mySociety
Provides public tools for access to information, political accountability and reporting local problems, and supports civic-technology partners.
90% of weighted axes reviewed. A mechanism hypothesis, not proven effectiveness or a donation recommendation.
Who this work enables
Tools & support for charities: Civic transparency and participation tools used by citizens and civil-society organizations.
Humanity’s Checklist source match
Gatekeepers — editorial, partial alignment.
Tools supporting public access and scrutiny can reduce information barriers around institutions, a narrower mechanism than the full checklist thesis.
Explicit checklist adoption: not verified. A mechanism match is not an affiliation, endorsement, evidence of effectiveness or a scoring bonus. Read the practice.
Focus classification: 2026-10-27. Based on the organization’s dated official sources below; earlier axis-review dates are unchanged.
Compare alternatives for a funder →
The proposed pathway
Civic tools and institutional responsiveness
Six dimensions, with rationale
Structural depth
3 / 4Targets routines of public information access and authority responsiveness through civic tools, beyond responding to an isolated request.
Institutional reach
3 / 4The documented work concerns UK institutions and support to international partners, not a verified worldwide change in public rules.
Durability
3 / 4Institutional routines and civic capacity may persist beyond one grant, although services and accountability require maintenance.
Scalability
3 / 4Common civic-tool approaches can be adapted by partners, with local law, integration and political context limiting effortless replication.
Funding additionality
UnreviewedUnknown: a current marginal funding gap, counterfactual and delivery capacity have not been audited.
Community agency
UnreviewedUnknown: public access to tools is not evidence of affected-community authority over organizational governance.
Evidence and selection
Organization reported; official goals and program description
Illustrative inclusion to examine this mechanism. Inclusion is not an external recommendation or a verified comparative ranking.
A testable next question
Does use of the civic tools lead to independently verified improvements in responsiveness or remedies, including for underrepresented residents, beyond what would otherwise occur?
Review confidence: Moderate for documented mechanism; low for systemic attribution. mySociety charity's documented civic participation and transparency mechanism; excludes generalization to its commercial subsidiary.
What remains uncertain
Requests filed and visits are not accountability outcomes. Government response, exclusion and safety need measurement. The assessment concerns the charity, not its separate commercial subsidiary SocietyWorks.
Sources to inspect
- mySociety — goals, public tools and charitable structure ↗
official · checked 2026-10-26
Propose a sourced correction →
Axis review: 2026-10-26 · weighting method v0.2 (2026-10-26) · Method, conflicts and coverage