What Trestle Collaborative does

Trestle Collaborative is a U.S.-based non-profit technology consultancy founded in 2020 that delivers hands-on technology services to social movements, electoral campaigns, and progressive civil rights organizations. The organization emerged from the Uptime2020 election-season initiative, which exposed systemic security, reliability, and user experience gaps in movement technology. Trestle's core offer includes technology consulting and strategy, digital security audits and incident response, human-centered design, software engineering, short-form discovery sprints, crisis response and surge support, and tech staffing services. It also runs the Uptime 2026 election readiness program, a six-month Trestle Fellowship for senior BIPOC technologists, and the Trestle Network of freelance security specialists billed at $175/hour or $150/month retainers.

Trestle operates with a small core team of 1–10 people augmented by a curated network of 150+ technologists drawn from the 2020 presidential campaign, Presidential Innovation Fellowship, U.S. Digital Service, Code for America, Planned Parenthood, and Nava. Project work is delivered 100% remotely and is U.S.-only. Services are sold on a sliding scale with project fees ranging from $2,000 to $200,000; qualifying organizations receive free or low-cost support funded by the Trestle Movement Fund (501c4) and Trestle Education Fund (501c3). The customer base of 60+ partners spans grassroots and grasstops social justice organizations, campaigns, civic tech builders, and foundations.

The go-to-market is community-led: organizations apply through periodic open calls (e.g., the 2026 Winter Open Call), projects are scoped collaboratively, and Trestle assembles multi-disciplinary crews of designers, product managers, security specialists, and engineers. Revenue is a hybrid of professional-services fees and charitable donations. No public stock, no institutional investors, and no PE/VC ownership structures are disclosed.

Name

Trestle Collaborative

Legal name

Trestle Collaborative

Website

https://trestle.us

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Trestle Collaborative is a U.S. non-profit technology consultancy founded in 2020 that provides security, software engineering, design, and crisis response services on a sliding scale to progressive social movements, electoral campaigns, and civic tech organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Technology Consulting

NAICS

Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139), Civic and Social Organizations (813410)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Workplace & Collaboration Consulting (BPAHAEAH)

Keywords

• Nonprofit technology consulting
• Digital security services
• Movement technology support
• Human-centered design services
• Discovery sprints

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations - Trestle Movement Fund: Tax-deductible donations to the Trestle Movement Fund (501c4 non-profit) enable support for organizations leading critical fights for justice and progress who otherwise could not afford technology services. Note: Gifts to 501c4 are not tax-deductible.
2. Donations - Trestle Education Fund: Tax-deductible donations to the Trestle Education Fund (501c3 organization) for donors seeking tax benefits.
3. Sliding scale service fees: Trestle's services are available on a sliding scale. Projects have ranged from $2,000 to $200,000. Grant funds enable low-cost or free support for teams in need.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Trestle Collaborative is a non-profit that provides hands-on technology consulting, digital security, human-centered design, software engineering, and product strategy services to progressive movement organizations, electoral campaigns, and civic-tech builders. Services are delivered on a sliding scale by a small core team paired with a curated network of 150+ technologists, and range from short discovery sprints to multi-year partnerships and rapid crisis response.

Product overview

Trestle Collaborative is a non-profit technology consultancy that provides hands-on tech expertise to movement organizations, campaigns, and social change groups. Rather than a single software product, Trestle offers a portfolio of service offerings including technology consulting and strategy, digital security services, human-centered design, software engineering, and discovery sprints. Programs include the Uptime election readiness initiative, crisis response services, tech staffing support, the Trestle Fellowship for BIPOC technologists, and the Trestle Movement Fund for donations. Services are provided on a sliding scale and range from short-term consulting engagements to multi-year partnerships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Technology Consulting & Strategy Services Strategic technology advisory services that help movement organizations, campaigns, and civic-tech builders make informed decisions about product development, staffing, tooling, and technology infrastructure for organizing and social-change work.
• Digital Security Services Application and IT security expertise including vulnerability detection, security audits, incident response, and implementation of security best practices for movement organizations and campaigns facing online threats.
• Human-Centered Design Services User-experience research and design services that improve volunteer, member, and voter engagement tools for organizing programs.
• Software Engineering & Product Development Hands-on engineering support that fixes gaps in web, app, or software projects, builds new features, and executes technology product strategies for partner organizations.
• Discovery Sprints Short collaborative assessments led by small multi-disciplinary teams of technologists that help organizations evaluate technology products, programs, or infrastructure, identify risks and challenges, and lay out tangible paths forward.
• Uptime Election Readiness Program Election readiness program that provides technology support to help organizations prepare tech infrastructure for midterm elections, ensuring organizers can engage volunteers, mobilize voters, and protect democracy.
• Crisis Response & Surge Support Rapid-response capacity for security attacks, site reliability crashes, sudden urgent changes in product strategy, and election-season emergencies faced by movement organizations and campaigns.
• Tech Staffing & Talent Services Short-term tech staffing support that fills personnel gaps, assists with longer-term tech hiring strategies, and provides coaching and mentoring for organizational leaders.
• Trestle Fellowship Six-month immersive full-time work program for senior BIPOC technologists to gain experience in social-change technology.
• Trestle Movement Fund (501c4) 501c4 non-profit fund channeling donations to enable technology support for organizations leading critical fights for justice and progress who otherwise could not afford these services.

Quantifiable outcome

• Upgraded security, reliability, UX, and product strategy for 65+ critical technology programs
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 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

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Code for America: Nonprofit civic-tech organization that builds and advocates for digital services for the public. Highly comparable mission of bringing technology capacity to under-resourced public and civic institutions; several Trestle technologists come from Code for America.
• CivicActions: Cooperative civic-tech consultancy providing digital strategy, design, and engineering for government and mission-driven organizations. Directly comparable service offerings to Trestle's tech consulting and software engineering practices.
• NetHope: Nonprofit consortium that helps NGOs and humanitarian organizations leverage technology effectively. Comparable mission of bringing technology capacity to mission-driven nonprofits; shares Trestle's nonprofit, donor-supported model.
• NTEN: Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network — membership organization that supports nonprofits with technology strategy, training, and capacity building. Comparable in serving under-resourced nonprofits with tech expertise, though more training-focused than implementation.
• Center for Tech and Civic Life: Nonprofit that supports local election offices with technology, security, and operational resources. Directly comparable in providing nonpartisan civic-tech infrastructure and has similar funder-supported model serving democracy programs.
• Nava: Public-benefit civic technology consultancy that builds and modernizes digital services for government and civic clients. Comparable in offering digital strategy, engineering, and product expertise; operates as a for-profit public benefit corp rather than nonprofit.
• U.S. Digital Response: Nonprofit that connects experienced technologists with state and local governments and civic organizations needing rapid digital support. Closely matches Trestle's surge-response, human-centered service model, though USDR is more government-facing.

Broad incumbents

• Blue State: Long-established progressive digital agency providing strategy, fundraising, and technology services to campaigns and nonprofits. Wider portfolio than Trestle (creative, marketing, fundraising tech) but competes for the same progressive organizational clients.
• Catalist: Progressive data and technology infrastructure provider serving Democratic campaigns and allied organizations. Adjacent to Trestle in providing tech infrastructure to the progressive ecosystem but more focused on voter data and targeting.

Emerging players

• Movement Technology Project: Newer nonprofit focused on building technology infrastructure for movement organizations, particularly in conflict zones and repressive contexts. Comparable mission and target audience but a smaller, more geographically specialized player.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/trestle-collaborative

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Trestle Collaborative