Civic Works is a social media platform dedicated to left-of-center political activism. It distributes civic action announcements and serves as a communication platform for activist organizations. Based in Los Angeles, California, Civic Works is led by George A. Polisner. ^{1 2}

Background

George Polisner founded Civic Works in response to the election of President Donald Trump. He quit his job at Oracle Corporation when the co-CEO of the company joined Trump’s transition team, posting his resignation letter on LinkedIn ³ and subsequently branding the Trump administration a “corrupt criminal enterprise.” ⁴

Mr. Polisner expressed his intention to “build tools to unite disparate groups of progressives, so people can have autonomy and freedom of thought but work together in a crisis” to accomplish political action. ⁵

Civic Works launched its social media platform in 2017. ⁶ By 2018 it had attracted 1,000 subscribers. ⁷

The organization describes itself as an enemy of the “conservative political machine of today” which it accuses of concentrating wealth and power in order to undermine democracy. Civic Works’s response is to fight back through collective action based on left-of-center ideologies. ⁸

One of Civic Works’ first digital RSS feeds was digital local and federal legislation updates from the DailyClout, ⁹ an anti-establishment blog. ^{10 11}

By 2018, 22 left-of-center organizations including Black Lives Matter, MoveOn.org Political Action, StayWoke, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) were listed on the Civic Works site. ¹²

Left-of-center proponents praise the platform. Radical-left public intellectual Noam Chomsky welcomed Civic Works as a means to convey trustworthy information, free from “the distorting interference of concentrated power, private or state.” ¹³ Progressive Coders Network, an alliance of tech industry activists providing technological assistance to left-of-center causes, described George Polisner’s membership as an “honor.” ¹⁴

Activities

The Civic Works social media platform collects civic action announcements at the local, state, national and international levels and distributes them to subscribers based on issue preference and geographic location. Subscribers can choose from 15 issue areas ranging from abortion advocacy to climate and environment. Opportunities include both online and in-person involvement modes. The platform also features group tools which enable activist organizations to communicate with constituents. ^{15 16}

Controversies

The value of internet activism is disputed. Both right-of-center and left-of-center commentators deny that activism conducted on social media has significant results. Jason Benlevi, writing for the right-of-center think tank the Cato Institute, points out that government and corporate control over the internet eliminates the democratizing promise of internet-based collective action and that cyberspace activity cannot substitute for on-the-ground presence. ^{17 18} The left-of-center publication LAProgressive alleges that not much has changed despite widespread digital activism. ¹⁹

Civic Works has promised to implement a “’strategic’ layer so we are not just reacting to events.” ²⁰

Funding

Civic Works is registered with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a 509(a)(2),  a nonprofit that receives most of its revenue from fees-for-service. It filed the “e-postcard” forms in 2014, and again from 2016 to 2022. This filing is reserved for nonprofits with receipts of no more than $50,000. ²¹ Its tax return for 2015 indicated total revenue of $3,143. ²²

The bulk of its support comes from subscription fees. ²³ Donations are managed through Network for Good fundraising software. ^{24 25}

People

George A. Polisner, a software engineer, is director of Civic Works. He was Director of Oracle Corporation’s Oracle Applications and has worked for the California State Office of Legislative Counsel, HP Software, Dell Corporation, ATM Systems, Inc., Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne, and the California Student Aid Commission, as well as serving as Chairperson of the Lincoln County Democratic Central Committee and hosting a program on KYAQ-FM, a left-of-center Oregon radio station. ^{26 27} Polisner has published one book. ²⁸

1. Civic Works. About Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://civ.works/about/
2. Guidestar. Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/47-2336244
3. Civic Works. About Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://civ.works/about/
4. Amazon. George Polisner. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/169761907X
5. Solon, Olivia. “Oracle executive publicly resigns after CEO joins Trump’s transition team.” The Guardian. December 21, 2016. Accessed February 26, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/21/oracle-executive-resigns-ceo-safra-catz-donald-trump
6. Solon, Olivia. “Forget Juicero, here are the tech gadgets we can actually get excited about in 2018.” The Guardian. December 28, 2017. Accessed February 26, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/28/tech-inventions-to-look-foward-2018
7. Arck Interactive. Civ.Works – Civic Engagement Platform. June 26, 2018. Accessed February 28, 2023. https://arckinteractive.com/civ-works-the-future-of-civic-engagement/
8. Civic Works. About Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://civ.works/about/
9. Wolf, Naomi, Garza, Alicia, Tirado, Linda, Boeve, May. “Trump:  100 days that shook the world – and the activists fighting back.” The Guardian. April 23, 2017. Accessed February 26, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/23/trump-100-days-shook-the-world-and-the-activists-fighting-back
10. DailyClout. BillCam. Accessed March 5, 2023. https://billcam.dailyclout.io/?page=1
11. Media Bias / Fact Check. DailyClout. Accessed March 5, 2023. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/dailyclout-bias/
12. Slideshare. Civ.works. The 2018 Road to a Healthy Democracy. Accessed March 1, 2023. https://www.slideshare.net/georgepolisner/civworks-2018-program-priorities
13. Slideshare. Civ.works. The 2018 Road to a Healthy Democracy. Accessed March 1, 2023. https://www.slideshare.net/georgepolisner/civworks-2018-program-priorities
14. Patreon. ProgCode Network Project Launch; Civ.works! Accessed March 2, 2023. https://www.patreon.com/posts/progcode-network-16102971
15. Civic Works. About Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://civ.works/about/
16. Arck Interactive. Civ.Works – Civic Engagement Platform. June 26, 2018. Accessed February 28, 2023. https://arckinteractive.com/civ-works-the-future-of-civic-engagement/
17. Cato Institute. Free Speech and Civil Liberties. Accessed March 2, 2023. https://www.cato.org/free-speech-civil-liberties
18. Benlevi, Jason. “Is Digital Democracy Just a Low-Price Leader?” Cato Unbound. June 5, 2012. Accessed March 2, 2023. https://www.cato-unbound.org/2012/06/05/jason-benlevi/digital-democracy-just-low-price-leader/
19. Administrator. “The Internet Changes Nothing.” LAProgressive. December 3, 2010. Accessed March 2, 2023. https://www.laprogressive.com/the-media-in-the-united-states/internet
20. Civic Works. About Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://civ.works/about/
21. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Civic Works. Form 990-N (e-Postcard). Accessed February 27, 2023. https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/details/
22. ProPublica. Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/472336244
23. Civic Works. About Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://civ.works/about/
24. Civic Works. About Civic Works. Accessed February 25, 2023. https://civ.works/about/
25. Network for Good. Civic Works. Accessed March 3, 2023. https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=472336244&vlrStratCode=xUX9ajlk0%2bSSSXzhw0ySjRnNU043zyAeG%2fs%2boobNXNDXMl6LLLTHoqX3MEa4%2fv2u
26. LinkedIn. George Polisner. Accessed March 1, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgepolisner/details/experience/
27. KYAQ Radio. Accessed March 5, 2023. https://kyaq.org/
28. Amazon. George Polisner. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/169761907X