CIVIL Press
Ideas and practical resources for building institutions that can carry their commitments.
CIVIL Press publishes books, field guides, and applied resources on institutional design, stewardship, leadership, and the systems beneath public-interest work.
Read the methodology. Then put it to work.
Built to Hold
The CIVIL Framework™. Written for foundations.
The full methodology: the five disciplines, the eight institutional functions they read across, and reflection questions a board or leadership team can work through together. Read it straight through, or use it as a working reference for institutional self-examination. One purchase includes every future edition.
- 01 The Case for Paradigmatic Institutional Stewardship
- 02 Why This Moment Requires Different Thinking
- 03 From Capital-Centered to Collective Wellbeing
- 04 Charting Bearings Across the Whole System
- 05 The Five Disciplines That Hold Direction
- 06 From Sound Design to Durable Consequence
- 07 The Distance Worth Closing
An afterword on the author and the firm, and a glossary of terms, follow the final chapter.
The Companion Workbook
A companion piece to The CIVIL Framework™, for nonprofits.
A private space to work the Framework. Section by section, it makes room for an honest look at what your organization is built to carry, on your own, with your leadership team, or alongside deeper work with Civil.
Five worksheets, one for each discipline (Clarify, Integrate, Validate, Implement, and Learn), each turning the book toward your own institution. Private by design, and made to be written in, on your own or with your team.
Every worksheet moves through- What this is, and why it matters now
- What to notice in your own institution
- Signs it is working, and warning signs
- What to carry forward, and a question to hold
- The four conditions of wellbeing: Relationships and Community, Health and Human Capacity, Financial Capacity, and Purpose and Fidelity
- A conversation to have with your board
A developing body of work.
New field guides, workbooks, and research briefs will appear here as published. For shorter-form thinking, read The CIVIL Lens.
Read The CIVIL Lens →