About Us – Chayn

How we work

Started initially as a volunteer-run tech for good project, Chayn has now evolved into a hybrid organisation that operates collaboratively through the power of paid staff and committed volunteers, many of whom are survivors. Lived experience is at the core of our governance model and strategy, and shapes the organisation. Most of our volunteers join because they experienced trauma first or second hand and they want to contribute to a feminist future free from violence and abuse.

We believe in radical transparency, participatory design and community-driven decision-making. Our volunteers are invited to operational and strategy meetings – including board and budget meetings – and are encouraged to give input.

We care that our work is proactively anti-racist, decolonising and equity-based.

Team & Board

Our globally distributed team is made up of full time and part-time staff, contractors and volunteers. Our expertise ranges from mental health care to design, research and technology. Our hands-on Board of Trustees ensures we stay true to our core values and our future is guided by the vision of our community – volunteers, staff and users alike. Find details of our staff and trustees here. Our open vacancies can be found here.

Values

We’re a trauma-informed organisation that cares not just about what we’re doing and why. The same principles apply to how we organise and treat each other within and outside of Chayn.

Feminist with an intersectional lens
Survivor-centred
Transparent
Generous
Inclusive

Our trauma-informed design principles approach can be found here. We’re also signed up to the Design Justice principles.

Governance

We started in 2013, and registered as a social enterprise (limited by guarantee) in the UK in 2019. We are now a registered charity. Our charity number is 1196098.

Chayn started as a volunteer-only initiative and survived on small donations and grants for the first few years of its life. Since 2018 we have grown, thanks to the generous support of our grant funders, and corporate and individual donations. We’re incredibly grateful to all our supporters, including The National Lottery Community Fund, Department of Culture, Media & Sport, Tudor Trust, Joffe Trust, Nesta and Comic Relief.