Thank you.

No. We are not a 501(c)3. We cannot offer a tax-deductible receipt, sorry.

Kickstarter (among other crowdfunding platforms) charge a fee to use their platform. To best utilize our community’s resources, we are using our own landing page and trusting the power of word of mouth! Also, Kickstarter has a limited number of days for a campaign, and it’s all or nothing: if you don’t reach your goal, you don’t get any funding. We have milestones that will fund different parts of our project, but if we fall short, we’d like to still maximize donations.

Opening a coffee roastery has its risks and challenges. Civic has existed since 2018. We’ve been roasting coffee, gathering feedback, fine-tuning our skills; sharing our mission, building relationships, donating to city nonprofits; roasting, cupping, brewing, and roasting some more. The risks of opening a coffee business in a region of the country full of coffee are certainly not lost on us. Particularly in the past couple years as we’ve navigated through a pandemic, and being in the coffee industry, we’re aware of the supply chain issues, rising inflation, climate crises affecting farmers, and the simple monumental task of succeeding as a small business. But, we are hopeful. We’ve built our business on a sustainable model of scaleable growth. Opening a roastery now helps position Civic to be more efficient on a trajectory of growth. We stand by our mission, we stand by our product, and we’ve done everything we can to lean on partners and neighbors to help support our work. We’ve solicited feedback and guidance from experts in specialty coffee. We’re partnering with folks who do re-entry work and think holistically about people with felonies. We’re trying to listen well to the voices of neighbors, customers, partners, and our community. We hope that, as y’all have joined us for so far, we can continue on this journey together on this next step in Civic’s path.

Yes, absolutely. We set up this online payment platform for convenience, but are happy to take checks as their processing fees are lower:) If you’d like to send a check, please email us at civicroasters@gmail.com for a mailing address.

We want to thank and honor the folks backing Civic’s flagship store, and rewards were a fun way for us to do so. When you donate, feel free to note your selection of accepting or declining the rewards (or part of the rewards). More of your donation will go directly tot he project.

Yes! We will honor the level of rewards just below the amount you give.

We’re working with Tacoma-based potters and ceramics artists to make mugs exclusively for backers of this Civic Roasters project. We will also be releasing exclusive t-shirts and sweatshirts for backers. They won’t be exactly the same as the ones in the photos, but the photos give an idea of what the mugs and swag will be like!

First free subscription will be August 2022 and will run through July 2023.

We’ll release the dates of when cupping class will be offered with limited capacity at each. You can sign up for the number of people your reward grants you. It will be a one hour cupping led by the Civic team to learn how to cup, try different beans, and taste various roasts.

We currently don’t offer shipping outside the United States because shipping costs are prohibitively expensive to ship internationally. Sorry in advance.

Civic will provide food and coffee for a private brunch party for up to 8 people, or a two hour private coffee cupping party for up to 8 people, including tasting different beans, trying different roast profiles, and pairing with food. They will be in the shop once we open.

We’ll have a virtual founders wall on our website, and a founders wall in our flagship store once it’s open. They’ll display the names of people who made significant donations to the campaign in honor of their contributions.

Yes, we’re making VIP cards for the $5,000 and $10,000 levels, good for 1 free drip every day for 1 year for the $5,000 level, or 1 free drip every day for 5 years for the $10,000 level.

UPDATE - November 2022:

We were in negotiations and hoped to move into a space by late 2022/ early 2023. However, as we reached out for advice from construction/lawyer/real estate friends, we realized that the risks to signing the lease were too high for us to ignore. We’re so grateful to have the support of so many in our community who were looking out for us to make sure we signed a fair and reasonable lease.

Our search for a space continues. We’re looking for a 500-1000 SF space for roasting and production, with hopes to expand from there. The most challenging part of finding this flagship roastery space will be ensuring we can put our roaster in there: it needs to be one story so our afterburner stack can go through the roof, and zoned for commercial use.

You can keep up with the latest updates by following us on Instagram or signing up for our newsletter.