Beyond40 · Free Software Caucus
Illinois Chapter · Work in Progress

Beyond40 Illinois

Free Software spadework in the Prairie State: connecting people, backing projects, and helping movements run on tools that match their values.

NOT A BRAND CAMPAIGN · A LONG GAME
Region
Illinois, USA
Focus
Free Software · Movement Tech
Spadework > Spectacle
Big Tent, Libre Stack

WHAT WE’RE ABOUT

Free Software, but make it local and useful.

Beyond40 Illinois is the local node of Beyond40 – a Free Software caucus. We’re here for people who look at the current tech world and think:

  • “Most of this is built on Free Software anyway, but users still get locked out.”
  • “We can’t fix our politics if we don’t fix the stack underneath.”
  • “We should stop waiting for permission and just start doing the work.”

We take the core Beyond40 principles seriously:

  • Software freedom – run, study, share, and modify the tools you depend on.
  • Action over purity – less energy on policing language, more energy on moving people and orgs toward more freedom.
  • Open, informed debate – disagreement is normal; we treat it as fuel, not friction.
  • Spadework first – seed communities, train folks, support projects. Repeat. Forever.
We’re not trying to be “the new FSF” or own the movement. We’re trying to be the people you call when you’re ready to stop complaining about Big Tech and start shifting your tools and habits. Bring your crew. Bring your questions. We’ll figure it out together.

ON-THE-GROUND WORK

What Beyond40 Illinois is actually doing.

Fancy blog posts are cute. We’re interested in the boring, necessary stuff:

Helping orgs migrate
Hands-On

We work with small political parties, student orgs, community groups, and co-ops who want to move off surveillance platforms.

  • Switching chat to Matrix/XMPP where it makes sense.
  • Using Jitsi or BigBlueButton instead of Zoom when possible.
  • Moving docs to LibreOffice, Nextcloud, Etherpad, etc.
Workshops & study circles
Education

Small, practical sessions online or in-person, aimed at regular humans, not just hackers.

  • “Free Software 101 (no jargon, promise)”
  • “Secure comms with Free Software tools”
  • “How to move your org off Big Tech without losing everyone”
Bridge-building with movements
Allies

We like working with people who share a direction of travel, even if our vocabularies differ. In Illinois that includes:

  • The Illinois Pirate Party (digital rights, transparency, democracy).
  • Library workers, educators, and students fighting for saner tech in schools.
  • Right-to-repair, labor, and community tech projects.