I founded OpenPlans in 1999, intent on using my skills in technology and business to give back to the world.  A decade later, OpenPlans is home to a talented, entrepreneurial staff of 50 and more than a dozen successful projects.

Technology can be a powerful tool for helping people work together, sharing best practices and enabling communities. OpenPlans builds software, new media outlets, and other tools that bring democracy closer to its potential.

OpenPlans is a unique place, a technology-driven social enterprise, and one of the largest organizations in the world dedicated to producing open source software.

We spot the seams in the world where opportunities for transformative change exist: the way open source can spread the knowledge and tools of good government; the promise that planning for people first, rather than cars first, can transform neighborhoods and cities; the potential of the Web to create a more open, engaged society.

In New York, our work has broken the policy gridlock and lit up the city grid with plazas, bike lanes, and better transit. The effects have rippled outward: the software and media tools we built to transform New York have caught on with people elsewhere and changed policies in dozens of cities.

Our open source software projects – like GeoServer – are used around the world to help governments manage and share data. We aim to bootstrap the adoption of open source, creating an ecosystem of flexible, interoperable software for good government.

OpenPlans has an enviable track record, but the future holds much more. Our incredible team is poised to take advantage of converging forces in government technology, electronic democracy, and transportation planning.

Mark Gorton
Founder and Chairman