We’re a worker-owned co-operative helping civil society organisations build, maintain, and improve the digital tools and infrastructure that power their work.
From trade unions and membership organisations to community energy co-ops we are a long-term technology partner that understands their world, shares their values, and can deliver on their complex needs. That starts with the discovery and design work that makes sure we build the right thing, and it doesn’t stop once something launches: we stay involved, supporting and iterating as your needs change.
We believe technology should be in service of people, not the other way round, which is why, where possible, we’re deliberate about the tools and processes we choose: open source over proprietary, community-owned infrastructure over Big Tech defaults, and a healthy scepticism about AI rather than adopting it because everyone else is. The way technology is built and owned shapes the kind of world it creates, so we treat those choices as part of the work, not an afterthought.
We think the same logic applies to how organisations are owned and controlled, not just how their tech is built – who owns something shapes who it serves, what it optimises for, and who benefits when it succeeds. That’s the kind of systems change we believe in, and we’ve built it into our own structure first: Outlandish is a worker-owned cooperative, and we’ve locked the company’s assets. We put our profits back into growing a more democratic, co-operative tech sector: operating SPACE4, our affordable, cooperative tech space for social change in the heart of Islington. training other organisations in sociocracy and democratic decision-making, supporting people setting up worker co-ops, and coordinating CoTech, the UK’s network of technology co-operatives.
And because nobody outside the co-op is chasing a return on Outlandish, we get to choose work based on what we believe in, not just what pays best. That’s part of why we take on such a mix – from data and platform work for large organisations to social projects for the local community. We’re grateful that our commercial work can subsidise social projects that might not otherwise happen. This variety of projects and the impact we have keeps us all motivated and committed to the business.
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