Doughnut Economics aims to rethink our economies to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet. You can find out more by visiting About Doughnut Economics.
Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) is putting 21st century economic thinking into practice in order to create regenerative and distributive economies where people and planet thrive in balance. You can find out more by visiting About DEAL.
We are a dynamic team dedicated to turning the ideas of Doughnut Economics into action. Meet each member of the DEAL Team and find more out about our current projects.
Please see our Code of Conduct for a full description of what it means to be a member of the DEAL community, including what you can expect of us and what we ask of you in return. Only individuals can currently join the platform, not organisations.
Before creating a new local group, coalition or network, we recommend you consider the following three things:

1. connecting with other members of the DEAL Community who are in your location, and learning more about what’s already happening where you live. Find members near you

2. whether there are any existing like-minded networks that are already in a position to mobilise around these ideas such as Transition Network, WEAll Hubs and Extinction Rebellion.

3. whether you are able to dedicate the time and energy required to both create and sustain an effective and dynamic new network.
 
If, after considering these things, you would still like to create a new local group, we’d love to hear from you! We’ll then arrange a call to discuss the name of your group, along with the criteria for creating new groups, coalitions and networks.
 
Considerations for the name of your group:
 
  • We ask that you choose a name that doesn’t include ‘DEAL’ or ‘Doughnut Economics Action Lab’ because this is Doughnut Economics Action Lab: a global community that everyone is invited to join.
 
  • We're conscious that the name of a group has the potential either to communicate that it is a part of a movement mobilised around the ideas of Doughnut Economics in a particular place, or to accidentally communicate that it is Doughnut Economics for that place. For example DonutEconomicsNetworksParis.org sounds like part of a movement whereas DonutEconomicsParis.org sounds as though it is Doughnut Economics for Paris. We therefore ask that you don’t use the name “Doughnut (or Donut) Economics [place name]”.
 
  • We have protected ‘Doughnut Economics’ and ‘Donut Economics’ with trademarks. We’ve done this to make sure that this term is always used with integrity and is not misrepresented or watered down.
 
Considerations for the principles of a group in practice:
 
  • We ask that you follow the Doughnut Principles of Practice, in particular, you should aim to be a network that is transformative for any member organisations (Principle one) and not one that is subject to greenwashing.
 
  • We ask that your work and network is non-profit, non-commercial, open and inclusive. All individuals who are aligned with the goals of Doughnut Economics should be able to join.
 
We hope these boundaries help to unleash our collective creativity, much like the boundaries of the Doughnut itself. And in the spirit of learning and improving together, we may need to adjust these rules in the future. Updates will follow in our newsletters. If you already have suggestions that you think can help, please do not hesitate to contact us.
In designing and launching DEAL we have embraced openness by making the core concepts of Doughnut Economics available to changemakers for using and adapting in their own work in many areas, including education, town and cities, community organising, business, and government. 

At the same time, it is essential to balance that openness with ensuring integrity in how the concepts of Doughnut Economics are put into practice. This is especially critical in the field of business, defined here as all profit-making organisations, from social enterprise to multinational corporations - where the concept is most at risk of getting greenwashed or co-opted. If that were to happen, Doughnut Economics would be devalued and discredited for all changemakers, thus undermining its transformative potential.     

For this reason, we are carefully designing our strategic approach to engaging with business and we will soon publish DEAL’s Business Policy describing the conditions under which businesses can engage with the Doughnut.  We will also be recruiting a Business & Enterprise Lead in the coming months to lead and further develop this work. 

Until we are ready to publish DEAL’s Business Policy and engage with the interest that it creates, here is DEAL’s holding position regarding business (all profit-making organisations) engaging with the Doughnut and Doughnut Economics:     

  • The Doughnut cannot be used publicly by businesses, whether for branding, on a website, in presentations, or in publicly available materials.

  • The Doughnut can only be used by businesses as an internal (rather than public-facing) tool for deep reflection into  the organisational design of the business and into the systemic changes needed if it is to become regenerative and distributive by design, and so help bring humanity into the Doughnut.

  • If a business chooses to engage with the Doughnut and Doughnut Economics in an internal reflection of this kind, its reflection must include all of the essential elements of Doughnut Economics for Enterprise, including: 

  1. Embracing the Doughnut as the 21st century goal 
  2. Creating a business that aims to be regenerative and distributive by design
  3. Aligning the design traits of the business itself, through its Purpose, Networks, Governance, Ownership and Finance.

  • To facilitate this reflection and analysis, DEAL has developed an introductory video, When Business Meets the Doughnut v.1 which covers the essential elements to guide a business through this analysis and reflection. 

         We will be developing new versions of this tool over the coming year, and adding further workshop guidelines.       

  • Only not-for-profit organisations (such as local governments, community groups, universities, NGOs, foundations, unions, think tanks) can initiate or host public-facing events and processes related to the Doughnut and Doughnut Economics.

