About Portland Digital Corps

Portland Digital Corps is a short-term, volunteer-powered civic tech initiative built to help nonprofits and mission-driven organizations in the Portland metro area solve digital problems—fast, collaboratively, and with care.

Why this, why now?

This project came out of a moment of transition. I found myself with some unexpected time and started thinking about how to use that space in a way that felt meaningful. I kept coming back to the same question:

“What can I do with the skills I already have that might actually help someone right now?”

Portland Digital Corps is one answer. It’s not a new org or a big moonshot. It’s a lightweight, short-term effort to bring people together and help local orgs make progress on the kinds of digital challenges that often get ignored or postponed. The work is real, the needs are real, and we just want to help.

Who’s Behind This

Portland Digital Corps was founded in 2025 by Ron Bronson. He organized Design For The Public 24, a civic design conference in Portland last fall, and was formerly Head of Design at 18F, where he spent seven years.

Ron has deep roots in public interest tech and has worked at all levels of government to improve how services are designed and delivered. He’s built and led teams inside public agencies, advised on digital strategy and infrastructure modernization, and worked with mission-driven orgs across the country.

He also serves as President of AIGA Portland, where he helped launch PDX Design Month, and recently taught service design at the University of Michigan. This project reflects the kind of work he’s most drawn to: practical, collaborative, and focused on getting useful things into the hands of people doing good work.

A different kind of volunteering

Volunteering doesn’t always mean stacking boxes or cleaning parks. Designers, developers, researchers, and product folks have critical skills—but many local orgs don’t have access to them. This project connects the dots.

Maybe your donation form is broken. Maybe your site hasn’t been touched in five years. Maybe you’re trying to decide whether to adopt a new tool. We help scope the problem, figure out what’s possible, and—if it’s a fit—build a team to help.

We don’t do long-term maintenance, marketing, or fundraising—but we can improve accessibility, simplify a workflow, or untangle a backend mess. Sometimes we can even prototype something new. Our focus is on public interest tech and small-but-impactful wins.

How we work

Short sprints (4–8 weeks) with clearly scoped goals
Cross-functional teams of experienced volunteers
Participatory design methods with org involvement throughout
Documentation and handoff at the end of every project

What we’re drawing from