Ten years on from the founding of Partners for a New Economy, we reflect on our journey so far, and set strategic direction for the next phase of our mission. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to our discussions and thinking in the review of our strategy over the last year.
Our vision remains ambitious: an economy that serves people and nature, now and for future generations. As a funder collaborative, our biggest contribution is through the grants we make together. Our mission is to cultivate the conditions for economic systems change in Europe. Looking ahead towards 2030, we will pursue four goals:
- Redefined Economic Purpose: governments shaping wellbeing economies within planetary boundaries
- Reimagined Economic Governance: green and fair central banking
- Stronger Collective Power: building capabilities, and alliances for change
- Mobilising Resources for Transformation: more funders, more funding
Image by Jayce Pei Yu Lee
Looking Back
When Kristian Parker (Oak), Andre Hoffmann (MAVA), Beto Bedolfe (Marisla) and Astrid Kann-Rasmussen (KR Foundation) came together in 2015 to tackle the extractive economic roots of environmental destruction, they were pioneering on two fronts.
Firstly, funder collaboratives were still pretty unusual. Secondly, philanthropic funding for economic systems change wasn’t really a thing. Inevitably, the early years were experimental. As Lynda Mansson from MAVA, who chaired the Board for the first 5 years, points out, there was a deliberate strategy not to have a strategy, it was about learning. Early grants included funds to the Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford University, where Prof Eric Beinhocker and his team demonstrated that big upfront investments in renewables would pay off massively by bringing down the costs quickly. We also funded the New Economics Foundation, Council on Economic Policies, UCL’s IIPP and Positive Money to work collaboratively on integrating sustainability considerations into central banking decisions – work that has been hugely successful and continues as a key part of our new strategy.
Over time we developed broad portfolios on enterprise, money & banking, and new economic thinking, with grants including Future Fit Foundation’s ambitious benchmark for companies, and the New Economy Organisers’ Network’s communications hub. Later, we focused on the ideas, people and power-building needed for economic transformation, funding the Doughnut Economics Action Lab and the student movement Rethinking Economics. Inaugural Director, Leslie Harroun, organised our first grantee convening in 2018. It was a great success which deepened relationships across the nascent new economy ecosystem. The pandemic sadly prevented a repeat event until 2022. Since then, our annual Gathering has expanded far beyond our grantees and developed into a key moment for the cross-pollination of new economy ideas across countries, themes and approaches to economic change.
The values we adhere to, and how we show up as a funder also matter. Given our origins as a collective of environmental funders, we take inspiration from nature and natural systems to guide our ways of working. We are adaptive, collaborative, optimistic, we seek transformative justice and we think systemically.
What have we learned?
Reflecting on our decade of grant-making, we have made 106 grants totalling more than $34 million, supporting more than 60 different organisations. Within this, there are a myriad of insights on a wide range of thematic areas, from financial regulation to curriculum change, business leadership to policy advocacy. You can find more detailed information about the impact and learnings from specific grants within our annual reports for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Zooming up to see the big picture, five key lessons stand out.
Public interest + leadership + long-term view = fastest progress
Central banking and the European Commission have been 2 areas where we have seen the most significant advances over the last decade. In both cases, the institutions are explicitly mandated to act for the public good, and have benefited from leaders like Mark Carney, Christine Lagarde, Frank Elderson and Ursula von der Leyen who display personal commitment to sustainability. Importantly, these institutions are also one step removed from the circus of 24/7 media scrutiny and opinion polling that national governments face, giving more room to follow the scientific evidence base and factor longer-term considerations into their decision-making. Of course, it would be a mistake to focus only on change in arenas where all of these conditions apply, as it would ignore key levers and democratic choices. However it is helpful to differentiate where evidence-led strategies are more likely to prosper, such as with central banking, and other areas where a much greater focus on political economy and power-building is needed.
Social and environmental problems are intertwined, so must the solutions be
The concept of polycrisis describes the complexity of the breakdown we can all see, be it social, democratic or ecological. It is all connected. We are all connected. The traditional economic focus on the individual misses out the interdependencies of families, communities, places and natural ecosystems. This separatist view gives us narrow lanes of learning, rigid organisational bureaucracies, the ‘othering’ of groups of people, and perceiving ourselves apart from nature, rather than a part of nature. Siloed approaches are doomed to fail. Crises cascade in feedback loops, reinforcing one another, as visualised in the image below. As a counter approach, Doughnut Economics is an example of a holistic view rapidly gaining traction, based on Kate Raworth’s bestselling book. Making the goal of the economy to meet people’s needs within the limits of what the planet can sustain, the approach is being implemented by more than 80 city and municipal governments around the world. It demonstrates the power of multi-solving. Far from being a choice, actions to support thriving people and a thriving planet are mutually reinforcing.
