Our DNA
What we do
To experience the world in 4D rather than 3D, we question the status quo. We instigate encounters between actors from different corners of society and are a leader in creating unique forms of collaboration.
We do this by connecting the dots between our knowledge, skills and experiences. We make space for and give a voice to people and organizations who don’t have one. We approach every collaboration based on its context and are committed to long term thinking and dialogue.
We’ve been on this road since 2012. In that time, we launched an online magazine, to question our society and show alternatives. We organized events of all types and sizes, to facilitate encounters between actors that don’t usually listen to each other. We carried out a three, six and twelve month research project, to better understand the transformations taking place in our cities and lives. We have been working with a variety of mid-sized French towns to explore the potential of local ecosystems to address the challenges of our times.
This path has led us through diverse topics. The Collaborative Economy, to start, then the Future of Work and of Organizations at large. In search of roots, we became interested in our cities and how they work : mobility, food, energy… While observing the transformation of society, the lenses we have been focused on are technology, environment, but also education.
At our own scale, we create new paths, without setting ourselves thematic or methodological boundaries. What ties our work together is our critical approach and the intentionality with which we do it.
Overview of our projects
Ouishare Fest
Ouishare Fest
A 3-days festival gathering thinkers, decision-makers and innovators in France, Spain, Québec, Brasil and in Egypt.
Discover the fest
Le Grand Barouf Numérique
Le Grand Barouf Numérique
3 days to question our digital world
Watch the recap
L'Energie des Possibles
L'Energie des Possibles
A unique experiment to help people get out of energy precariousness
Discover l'Energie des Possibles
POC 21
POC 21
A 5-week innovation camp to develop open source Climate Change solutions
Discover POC 21
Capital numérique
Capital numérique
A research-action to understand the digital practices of residents living in low-income neighbourhoods
Read our editorialAnd also :
The Ouishare Mag, our contributive online magazine / Gouvernances, a comparative analysis of power and value sharing in SSE companies / Sharitories, a research on collaborative practices in medium-sized cities / Datacité, a research on data as a common good / Mobility as networks, a research on towards mobility in networks / E-education, a study to question the educational potential of digital tools with the whole educational community in Besançon (France) / Exploration sous les radars, an experiment to turn twelve cities into ecological transition laboratories (France) / CESA_me, the project of a place dedicated to the future of festivals in Marmande (France) /Société collaborative, a book in French about all the dimensions of a more collaborative society / Résiliences, a cooperative to transform organizations towards more open and cooperative models
How we work
Governance
Ouishare is an international network that consists of ‘Connectors’ and active members. What connects us is our shared vision for the world we want to live in, and a way of doing things that is aligned with our five values. We don’t recruit our members - they join by contributing and gradually increasing their involvement, if there is a mutual feeling of alignment with our values and ways of working.
Our decision-making is participatory, distributed and do-ocratic, which enables us to work in teams that are flexible and have a high level of autonomy. This model of self-organization is one of the reasons why we rapidly grew from a handful of enthusiasts in 2012 into a global network.
Financial model
Ouishare’s business model combines a unique blend of approaches with the aim to sustainably fund our charitable activities and structure. Our primary source of funding are the countless volunteer contributions from our members - whether that means writing an article, organizing an event or making an introduction between two people.
We have paid projects that create surplus, with which we can finance other unfunded projects and cover our structural costs (legal, tech, admin, accounting). Since 2017, we deliver a large proportion of such funded projects through our company, Ouishare Expérience (Société par Actions Simplifiées), which is owned 100% by the French Ouishare Association.
Lastly, partners and donors have played an important part in supporting our work, such as MAIF, who has been at our side since 2015.
Collaborations
We don’t have a strategic plan, or chase revenue targets. We do what we do because of our conviction and interest.
50 % of our projects emerge from our intuitions of what is needed. Hence a large part of our work is convincing our partners to support us in following it. The remainder of our projects are the result of direct requests or offers we create to respond to specific needs. What makes us different is the fact that our approaches are highly contextualized and are built on true partnership. We are not service providers, we are collaborators and partners.
