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RadicalxChange is launching a Melbourne chapter — here's what it is

An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne
Event · RadicalxChange Foundation
An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne
Thursday, 27 August 2026, 6:00–8:00 PM
Today, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
This is a RadicalxChange event, not a DOD event — we're just pointing at it.
RSVP for 27 August →
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If you're in Melbourne on Thursday 27 August, come meet RadicalxChange Foundation — the international movement behind quadratic voting, quadratic funding, and the "Plurality" philosophy — as it launches its Australian chapter.

Go if you can

"An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne" runs 6–8pm, Thursday 27 August 2026, at Today (Level 8/54 Wellington Street, Collingwood), co-hosted with Small Giants Academy.1

It's a conversation between Jess Scully, RadicalxChange's Executive Director, and Tamsin Jones, on "the role civic tech can play in building common knowledge and moral legibility to cooperate across difference" — with examples spanning polarisation-bridging on urban density in Sydney, climate risk response in Colorado, faith communities shaping AI values, and community voice in data-centre governance.1 Tickets ask for a $15 catering contribution, described by organisers as not a barrier to attending.1

Worth going for: this is a brand-new Melbourne chapter forming right now, not an established local group — an early chance to help shape it, and to talk directly with the people building quadratic voting/funding and Plurality rather than just reading about them.

RSVP for 27 August →

DOD contingent

A group of us is planning to attend together — informal for now, not an official DOD contingent yet. That could change if we hear back from RadicalxChange that they're happy to have us come along as a group. Either way, if you're a DOD member (or want to be), join the coordination thread on Telegram to find the rest of the group and sort out where to meet beforehand.

Who's behind it

RadicalxChange was founded by economist E. Glen Weyl in 2018, after his book Radical Markets sparked wider discussion about market-based mechanisms for democratic participation.2 Its central contributions are quadratic voting (letting people express how strongly they feel about something, not just which way they lean) and quadratic funding (a matching-funds formula that favours breadth of support over the size of any single donor). Both have been piloted in Colorado, Nashville, New York, the UK, Brazil, and Sydney.3

The foundation's current Executive Director, Jess Scully, previously served as an elected Councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, where she ran a citizens' jury to help shape the city's 2030–2050 strategic plan — and wrote Glimpses of Utopia: Real Ideas for a Fairer World.4

Full details are in the new RadicalxChange Foundation entry in the Democracy Landscape.

The Taiwan connection

RadicalxChange's flagship idea, Plurality, was co-authored by Weyl with Audrey Tang, Taiwan's former Digital Minister and the driving government champion behind vTaiwan — the Pol.is-based consultation platform DOD wrote about in May 2026. Tang spoke at Small Giants Academy's Wisdom & Action Forum in Melbourne in May 2026,5 the same co-host behind this RadicalxChange launch — which is likely why Tang's name has been circulating in Melbourne civic-tech conversations. Note that they aren't listed as a speaker at the 27 August event itself.

Why it's on our radar

DOD doesn't endorse specific mechanisms, but quadratic voting/funding and Plurality sit squarely in the same territory we track: participatory decision-making, civic tech, and how deliberation scales beyond a room. A new Melbourne chapter is a chance to see the ideas discussed locally, in person, by the people building them.

Sources & further reading

  1. "Join us to learn about civic tech for democracy and community, and explore how our tools might serve your community or sector." "An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne" ✓ Verified, Humanitix, accessed 7 August 2026. ↩↩↩

  2. "Founded by economist Glen Weyl in 2018, the RadicalxChange Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the RxC movement, to building community, and to education about democratic innovation." E. Glen Weyl, "RadicalxChange" ✓ Verified, personal site. ↩

  3. "RadicalxChange sparks imagination for transformative systems change." "About" ✓ Verified, RadicalxChange Foundation. ↩

  4. "Jess Scully is Executive Director of RadicalxChange and an advocate for civic imagination." Jess Scully ✓ Verified, RadicalxChange Foundation. ↩

  5. "Audrey Tang (Virtual)... Cyber Ambassador at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan (R.O.C.)" and "Trust by Design: Digital Democracy in the Age of AI" Wisdom & Action Forum 2026 — Speakers ✓ Verified, Small Giants Academy, 5-7 May 2026, Melbourne. ↩