Ukrainian and Russian-speaking communities in Ukraine could use software developed by Wellington co-operative Loomio to help pick up the pieces in the shattered country.

Loomio's open-source software lets people put forward proposals that can be discussed, modified, voted on and vetoed through an online forum.

Its 11,000 users include the Wellington City Council and healthcare provider Pathways.

Co-operative member Alanna Krause said the co-op had received requests from communities in the Ukraine to translate its cloud-based software into their languages, following civil unrest and the actions of armed men creating division in the country.

Loomio hoped to finish translating the tool into Russian and Ukrainian within weeks, Krause said.

It was not unusual for it to receive inquiries from overseas after major social changes, she said.

"Every time there is a democracy movement in the world, we end up getting contacted by people in those movements," Krause said.

"Tools like Twitter can help you spark a riot, but Loomio can help you sew society back up . . .

"A democracy movement in Greece, where there is also a lot of political unrest, has started Loomio groups for every town and region in the country to rethink civil democracy."

The co-operative, which has 12 fulltime staff and is based at the Enspiral "social impact hub" in Allen St, was born out of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

It kicked off a campaign this week through crowdfunding platform CrowdtiltOpen to raise at least US$100,000 (NZ$118,000) for a version of its software that would support access from mobile devices.

If the campaign raised US$250,000, Loomio could qualify for a 40 per cent matching grant from government agency Callaghan Innovation that would also let it support SMS (short message service or texting) so its software could be used where there was no broadband coverage.

People who contributed more than $25 to its crowdfunding campaign would get early access to its new software and those who paid at least $2500 would be entitled to consulting packages at special rates, Krause said.