01
Civic Strategy
We help organizations make decisions, focus their priorities, and move important work forward.
- Strategic planning
- Planning and launching new work
- Leadership and team alignment
- Community engagement
THE CIVICWORKSHOP
Strategy · Communications · Innovation
Let’s build something worthwhile.
The Civic Workshop helps organizations build strategies, tell better stories, and bring people together.
What we do
Good work needs more than one kind of thinking.
We work with nonprofits, civic organizations, coalitions, campaigns, public-interest leaders, and mission-driven businesses.
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Communications Studio
We help organizations explain their work, strengthen their voice, and communicate with purpose.
- Messaging and storytelling
- Communications planning
- Speeches and important writing
- Ongoing communications support
03
Innovation Studio
We build practical tools and systems for people doing civic and public-interest work.
- CanvessaOS
- Custom tools and systems
- Program and product development
- Civic Genome Project
You might need us if…
Something important needs to move.
01Your organization has too many priorities and needs help focusing.
02You are launching something new and want to get it right.
03Your team needs to make an important decision together.
04People do not understand what your organization actually does.
05Your messaging or communications feel inconsistent.
06You need help writing something important.
07You need to bring people together around a difficult issue.
08Your current tools and processes are making the work harder.
Inside the Innovation Studio
We do not just recommend better systems. We build them.
In development and pilot testing
CanvessaOS
A practical campaign-management system built for grassroots candidates, small campaigns, and teams that need professional tools without professional-campaign prices.
Democratizing campaign infrastructureProject in development
Civic Genome Project
An exploration of the people, relationships, institutions, histories, and local knowledge that shape how a community works.
Place · People · SystemsAbout the founder
DM
Dion McGill builds at the intersection of strategy, communication, and civic life.
Dion is a communications strategist, civic leader, facilitator, and public-interest problem solver with more than a decade of experience across nonprofits, public health, education, advocacy, and government.
His work centers on translating complicated systems into clear choices, helping people communicate like human beings, and building practical ways to move good ideas forward.
The Civic Workshop is based in Chicago and grounded in the belief that the people closest to a problem should help build the solution.
How it works
Start with a real conversation.
- 01Tell us what you are working on.
Share the problem, opportunity, timeline, and kind of help you may need.
- 02We review your inquiry.
You can expect a personal response within two business days.
- 03If there may be a fit, we talk.
We schedule a free 30-minute conversation to understand the work and what success would look like.
- 04We recommend a clear next step.
That may be a proposal, a paid planning session, a referral, or an honest no.
Start a conversation
What are you building?
Tell us a little about your organization, what you are working on, and where you could use help. We personally review every inquiry and respond within two business days.