Mission & Vision
ioby mobilizes neighbors who have good ideas to become powerful civic leaders who plan, fund, and make positive change in their own neighborhoods.
We are creating a future in which our neighborhoods are shaped by the powerful good ideas of our own neighbors.
Principles & Actions
ioby believes that it should be easy to make meaningful change “in our backyards” - the positive opposite of NIMBY. We believe:
local is best.
Neighbors know best what their neighborhoods need. They are best equipped to innovate, organize, and make positive change, and are the best long-term stewards of solutions.
And so: We will support our neighbor-leaders as experts, truly listen to them, offer guidance if they ask for it, and connect them with resources to help ensure their success.
small is big.
Small, neighborhood-scale actions have far-reaching and long-lasting impact on places and on people’s lives. When taken together, these seemingly small projects make up a powerful movement of neighbor-led positive change that inspires hope and benefits us all.
And so: We will approach our work, and the work of our neighbors, as if no project is too small and no interaction too insignificant. Even as we work on the small scale, we will keep the big picture in mind.
inclusivity is key.
Deeply rooted social and environmental problems such as systemic racism, wealth inequality, and climate change can only be addressed if all voices are heard and all ideas are considered. Including all voices in solution-building is particularly crucial when it comes to local decisions.
And so: We will seek out and elevate those whose voices have been historically repressed or underrepresented and actively encourage their ideas. We will remain conscious of the social and economic barriers to action that our neighbors and team members may face, and will offer our support in overcoming them. We will work toward inclusive solution-building by striving to dismantle inequity in all its forms. And we will build upon, rather than duplicate, the great work of others.
we’re whole people.
Each staff member, intern, volunteer, partner, and board member brings with them a rich variety of experiences, values, hopes, inspirations, stories, and challenges. By honoring that we are “whole people,” and by drawing on our individual qualities, we are better equipped to help others succeed.
And so: We will honor the diversity within our team, and respect all individuals as equal members of a collegial community and as people with lives outside ioby. We will nurture our whole selves through pursuit of our own passions, knowledge sharing, fun, and active involvement in our communities.
learn, experiment, share.
Successful and lasting change come when we embrace struggle and uncertainty as opportunities for creative experimentation and trust its potential for transformational impact.
And so: We invest in and support efforts to experiment, learn, and share solutions, challenges, and insights through documentation, storytelling, data transparency, feedback, and network building.
Digital Inclusion
Rooted in the above Principles & Actions, ioby’s Digital Inclusion Policy is a set of values that are part of ioby’s larger Racial Equity & Inclusion framework. This framework is in a co-creation process with the staff and Board, and the Digital Inclusion Policy itself was created using years of formal and informal feedback from thousands of ioby Leaders.
We see ioby’s Digital Inclusion Policy as a guiding tool so that we can hold ourselves accountable in making just, equitable product and marketing decisions in both long-term strategies and daily work.