Civic Futures Lab
Civic Participation And Democracy Nonprofit / Berlin, Germany
À propos
Civic Futures Lab is a civil-society organization that helps people understand how public decisions are made and how communities can influence them. It works with residents, grassroots groups, youth initiatives, volunteer networks, and small nonprofits that want to act on local problems but may not know how to navigate institutions, organize supporters, or sustain a campaign over time.
The organization was created in response to a recurring gap in civic life: many people care deeply about housing, education, discrimination, public safety, transport, climate, or community services, yet lack access to the practical knowledge needed to move from concern to coordinated action. Civic Futures Lab makes that knowledge usable. Its resources explain how municipalities work, where decisions are taken, how budgets and consultations shape outcomes, and which forms of participation are appropriate at different stages of an issue.
Its programs include community-organizing workshops, campaign clinics, public-meeting preparation, coalition support, volunteer training, and practical guides on petitions, consultations, advocacy, and engagement with elected representatives. The organization places particular emphasis on power mapping, clear goals, ethical storytelling, and the difference between symbolic visibility and measurable change.
Civic Futures Lab does not assume that participation is automatically accessible. Time, language, disability, digital exclusion, mistrust, and previous experiences of institutional neglect can all prevent people from taking part. Its work therefore also focuses on making civic spaces more inclusive and helping institutions listen more effectively.
The Lab’s broader aim is to strengthen democratic capacity at community level. It wants people to understand not only how to protest a harmful decision, but also how to propose alternatives, build alliances, evaluate progress, and remain organized after public attention has moved on.
Felix Hartmann runs Civic Futures Lab's local-democracy work, translating municipal anatomy into plain language: Gemeinderat, Ausschüsse, Einwohnerfragestunde,...
Marko Jovanović facilitates Civic Futures Lab's campaign clinics for groups that have momentum but not yet a plan. His work focuses on tactic choice, meeting...
Nadia Berger leads Civic Futures Lab's organizing clinics, where groups arrive with a grievance and leave with a sharper question: what would change, who can...
Yasemin Demirci supports coalitions before they become crises: role clarity, decision rules, conflict agreements, public messaging, and the unglamorous...