Image from Kemp et al, “Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios” (2022)
We need incremental wins AND big picture vision
Change happens both by giant leaps and by adding together multiple baby steps. We find the Three Horizons framework useful in understanding system change. Some new economy advocates are working closely alongside governments and major economic institutions to reform current practices, such as updating fiscal rules to enable more investment, or improving climate risk models, furthering Horizon 2. Others are visioning a future economy where we value nature and future generations, and analysis of economic success revolves around wellbeing and purpose rather than GDP growth and profit. Clearly some of the big changes that will be needed to get there, such as post-growth macroeconomics, or radically rethinking discount rates, are Horizon 3 – well beyond the current Overton window. We’ve learned that both approaches are vital. We see our role as a connector: helping those working on improving the current system to ensure incremental advances are in line with high ambition, and encouraging those imagining the long-term to think what potentially winnable steps could move us towards it now. Our new strategy makes space for both approaches, creating and celebrating tangible wins now, while investing in the networks, ecosystem infrastructure and relationship-building that is essential for converting future opportunities into giant leaps.
Embrace the complexity and contradictions
Systems change is hard work. There are days where you feel you’re getting nowhere, where the problems feel too huge to get your head around. There is no silver bullet, and tensions abound – whether in time, scale, or the institution of philanthropy itself. Swift action is needed in the face of rapidly shrinking carbon budgets and untold human misery today, and the fundamental solutions require patience and long-term thinking. Innovation and engagement is made real in local places, and it is a global system we need to shift. Philanthropy is a creature of the current economic system, and we are a group of funders working to change that very system. We all want a clear roadmap to chart the way forward, and we know that the context will be volatile and the most important changes will be non-linear. It is valuable to sensemake collectively with the field, strategise together and align on key priorities, and we also need to remain agile and adaptable. In a complex world, the word “and” is perhaps the most important, recognising that seemingly contradictory ideas can be simultaneously true.
The new economy is massively underfunded
The energy, ingenuity and drive of people keen to bring a new economy to life far outstrips the available funding. So much potential goes untapped. Although hundreds of foundations are funding new economy work to some extent, the pool of committed funders, and the volume of funding is still far too small. This means brilliant organisations close due to a lack of funding, and even high-profile champions find it hard to secure resources. Our new strategic goal on mobilising financial resources responds to this, with the expansion of our outreach to the funder community and development of our funder learning programme.
So what’s next?
Partners for a New Economy has adapted and evolved throughout our ten years to date. Looking from 2025 towards the second half of this decade, the landscape is shifting before our eyes. Geopolitics is in flux. Technological leaps are shaking up labour markets while inflating energy demand. Norms of international co-operation are being rewritten. Global power is shifting. Economic orthodoxy is being ripped apart.
This brings huge challenges, and opportunities. Increased focus on national security could squeeze fiscal room and erode wellbeing further, creating perfect conditions for authoritarian ethno-nationalism. Progress on global goals could be unwound by conflict and ecosystem breakdown. Or the vacuum of US global leadership could create space to rethink and reshape dogmatic international economic institutions. Europe could step out from the shadow of the US, as a champion of an economy which prioritises quality of life.
We have thought hard about how we can best contribute our resources to usher in an economy that serves people and nature.
Cultivating the conditions for economic systems change
Our mission is to cultivate the conditions for economic systems change in Europe. We see two types of conditions.
Firstly, there are specific pressure points in the current economic system that can unlock transformative change. We have chosen to focus on Redefined Economic Purpose and Reimagined Economic Governance. Donella Meadows’ influential work on how system change happens arranges twelve ways to change a system, in order of potency, see below. Redefined Economic Purpose maps to Goals of the System, a very high-level change. Reimagined Economic Governance is a slightly lower order change, targeting the Rules of the System, yet is still highly significant and should bring some important incremental wins.
(Source: based on Meadows, 1999; credit: UNDP/Carlotta Cataldi)
Secondly, we recognise that to succeed, there are foundational conditions that need to be present within the new economy ecosystem. Imagine a thriving field of well-connected, resilient organisations, with skilled changemakers enjoying trusted relationships across a breadth of themes and geographies. That’s what we need to build the collective power necessary to drive change. And all of this takes financial resources to make it happen. With ten years of experience funding new economics in Europe, we are well-placed to develop the community of funders that will resource the field transforming our economy.
Our analysis of these system conditions necessary for a new economy to take root is translated into four goals to guide our next five years.
