mySociety is a UK-based registered charity,[2] previously named UK Citizens Online Democracy.[3] It began as a UK-focused organisation with the aim of making online democracy tools for UK citizens.[4] However, those tools were open source, so that the code could be (and soon was) redeployed in other countries.[5]
mySociety was founded by Tom Steinberg in September 2003,[6] and started activity after receiving a £250,000 grant in September 2004.[7]
mySociety went on to simplify and internationalise its code[9] and through the now dormant Poplus project, encouraged others to share open source code[10] that would minimise the amount of duplication in civic tech coding.
Like many non-profits, mySociety sustains itself with a mixture of grant funding[11] and commercial work, providing software and development services to local government and other organisations.[12]
In March 2015, Steinberg announced his decision to stand down as executive director of mySociety.[13] In July of that year, Mark Cridge became the organisation's new CEO.[14]
