Meet Carrie Basas
Driving Change Through Expert Guidance
At CoDesign Works PLLC, our mission is to amplify the power of the social impact sector and ensure that solutions to our toughest problems are designed with the expertise of community. As a woman- and disabled-owned firm, we are deeply committed to equity, innovation, and collaboration. From providing strategic consulting to delivering tailored legal services for tax-exempt organizations, our work is grounded in a passion for fostering meaningful, systemic change.
Championing Inclusive Solutions Across Sectors
We’re former executive directors, government agency leaders, and law professors who understand the stress of working for social impact and navigating bureaucracy. We’re like having a second executive director for your most challenging problems or getting a 2-for-1 with an experienced director who is also a licensed lawyer in Washington State. Not every problem is a legal problem, but not all lawyers have led nonprofit and government programs, managed millions of dollars of public funds, spoken internationally about disability, taken over for directors of 30-40 years, hosted federal agency visits while in the middle of an office move, or been through audits in the first few weeks. We hope not all those things are true in your life, but we’re here for any of them.
Carrie Griffin Basas, Esq., MEd
Founder & Principal
Carrie Griffin Basas (she/her or they/them) is an attorney (licensed in WA State) and organizational consultant. She is the founder of Justice Studio and CoDesign Works. From 2022-2024, she led Disability Law Colorado and Disability Rights Washington. Prior to those executive director roles, she served as Governor Inslee’s Director of the Washington State Office of the Education Ombuds for seven years. In addition to nonprofit and public service, she has been a law professor, specializing in disability rights, employment law, criminal justice, and ethics, and an active attorney since 2003. Carrie is also a graduate of Swarthmore College (B.A. with Honors), University of Washington (M.Ed.), and Harvard Law School (J.D. ‘02).
Carrie founded her first nonprofit at the age of 26 with just $10K. She doesn’t recommend that as a startup plan. She has served on nonprofit and foundation boards for more than twenty years– which she highly recommends.