CrowdFunder: Help us build a better LandExplorer!

Today we're launching a crowdfunder to fund the next phase of LandExplorer and we wanted to tell you why it matters.

LandExplorer makes land data across England and Wales free and searchable for anyone. You don't need specialist software and there's no paywall. Hundreds of housing campaigners, tenants unions, journalists, and community groups use it every day to find out who actually owns the land in their communities: tracing landlords through holding companies, finding unregistered land before developers do, and building the evidence base for campaigns that are winning.

We've always run it on short-term grants. That's made it hard to keep data current, move fast, and build the features people are asking for. So this year we're trying something different: a community-supported model, with a paid solidarity tier for better-resourced organisations that funds free access and ongoing development for everyone else.

This crowdfunder funds a rebuilt LandExplorer with better search, updated data, new layers, and more. Everyone who backs it gets a direct say in which features we build first. We have a goal of raising £8,000 by 8 July at noon.

There are some great rewards for backers. They include signed copies of Nick Hayes' Book of Trespass, a members-only workshop on tracing large landowners and unregistered land, bespoke land ownership research reports, a full year's access to every new feature when we relaunch, and more.

If LandExplorer has helped you or your organisation, or if you think this kind of tool should exist and stay free, please back us and share the campaign.

Back the crowdfunder here!