Our story

What began as a meetup of just a few like-minded folks has become a Sydney-wide community of passionate and talented people, working together to make amazing things happen through data.

It all started with…

In 2017, Ethel had worked with several not-for-profits and found the gaps in data and tech between the for-purpose and the for-profit organisations being unacceptable. Why were the most important actors of our society lacking these crucial resources? 

After running the Sydney Data for Democracy community, she founded Civita in January 2019. Wendy, who shared the same certainty and passion for social innovation joined the data for good adventure as well as Isabel and Sarah. Together, the team organised its first hackt - a data for good workshop - in March 2019. The event gathered more than thirty curious and passionate people who wanted to use their skills for a better world. 

Civita comes from Civitas, a Latin term that means citizens.

Civita connects data for good challenges with data volunteers for a greater impact. We believe that social innovation can come from the communities. These synergies can be leveraged between organisations with limited resources and experts who want to make a positive impact.

Our core value is data equity.

This means that we want to ensure that anyone and any entity can have the same access to the benefits of data. This also means that we want to create equal opportunities for society and bring the power of data to social impact.

The data equity journey has brought Civita to work with organisations like Atlassian, City of Sydney and Altis. But, most of all, it helped multiple for-purpose organisations through their journey towards a more innovative and data-centric world. Eventually, our goal is to help these organisations reach their full potential. 

The Civita family includes a bunch of incredible data heroes: Anaelle, Cory, Binal, Mike, Matt, and many more help Civita being its best version and ensure that every organisation gets the same opportunities. The organisation would not exist without their support.