Redefined Economic Purpose: Governments shaping wellbeing economies within planetary boundaries
The purpose of our economy is rarely explicitly stated, and is questioned even less. Media reports and political slogans assume that a booming economy is a proxy for all the good things we desire. The dissonance between this assumption and the reality of people’s lives can be seen in democratic upheaval around the globe. Take the 2024 US election: strong economic indicators belied the widespread distress of people struggling to pay for the essentials of life. The rising ecological crises are another example of such a disconnect, where economic ‘development’ is achieved by destroying the essentials of life at an unprecedented rate. Shifting economic purpose to focus explicitly on what people actually want – health, security and happiness, now and for future generations – is an essential strategic prerequisite for changing the economic system. Otherwise, economies will continue to optimise activity in a way that drives inequality and environmental destruction. Governments are key actors in shaping the economy, through rule-setting, public investment and long-term planning. There are exciting initiatives already underway such as the Wellbeing Economy Governments and the UN’s Declaration on Future Generations. We will invest to nurture and develop this momentum.
Reimagined Economic Governance: Green & fair central banking
The rules, assumptions and models that govern our economy are codified in institutions. Central banks and financial supervisors have an outsized influence on the rest of the economy due to their roles as regulators, and guarantors of economic stability. For the reasons set out in our learnings above, they are prime candidates for adopting new thinking based on evidence, and there is already significant momentum. It is also an area where we have seen many tangible incremental wins, and we anticipate that further funding will help to create more. In the longer-term, there is huge potential for these actors to genuinely transform large parts of the economic system, in terms of money creation and financial flows. Of course we recognise that there are many elements of economic governance that need to change. While our grant-making here will focus on green and fair central banking, we will continue to welcome those engaged in wider economic governance work to our gatherings and to access our capacity-building programmes.
Stronger Collective Power: building capabilities, and alliances for change
One of the biggest barriers to change is power. This includes both the power of inertia defaulting to the status quo, and the more active, often hidden, power of vested interests. Money, privilege, and media control all combine to block change that threatens to transform the system from which they benefit. Challenging vested interests takes collective power, with broader alliances for change and strategic capabilities and leadership. We will nourish the roots of the ecosystem: the networks, alliances and backbone infrastructure. Margaret Mead’s famous quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” is relevant here. Both in terms of funders and practitioners, the community of new economy advocates will be a key factor for success. Our New Economy Leaders Academy develops and connects people across countries and areas of work. Over time their roles will change, but relationships will remain. Already we can see that people from the movement have been elected to Parliament, been appointed as Government Ministers or advisers and joined international economic institutions in key roles. As time passes and the field grows, so will the impact of these connections. In these areas we will make grants to network organisations, convene through our annual Gathering and develop more capacity-building programmes for the field.
Mobilising Financial Resources: more funders, more funding
We will use our position to invite and inspire others to join the community of funders supporting economic system change. Ten years ago, when Partners for a New Economy was created, there was no blueprint for how philanthropy could fund new economics. Our approach was necessarily experimental. Precious few other foundations were funding in this area. Now there is growing interest and attention. I’m struck by the number of newly created and long-established foundations who, when taking a blank page approach to what their funding strategy should be, decide that economic systems change must be a key part of it. We know from experience that this work is complex and challenging, and that there is huge value in learning and acting together. We are creating a learning journey to help ‘new economy curious’ funders explore the issue and how they can get started. Our regular online salons stimulate thinking for funders who are already engaged. We will commission research to quantify the economic systems change funding landscape in Europe, and nurture this growing community of new economy funders, to generate more funders, and more funding for the field.
Final thoughts
With the tornado of the last five months still swirling, looking clearly at the horizon five years ahead can seem impossible. But stepping back enables us to focus on the fundamental elements for an economy that serves people and nature. Our strategy sets a clear course through what will be turbulent waters. By the end of the strategy period we should see a new European Parliament and Commission, and a new US President. Global power will continue to shift east and south. Unless we see massive acceleration of decarbonisation, the world’s carbon budget for a 1.5 degree world will be all but exhausted.
We recognise that, in some cases, near-term success will mean defending against the rollback of previous wins. We know that polarisation, ailing democracies, shifting geopolitics and the unravelling of the old global economic order create a challenging context for this work. And we also see huge opportunity in the disruption. The failure of our current economics is driving disaffection, division and despair in our societies. The demand for something better is palpable and rising, however tricky it is to credibly describe a new economic system in precise detail within the mental straight-jacket of existing orthodoxy.
Gramsci’s words written about early 20th century upheaval echo through history to our own time.
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters.”
We all see the monsters. The paths forwards to the new world can seem less obvious, but the early signs are there. Whether you are a grant-holder, funder or fellow traveller, it is a vital time to be partners, together, for a new economy. We look forward to sharing the next stage of this journey with you.
Jo Swinson
Director of Partners for a New Economy