A Short History and Introduction

The Loomio project began in late 2011 when some members of the Occupy Wellington movement met up with some people at Enspiral and we realized we had a common need for a better decision making tool.

As non-hierarchical groups that aim to give all members a voice in the process, traditional top-down decision making wasn't an option, but traditional consensus decision making requiring everyone to sit in a circle and talk each point through was too slow and inefficient.

Loomio was conceived to take the best of participatory processes and make it efficient and straightforward for use in groups where people might be in different locations and time zones, and have busy members who don't have too much time to spare.

Our goal as a team is to create a simple, effective tool that helps groups move together. We believe in the power of giving each person affected by a decision a voice – it encourages people to feel ownership of outcomes, and takes advantage of the good ideas anyone in the group, regardless of their status, may come up with.

We committed from the outset to create a free and open source tool, and it is our aim to build a community of Loomio contributors who will help make this tool as great as it can be.

Tags: history