Citizenry is an AI nonprofit bringing the ease and personalization of consumer technology to civic engagement.
Building shared digital infrastructure for civic life.
We make it easy for anyone to step up, and for any local organization to stand out.
For People: We lower the barriers to getting involved.
Citizenry brings local information and opportunities together around people’s interests, location, and goals, making it easier to discover what’s happening and get involved.
Direct pathways to get involved: Matches residents with local organizations, volunteer roles, and civic opportunities based on their interests, skills, location, and available time.
Local reporting connected to action: Connects reporting from local newsrooms with relevant organizations, public meetings, and opportunities to participate, with links to the original sources.
Public records in plain language: Explains municipal records, hearings, permits, and neighborhood changes in plain language, with links to official sources.
Practical civic knowledge: Helps residents understand local government, nonprofit boards, and other forms of participation before deciding how to get involved.
For Civil Society: We give local organizations shared tools to stay resilient.
Citizenry creates new ways for local organizations to reach interested people, build relationships, and expand participation in their work.
Illustrative example
We’re a neighborhood cycling club that organizes group rides, runs workshops, and advocates for safer streets. We’d love to reach riders who haven’t heard of us.
Citizenry: AI recommends the club’s ride to nearby cyclists who might never have heard of the group.
A ride turns into membership: A rider makes friends on the first ride, joins the club, and starts coming to workshops.
A rider becomes a regular volunteer: A cyclist joins a ride and signs up to help run the club’s monthly bike repair workshops.
A neighbor backs safer streets: A rider learns what the club is doing to make a dangerous crossing safer and donates to its campaign.
Discovery beyond existing networks: Makes an organization’s work discoverable to residents whose interests align with its mission, including people outside its established networks.
Events and volunteering: Publish events and volunteer roles, manage registrations and check-in, and record service hours in one place.
Members and supporters: Manage contacts, memberships, and renewals, with records controlled by the organization and available for export.
Consent-based communication: Reach people who have chosen to hear from the organization, with a separate opt-in for each relationship.
Citizenry Corps: Citizenry Corps combines the platform with one-on-one guidance to help employees volunteer, mentor, serve on boards, and build connections beyond work.
Our theory of change. Our ambition is to make civic involvement part of everyday life, strengthening the connections between people and the institutions that serve their communities.
Illustrative examples
Personalized recommendations
I’m new to New York, work remotely, and love cycling. I’d like to meet people and put my design skills to use.
Engage — Find a cycling crew: Join a weekend ride, meet neighbors, and hear about a street they want to make safer.
Read up on the issues — Understand that street: Read a local newsroom’s reporting on the proposed redesign and why neighbors disagree.
Practical resources and content — Prepare to speak up: Use a guide to community board meetings to find where street proposals are discussed and how to comment.
Act — Put design skills to work: Help a neighborhood campaign explain the redesign through clear visuals, then share your perspective at a public meeting.
A weekend ride becomes a regular connection—and a reason to keep following local street decisions.
I recently retired from teaching. I love art and want a regular commitment that helps me meet people outside my usual circle.
Engage — Meet through making art: Join an intergenerational art workshop and get to know neighbors outside your usual circle.
Read up on the issues — Follow local arts access: Read a local newsroom’s reporting on the funding pressures facing neighborhood arts programs.
Practical resources and content — Find a role that fits: Use a guide to skills-based volunteering to prepare questions about a recurring teaching role and its time commitment.
Act — Bring teaching experience: Ask a neighborhood arts organization about an open volunteer role helping children explore art.
A workshop opens the door to a recurring commitment, familiar faces, and an ongoing interest in local arts.
I’m raising two kids, work in finance, and care about food access. Most of my free time is on weekends.
Engage — Start with a family morning: Join a weekend activity at a neighborhood food garden with your children and meet the people keeping it going.
Read up on the issues — See the food-access picture: Read a local newsroom’s reporting on food pantry demand and school meal proposals affecting families.
Practical resources and content — Plan a manageable contribution: Use a guide to skills-based volunteering to ask about a focused remote project that fits around work and family.
Act — Help a pantry plan ahead: Offer your finance skills for an advertised budgeting project, with a scope and schedule agreed with the pantry.
Weekend visits and a manageable project make room for participation alongside work and family.
Progress: 3 Beta locations (New York City · San Francisco · Jackson Hole); 2,171 Community organizations & public bodies; 500 Beta testers; 4,850 Average monthly site visits (May–Oct 2026); 4,511 Personalized recommendations
What’s next: More places, more people: Expand beyond the beta and bring Citizenry to more cities and communities. Community foundations: Partner with community foundations to strengthen connections between residents and local organizations. Local governments: Work with cities, boroughs, and other local governments to connect residents with public information and opportunities to participate. Employer partnerships: Bring Citizenry Corps to employers, combining the platform with personal guidance. Fundraising: Launch philanthropic fundraising to support platform operations, back regional expansion, and keep discovery independent. New shared tools: Pilot new shared tools with nonprofits and civic groups.
After 30 years in New York, this experience revived my connection to the city.
Lillian L., Manhattan resident
I'm truly blown away by this site. It helped me find a food pantry I didn't know about.
Jacob W., New York resident
Who’s behind Citizenry: After moving to New York, Dominic Ramos-Ruiz found community through local organizations. His work across public service, technology, and nonprofit boards later showed him the challenge from both sides: people looking to contribute, and organizations struggling to reach them. He founded Citizenry to make those connections easier for others.
Why AI makes this possible now
Civic discovery existed before AI, but organizing an entire community's civic landscape—and keeping it relevant to each person—was impossible to sustain at scale. AI makes it possible to continuously synthesize thousands of unstructured sources into clear, personalized pathways for everyday participation.
Make scattered information usable
Local opportunities and decisions appear across websites, calendars, and lengthy public documents—not one consistent catalog.
AI helps extract and organize information from different formats and explain public records in plain language, while retaining links to the sources.
Match meaning, not just keywords
People describe what matters to them in everyday language, not the categories used by institutions.
AI helps connect stated interests and personal context with relevant organizations and opportunities, even when their descriptions use different words.
Keep discovery connected to local life
A directory needs ongoing attention as events pass, opportunities change, and new information appears.
AI-assisted extraction works alongside scheduled source checks and date filters to help maintain a changing catalog. It supports the upkeep; it does not guarantee complete or current coverage.
Our commitments: AI supports discovery. People choose. Follow source links to check the information and decide how to participate.
Human curation: We review organizations for current opportunities to take part.
Privacy and choice: We do not sell personal data. Sharing an identifiable profile requires a separate opt-in for each organization.
Nonpartisan and nonpolitical: Citizenry is not political. We do not endorse candidates, parties, or political causes.
Free for residents: Discovery is free for residents, with no advertising on the platform.
Why this work matters: Democracy depends on people being able to understand local decisions and take part in shaping them. Citizenry helps connect that understanding with opportunities to act.
Partner with us: Explore a partnership through your foundation, local government, or workplace.
Founding supporters: Meet the people and institutions helping Citizenry grow.
Citizenry is a fiscally sponsored project of Fiscal Sponsorship Allies, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Now in beta in New York City, San Francisco, and Jackson Hole, with a civic recommendation engine available nationwide.
Why it matters
Citizenry — New York City