Open Causes

In the process of curating over 4,000 civic tech projects, we’ve begun to develop a comprehensive taxonomy of social causes. We present that taxonomy here in the hopes that you’ll find it useful in your own work, and so you can contribute back to improving it. Like everything else on the Civic Tech Field Guide, this collection is openly available for you to re-purpose and re-use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. This taxonomy is also openly available as a CSV download.

We tag civic tech projects with the issue area or domain they address, their format, and their scale. This is an evolving taxonomy, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you see a missing area of work addressed by civic tech projects or would like to help develop it. We’re eager to learn how we can improve it.

We’ve been gradually introducing this taxonomy, so many of the projects already included in the Civic Tech Field Guide are not yet tagged. If you’d like to help by adding tags, you can do so by creating an account and editing a project Listing.

By Sustainable Development Goal

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.” The goals are intersectional.

1. No poverty
Poverty

2. Zero hunger
Hunger

3. Good health and well-being
Health
Suicide prevention

4. Quality education
Education and edtech
History
Libraries

5. Gender equality
Domestic violence

6. Clean water and sanitation
Water quality

7. Affordable and clean energy
Energy

8. Decent work and economic growth
Banking
Domestic work
Economic development
Labor
Taxes

9. Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
Air quality
Earthquakes
Infrastructure
Noise pollution
Parks

10. Reduced inequalities
Debt
Immigration
Racial equity
Refugees

11. Sustainable cities and communities
Census
Cities
Cycling
Homelessness
Housing
Land
Mass transit
Mobility
Permits
Urban planning