New Economy

The world is facing multiple urgent systemic challenges. Perspectives about the viable paths out of these crises typically fall into one of two categories.

The first argues that we can find technical solutions—we can innovate or engineer our way out—while working within our existing socioeconomic systems and without challenging existing power structures. The second argues that our existing systems are the root cause of these problems, particularly in the way that power is distributed and incentives are structured.

The New Economy movement is built on the second perspective. It commits to transforming socioeconomic systems as the only viable path towards a more just and sustainable future. It overlaps with movements for Just Transition, Circular Economy, or Liberation Economy, and covers a broad range of focus areas including:

community ownership and wellbeing

transforming financial systems

transforming business practice

environmental stewardship and climate justice

workforce development and reducing economic inequality

tech for humanity

social justice and reparative justice

The movement is intentionally broad to allow for collaboration, given the deep intersectionality of issues. The common threads holding the movement together are the core principle of social and environmental justice, the analysis of socioeconomic systems as a shared root cause, and a systemic approach that prioritizes community-led, cross-sector collaboration.

The New Economy Action Lab (NEAL) was born out of Forward Global’s earlier Equity & Justice Action Lab, which was active between 2020 and 2023. The Equity & Justice Action Lab’s journey began with an exploration of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and led to a deeper interrogation of injustice’s systemic root causes, where philanthropy fits within these systems, and the role of funders in transforming them.

In 2023, the group renamed itself as the “New Economy” Action Lab, and, in March 2024, our Global Summit brought forward many leaders of the New Economy Movement. Learnings from the Equity & Justice Action Lab were captured in the Cohort and new Equity & Justice Studio.

Beginning in April 2024, the Action Lab hosts 60-minute monthly sessions. The majority of these sessions feature a leader within the New Economy movement, including NGO leaders, advocates for philanthropic reform, experts in financial systems, activists, and movement leaders.

The primary near-term objective is for participants to learn about how contributing to the movement could form part of their strategy. After the first year, the group will revisit objectives and will consider how to turn the learnings into action.

If you are committed to taking a deep systemic approach and want to learn from peers and experts who are challenging the status quo, the NEAL is for you.

If you are feeling you don’t have “enough” to take on such bold systemic change, or that this isn’t your cause area, we encourage you to challenge these reservations. An objective of the NEAL will be to help funders break free from scarcity mindsets and see how even relatively small donations and non-financial support can have a disproportionate impact. The New Economy framing encompasses multiple “cause areas” by design, based on the understanding that many issue areas share root causes.

We also understand that this Action Lab isn’t for everyone, including for those who are less focused on systems approaches.

We encourage interested members to join an upcoming session and then decide if you would like to participate going forward. While  commitment helps us build an intimate and trusted peer space, we also understand that it may not be possible to join all sessions. The Action Lab will remain open across the year—all new participants will be invited to introduce themselves to the group in their first session to continue the feeling of intimacy and trust.