Big Pixel® is a CIC

I can officially announce that Big Pixel® has become a CIC 🎉

What is a CIC?

For those that don’t know, a CIC is a Community Interest Company. Rather than make a mess of explaining what that is, here is the gov.uk text:

CICs are limited companies which operate to provide a benefit to the community they serve. The purpose of a CIC is primarily one of community benefit rather than private profit.

Basically, I have moved Big Pixel® from being a for-profit company to a not-for-profit company.

Why the change?

Okay, I am going to be completely honest here. When I first set up Big Pixel®, it was with the thought that I would create a massive consultancy, get stinking rich, write books on how great I was and then get knighted for services to industry. There was only one problem* – I was not built that way.

I don’t like making deals. I don’t like overselling and over-promising. I’m not (and never want to be) an alpha male.

I used to work for a giant multinational who had a sign in the entrance of the head office, it read:

It didn’t have a skull emoji to be fair, but I think if emojis had existed, they would have put one on there. Either way, I hated it.

I am one of those crazy liberal softies that believe equality is good, that everyone has the right to a decent life, that a genuine universal basic income is a good idea. That a person having more money than you could spend in three lifetimes – even two lifetimes – is inherently wrong.

A 100% certified, proud of the label, snowflake.

This dichotomy initially led me to reframe the way I ran Big Pixel®. I decided to make my focus non-profits, charities, and nice companies.

Bye-bye massive consultancy.

But it felt good. More than that, it felt right. However, like Goldilocks, I was still thinking it wasn’t quite perfect. I still felt that the premise was on profit. That I would still need to treat clients like any other agency would.

Hello non-profit, my old friend

It was through chats with my wife, and other charities and social enterprises that helped me see what was right in front of me all along.

As you may know, I worked for a charity for over a decade. I think working in the charity sector gave me more than just a salary at the end of the month. It comes with a warm fuzzy feeling, that you are putting some good back into the world. It also allows you to be smug and tell people you work for a charity with that slight sense of self-importance that says “yes, I am judging you and your life choices”. I don’t do that. But I bet some people do.

But it does mean I can brush off chuggers without a sense of guilt – so that’s a thing.

Anyway… that feeling of social good sticks with you. Maybe it is there all along, and is one of the reasons people work for charities in the first place.

What I really wanted to do was provide the services I do for free. In an ideal world, I would get grant funding and support from the large commercial tech companies and then not charge for web development or digital strategy planning. I could just help social enterprises do more. To be honest – that is still the ultimate goal. But it didn’t feel feasible off the bat.

So the CIC route seemed the right option. It would mean that I could offset costs where I could through funding, and also make the business model non-profit. As a CIC, all profits are locked into the company. I am allowed a salary, but it has to be reasonable.

Bye-bye stinking rich.

What is so bad about profit?

Nothing.

This isn’t a diatribe against capitalism or free markets. But I genuinely feel a sense of injustice that organisations who are trying to make the world a better place; whether by tackling homelessness, global warming, sexual violence, discrimination, poverty, inequality, deforestation, pollution, disabilities, disease… the list goes on – that these organisations deserve to have the support to use the best digital platforms, have a genuinely good website, use AI in a responsible and effective way, without that eating up their budget. If anything, more than their for-profit cousins.

Back to that evil company that wanted to kill the competition…

When I worked there as a designer, I made a huge amount of money. At least in comparison to my peers at the time. And I remember thinking even then, that it didn’t make sense.

I had a friend who was a paramedic with the London Ambulance Service. While I was making sure that pelmets had the right Pantone® colour and a 5mm bleed, he was restarting peoples hearts and delivering babies. I was earning way more than him. Yet if the snap happened and we were both erased, the loss of a paramedic would be felt so much more keenly than a graphic designer.

That is what this is all alluding to. In an admittedly rambling and incoherent manner.

Big Pixel® Community CIC

Here we are. This is my way of trying to square that circle. I have a vision:

And I have a mission:

So I think I can safely say goodbye to the books on how great I am, but the knighthood should be in the bag**.

I have set up the CIC with the intention of levelling the playing field for social enterprises. Offering them the same level of digital strategy and implementation as they would get as a commercial company with a budget for that stuff, but as close to free as I can get.

What next?

Now for the hard work. The applications for grants, the funding attempts, the partnership meetings, the crying, the endless crying.

But this does feel like the right idea at the right time. Even from the initial foray I have made, I can see where this structure will have real impact and help lift some amazing organisations on to a higher level of digital presence… the title Aphex Twin should have gone with.

With that in mind, if you ever feel like supporting the efforts being made here, then please consider donating whatever you can to our fundraiser at GoFundMe.

Thank you.

*There may have been more than one problem. In fact, there may have been many problems with that plan.

** It isn’t.

Cover image by John Cameron on Unsplash