Fresh Ink is a worker-owned tech cooperative, incubated in Ithaca, NY and brought to life in Olympia, WA in July 2016. Our mission is to mindfully use technology, digital design, and digital strategy for the benefit of people and planet, while simplifying the tech needs and expenses of social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, NGOs, and fellow cooperatives.

Our story is just beginning, before we are able to truly tell it we’d like to share this snippet from our worker handbook:

Our Mission

Mindfully use technology, digital design, and digital strategy for the benefit of people and planet, while simplifying the tech needs and expenses of social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, NGOs, and fellow cooperatives.

Who We Are

Fresh Ink at our core is about the harmony of giving. We are a service for social and environmental change — a place to grow, be challenged, and learn. We value the co-creative process. We value each other, our individuality, and our collective mindset.

We are an empowered workforce. We report to ourselves and hold each other accountable for our collective success. We organize our projects to give ourselves a structure for growth.

Our Motto’s

Question assumptions. Fail — fast and often. Hold strong but open opinions. Continually grow processes and perspectives. Play. Ask. Give. Share. Laugh. Be curious.

Our Core Culture

True equality, anti-oppression, openness, trust, respect, and ownership.

Our Core Structure

We are a flat organization practicing consensus based decision making, radical transparency, and open-book management — with a cooperative, co-creative and mindful democracy.

Our Approach

Using radical transparency and a highly collaborative process with our clients to uncover key project outcomes. We use the business model canvas with clients to help us all collectively understand the organization as to can uncover the strongest value points. We keep it budget friendly by investing in the WordPress community — we think less about custom code and more about shifting those development costs to discovery, design, and delivery.

Web projects keep a tight production cycle using a content-first approach and through the lens of the sites visitors. Please always think in terms of outcomes and cost-benefit for our clients. How can we raise the impact of an organization through every dollar spent? Let’s never get stuck in any of the above. and let’s always seek to grow our process and adapt.

Our Work Rules

1.  Do your personal best.
2.  Be clear with your time.
3.  Question assumptions.
4.  Play. Experiment. Learn.
5.  Have fun.