This blog was established in May 2016 with a post entitled: Do only yogurt-knitting vegans start co-operatives? In it, we documented, in an open and transparent way, the process of setting up and bootstrapping a worker-owned co-op.

Since then, over the last two years, We Are Open Co-op has gone from strength to strength. We’ve worked with everyone from small teams to large, multi-national corporations. Along the way we’ve learned a lot about co-operativism and ourselves, helped initiate, and establish, a network of co-operative technologists, and had a whole lot of fun.

Welcome Gráinne!

Bryan, John, Laura and I are delighted that today, on the second anniversary of the establishment of our co-op, we can announce that Gráinne Hamilton has joined us as a full member. As per our articles of incorporation, we benefit from her becoming a director of the business, and a member of the board.

Gráinne will be familiar to many readers through her work in edtech, including digital credentials and e-assessment. We are very pleased to welcome onboard someone of her calibre who brings a wealth of experience to the co-op.

She has already helped us put together Badge News, assisted Bibliotheekservice Fryslân with an Erasmus+ bid, and will be part of the team designing a digital literacy MOOC with CET for the Smart City of Beer Sheeva in Israel.

Gráinne is a woman of many talents, and both makes her own soap and enjoys scuba diving. Perhaps we should have entitled this post: Do only soap-making scuba divers join co-ops?

New website

Our previous website, thrown together in a couple of days to have something to point people towards, has served us well over the last couple of years. However, now that we’re now established, it’s time for something more… professional.

Laura and Bryan have been hard at work putting together an extremely good-looking site, which we’ve very excited about. They’re making some last-minute tweaks, so it will go live in the next couple of days.

A preview of the new We Are Open Co-op website

Work with us!

We’re always looking for new and interesting projects. Our co-op specialises in helping organisations work more openly and transparently. If we can’t help you, we probably know someone who can!

In addition, if you’re looking to set up a worker-owned business and could do with some pointers, we’re always up for a chat. You can get in touch with us via Twitter (@WeAreOpenCoop) and a few of us also hang out on the social.coop instance of Mastodon.

We Are Open Co-op works to spread the culture, processes, and benefits of openness wherever we can. Get in touch and see whether we can help you!