulting Consulting, trainings, and resources to help groups plan and implement depaving efforts, including Crew Leader training programs that teach volunteers to lead project teams.
• Depave Network A network of groups across the US, Canada, and beyond that are trained to carry out similar depaving projects, providing training and support for replication of the depaving model in new geographies.

Quantifiable outcome

• 24.4 million gallons of stormwater runoff redirected per year across portfolio
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 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

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Portland Indigenous MarketplacecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Portland Indigenous Marketplace is a key anchor business and collaborator on the Future Green Plaza project. They provide barrier-free, culturally respectful spaces for Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs. PIM exists adjacent to the plaza at 737 SE Sandy and collaborated on indigenous mural project with $15,000 Metro grant.
• Portland Bureau of Environmental ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity agency partner supporting Future Green Plaza and ongoing depave projects. Provides funding through Portland Clean River Rewards incentives and stormwater management programs.
• Portland Bureau of TransportationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity agency partner on Future Green Plaza project. Manages the SE 7th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard capital project through PBOT.
• Friends of TreescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on tree planting at depave sites, including 33 trees planted at Morning Star MBC project site.
• Flora NWminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided instruction on willow tunnel installation at Vestal Elementary School green schoolyard project.
• Prosper PortlandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity agency partner on Future Green Plaza project.
• Portland Bureau of Planning and SustainabilityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity agency partner on Future Green Plaza and related projects.
• Ground Score AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization listed for Future Green Plaza project.
• POIC!minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated on pollinator habitat installation during 2025 Future Green Plaza street closure.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Portland Parks Foundation: Local Portland nonprofit that funds and advocates for parks, trails, and natural areas — shares Depave's Portland geography and municipal partnership ecosystem but focuses on park stewardship rather than pavement removal.

Broad incumbents

• American Forests: National urban-forestry and forest-conservation nonprofit with significant tree-canopy and green-infrastructure programming — broader scope but comparable advocacy and measurement-driven impact approach.
• Trust for Public Land: National nonprofit creating parks and protecting land in cities across the US; operates at a much larger scale and broader remit than Depave, but pursues similar urban-greenspace and community-health outcomes through municipal partnerships.

Direct peers

• The Greening of Detroit: Detroit-based nonprofit focused on tree planting, vacant-lot greening, and community green-space development in underserved neighborhoods — shares Depave's urban environmental justice framing and volunteer-driven model.
• Sustainable South Bronx: Environmental justice nonprofit in the South Bronx that combines green job training with urban greening and green infrastructure — comparable mission around environmental justice in underserved urban communities.
• Casey Trees: Washington DC-based nonprofit focused on urban tree planting, canopy expansion, and green infrastructure — comparable volunteer-led model and educational resources approach as Depave.
• Groundwork USA: National network of local Groundwork Trusts that transform neglected urban land into community green spaces through volunteer-driven environmental projects — directly paralleling Depave's pavement-removal and greening model.
• Friends of Trees: Portland-based nonprofit that plants trees with community volunteers — a direct Depave project partner with highly overlapping volunteer engagement model, geography, and green-infrastructure mission.

Emerging players

• City Blossoms: Nonprofit that builds green spaces in underserved urban communities with youth and families — overlaps with Depave's community-greening and environmental-justice focus, particularly in schoolyard settings.

Peers

• EarthEnable:

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/depave
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/depave

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 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 Depave