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My guiding principle

Build something useful.

I'm Sebastian James. I build things for people in nonprofits, agencies, campaigns and comms teams. I think we need to #RegulateAI. I write about that and more here.

For a 501(c)(3) or (c)(4), useful is

Three outcomes

  1. 1Performance reports everyone can find and use.
  2. 2A stronger sense of digital security for the organization.
  3. 3A firm grip on the data that makes up your organization.

Most orgs' reporting lives deep inside an app or a giant spreadsheet nobody knows how to use. Here's one way I fix that: three custom apps that make a nonprofit more secure, more coordinated, on top of the money coming in and dialed into its audiences. Each one stands on its own. Each one feeds a shared data lake.

Analytics

MU Analytics App

Know what's working before the next meeting.

  • One report instead of a dozen logins and spreadsheets.
  • See which organizing turns into members and money.
  • Ask a question in plain English. No analyst required.
How it works

Instead of clicking, ask your data, “What happened last month?”

For comms, fundraising and leadership. The first generation of the organizational brain. Reporting how you want: CSV, PDF, TXT or a landing page. Get reports in plain language from each and all of the following: fundraising, membership and organizing KPIs, social media, SMS, email, event participation, online actions, website analytics, Google Grant ad analytics, connected TV and more.

Pond: web, email, SMS, social and KPIs

Try the demo
Digital Security

DEWLine

Catch the break‑in before it costs you.

  • A plain-English threat report twice a day.
  • Your security tools checked against each other, so real threats stand out.
  • Enterprise-style watch without an enterprise IT budget.
How it works

For the busy or buried IT person.

Reads the logs from an org's weak points twice a day and says what's wrong in plain English.

  • Firewall and website traffic
  • Logins and mass downloads
  • Email spoofing and quarantine

Pond: accounts and security events

Try the demo
An Organizing/Volunteer App

MOE

More time at the door, less time in the spreadsheet.

  • The member list in every organizer's pocket.
  • Know who you're talking to before you knock.
  • Every conversation feeds the same data your reports use.
How it works

For organizers.

A field-organizing app that pulls straight from the member database, so the people knocking doors see who they're talking to.

Pond: members and contact history

Try the demo

Digital Strategy Dispatches

All dispatches
Latest dispatches
Build notes · Oct. 5, 2026

Your Users Are Too Busy to Test Your App. Build a Test Harness.

"Test harness" doesn't roll off the tongue like "bacon," but it's just as tasty. It does the grunt work of testing so your app ends up a lot less rickety than you fear it is.

Read the dispatch · 5 min
Digital security · Oct. 4, 2026

DEWLine: Four Security Systems, One Question No Single Tool Can Answer

Nonprofit security signal lives in separate consoles that never talk to each other. DEWLine makes them talk, then lets you ask what they're saying in plain English.

Read the dispatch · 3 min
Persuasion · Oct. 4, 2026

The Persuasion Alignment: Stop Losing People Before the Ask

You worked hard on the campaign. The idea is good. The creative is solid. You hit send and... nothing. Not backlash, not debate. Just silence. Here's why, and how to fix it.

Read the dispatch · 4 min
Live from the workbench

On the bench.

Building now

The Production HouseContent data layer. Tables live, first questions next.
DSG rebuild55 pages captured. Moving to Astro.
Niles demoThe persuasion engine, shown on real focus-group data.

Just shipped

Smart MoneyDaily game for political junkies. Sept. 28
Michigan: Tossup. Dead heat.Race breakdown. Sept. 9
Voter PersuasionWho moves fastest, and how. Sept. 2

Views published

Reading the Room
4 of 8
#betterthanapdf
2 of 8
The Production House
1 of 8

Updated from The Production House. Each build gets up to eight views: spark, receipt, finding, under the hood, the call, what broke, the stakes, your turn.

What I've done

Work.

All work
AI · Election protection

BOB, the EP War Room

Real-time election-protection operations: field intake, Gemini severity scoring, live dispatch and a map.

Private buildRead the story
Data · Accountability

Follow the Money

State budget cuts mapped to the legislators behind them and the regions they hit.

See the buildRead the story
Policy · App

Deepfake Defense Act

Model legislation as a working app: match the fake to its source image, force takedown in 48 hours.

In developmentRead the story
How I got here, where I'm going

Arcs.

01Chapter

Road to '27

Building the agent pipeline and the Niles launch, in public.

LatestSimple, blown up into massive
04Chapters

Reading the Room

What 52 focus groups say about anger, aspiration and who moves fastest.

LatestVoter Persuasion: Who Moves Fastest
01Chapter

The Accidental Lawmaker

How a curiosity spiral turned into the 48-Hour Deepfake Takedown Act.

LatestPart 1: How my weird brain works
Where I stand
"Some communicators think that people and facts are a lost cause from the get-go. Challenge taken."
Sebastian James, July 2026#RegulateAI: my position
The record

Counted.

759,401real security events DEWLine's detection rules were verified against
52focus groups analyzed for Reading the Room
13builds shipped and posted, June through September 2026
Your turn

What should I build in public next?

Readers pick. The winner becomes the next teardown.

Pick one