Don't take our word for it.
We publish analysis about the same governments, owners, and institutions that can hire us. That only works if the rules, the money, and the conflicts are out in the open, so they are all on this page.
- Government contractsNone.
- Private engagementsNone.
- Sponsored programsNone.
The rules we work under.
If you catch us breaking one of these, we want to hear about it.
- 01
One side per matter
We never take money from two parties with opposing interests in the same transaction. If we're advising a public body on a deal, nobody across the table is paying us anything. If we're screening a property for its owner, the same is true of the buyer, the lender, and the City.
- 02
Private clients are on the register too
Property owners, developers, and firms who hire us appear on this page by client, scope, and dates, the same as public bodies. We don't publish new analysis of a property while its owner is paying us, and any later public work that touches that property says we were paid on it.
- 03
Nothing public comes down for a client
Our data and code stay open. Clients are paying for the work, not for exclusivity. No engagement takes a dataset, a score, a map, or a tool off the site, and no client gets a public figure about them changed except through a correction anyone could ask for.
- 04
We compete for public work
Small one-time engagements go through an agency's normal small-procurement process. Anything ongoing, or above the informal threshold, we win through a process someone else could win. No sole-source awards for ongoing work, no pricing engineered to slip under a threshold, and the same diagnostic costs the same whether the buyer is a bureau, a foundation, or a firm.
- 05
We don't write the spec and then bid on it
If we help a public body scope a solicitation, we say so in writing and accept that we may be barred from bidding on the result.
- 06
Conflicts are flagged in the work itself
When a finding or recommendation touches something we sell or own, the document says so, in place, and recommends independent validation before any procurement. You should never need this page to spot the conflict.
- 07
No grading our own homework
We don't evaluate programs whose systems or data pipelines we built unless an outside evaluator of record signs the result.
- 08
Supporters see findings when the public does
Sponsors pay for the question, not the answer. A supporter is named on the program they fund, gets no preview and no veto, and reads the findings when everyone else does. Every sponsored program is on the register.
- 09
Advocacy is disclosed and walled off
When someone at the Lab campaigns on an issue, this page says so. Our public analysis covers that issue the way it covers everything else, and we take no paid work touching the live matter while the campaign runs.
- 10
Written for the public record
We assume every message we send a public official will be read by the public. Under Oregon law, it usually can be. We write accordingly, and we'd be comfortable with any of it on a front page.
Every contract we hold, public and private.
Anyone can hire the Lab, including governments, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals. This register is how you can check that it hasn't changed what we publish. Each engagement goes up within a week of signing.
Government contracts
None.
Client, scope, dollar value, dates, and the procurement it was won through.
Private engagements
None.
Client, scope, and dates. If a client needs their name kept confidential, the entry still appears with the property type, scope, and dates. The name is the only thing withheld.
Sponsored programs
None.
The supporter, the program funded, the amount, and the period, with the supporter credited on the work.
Current as of September 2026
How the Lab is funded today.
Portland Civic Lab is a for-profit company, funded today by its founder and by contributions from supporters who want the public tools to stay free. Because we're a company rather than a charity, contributions aren't tax-deductible. We say so everywhere we ask.
The model is the one an economics consultancy or a research firm uses: we take paid work from governments, businesses, nonprofits, foundations, and individuals, for policy analysis, data products, dashboards, and software, at published prices. What we won't do is let where the money came from shape what we find.
When a supporter funds a piece of public research, the sponsor is named on the work itself. They pay for the question, not the answer, and no paid work of any kind changes what we conclude. Every engagement we take keeps our right to publish disagreement.
Where the money comes from
- The founderFunds the Lab today
- SupportersMonthly and founding · not tax-deductible
- ClientsPublished prices · none signed yet
- SponsorsNamed on the work · none yet
We use the public records law we tell you about.
The Lab files its own Oregon public records requests to fill gaps in the city's data, and tracks every request, and every outcome, in public.