  • Until DEAL has the capacity to engage actively with businesses, we are not able to accept new tools and stories related to business on our platform. In future, we will welcome tools and stories created by DEAL community members that are consistent with the ambition and conceptual framework set out in the tool When Business Meets the Doughnut v1.0.      

We realise these conditions may cause some frustration in the business-related community, especially amongst those companies that are pioneers in transforming business, but we hope it is clear that we have created them in order to safeguard the integrity of how the Doughnut is applied in the context of business, and to ensure that it can achieve its long-term potential as a tool for transformative action. 
Yes. Please see our Licensing Rules for full details.
We have published a detailed methodological guide, called Creating City Portraits, which describes the methods that were chosen to create 'Thriving City Portraits' in several cities, including Amsterdam, and it also identifies useful resources and alternative approaches that we came across in this process of downscaling the Doughnut to places.
Making the concepts of Doughnut Economics available in many different languages is a priority for DEAL. So far, with the help of the community, we have released the Doughnut and Embedded Economy diagrams in over 25 languages.

The Creating City Portraits methodology and City Portrait Canvas for Workshops tool are also available in several languages, and the animated introductions to the Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist have subtitles in more than 30 languages.
 
We are currently investigating the best way of supporting multiple languages on the site, as well as a process to better facilitate community-contributed translations. If you have thoughts or ideas about this please see Supporting Translations on the Platform Development Hub.

In the meantime, if you are interested in providing translations (thank you!), the 'Doughnut Diagrams in 25+ languages' tool includes templates and instructions, but we do recommend that you are familiar with vector graphics software to make use of these.

Once we have a process for community translations we'll share the news via our newsletter. If you have translated a Doughnut diagram, or want to register your interest in future translating, please get in touch via the DEAL Contact Form (select the 'Translations' category).
 
Several modern Internet browsers also have translation features built in, or added via extensions, that can automatically machine translate the content of our web pages, which you may find useful. For examples see Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
For uploading tools and stories, please see 'About Stories' and 'About Tools' for more details.

To add an event that's relevant to the DEAL community, head over to the Events and click 'Add an event', which includes posting guidelines.
If you have a question or want advice about a specific tool on our community platform we encourage you to post a comment on the tool itself where either the DEAL Team or our community can respond and everyone can learn from the responses.
Yes. DEAL takes your privacy very seriously. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.
We love to hear suggestions about how the DEAL Community Platform can better serve the needs of the community. If you're a member, you can offer feedback, discuss ways to improve existing functionality, and propose new features via the Platform Development Hub.
Yes! Please Contact Us and choose 'Platform' from the category selection and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Please Contact Us and choose 'Events' from the category selection to send us a message about any Doughnut-related events.
Yes! Here is a list of academic articles and reports that we update periodically. This list is not exhaustive, and please do let us know if you would like us to add additional sources by sending a message via the contact page and choose 'Research & Data Analysis' from the category options.
We have published the following tools which are particularly useful for researchers: 

  • Creating City Portraits, which describes the applied methods that were chosen to create City Portraits in several cities, including Amsterdam. It also identifies useful resources and alternative approaches that we came across in the process of downscaling the Doughnut to places (available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Portuguese).
  • List of Academic Articles and Reports, which engage with the core concepts of Doughnut Economics (updated periodically). 

If you are wondering about DEAL support for your thesis/dissertation, unfortunately our small team does not currently have capacity to get involved on an ongoing 1-to-1 basis. That being said, we may be able to direct you to others who share your interests within the wider research community if you get in touch using the DEAL Contact Form and select the ‘Research & Data Analysis’ category.

If you are wondering if DEAL can potentially collaborate as part of a research project grant application, please bear in mind that our small team is at full capacity with existing commitments at the moment, so we have to choose new collaborations with care. We assess potential collaborations carefully on a case-by-case basis, so do get in touch using the DEAL Contact Form and select the ‘Potential Collaborations’ category.
Not quite yet, but it will be. In the spirit of open design and creating commons resources, we do plan to release the source code for the DEAL website and Community Platform as soon as possible. We’ll share further news here, on social media and in our newsletter.
Not at present, however we think that a certification programme could have huge benefits for everyone: it would create confidence for consultants, for the recipients of their work and for DEAL. It would also protect the integrity of the concept and ensure that Doughnut Economics is used in a transformational way. We are currently exploring this idea and we will follow up with updates in the coming months. 

Does the DEAL Team have any internship positions or volunteering opportunities available?
Unfortunately we don't have any internship or volunteering opportunities at this time. If internship opportunities do arise in future, we will advertise them and recruit for them much like any other job at DEAL, with an application process and interview.
Kate and the rest of the DEAL Team's time is very full supporting the work of the global DEAL Community and so we are sorry to say that we don’t have the capacity to review or provide endorsements for books, nor are we currently able to write articles for journals and other publications.

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