Principles & Guidelines
Putting the ideas of Doughnut Economics into practice with integrity to recognise their full transformative potential
DEAL is making many ideas, tools and resources freely available for change-makers to use to put the ideas of Doughnut Economics into practice. In return, and to ensure the integrity of these ideas, tools and resources when put into practice, we ask that you follow the guidelines set out below. These include DEAL's Dos and Don'ts for putting Doughnut Economics into practice, and the licensing rules and guidelines relating to the DEAL logo, the Doughnut diagrams, and the tools and stories shared on the DEAL Community Platform.
Doughnut Dos and Don'ts
These dos and don'ts are the boundaries we ask when you put Doughnut Economics into practice. They include the Doughnut Principles of Practice to guide your work as well as guidelines and policies specific to different contexts, such as for business, consultancies and local groups and networks.
Do follow the Principles of Practice
The Doughnut Principles of Practice have been derived from the seven ways to think like a 21st century economist and DEAL's strategic principles. You can see them below.Do follow the relevant guidelines for your context
These include DEAL's policies and guidelines for business, consultants, cities, local groups and networks as well as tool specific guidelines. See links to these belowDo follow the platform code of conduct and licensing guidelines
Do follow the code of conduct of the DEAL Community Platform and the licensing rules and the guidance on the use of logos below.Do create your own methods
Do create your own playful and powerful methods to explore Doughnut Economics in practice, in line with these dos and don'ts and licensing informationDo share back your innovations
Do share back your innovations and your learning with the DEAL community so that these can, in turn, inspire like-minded changemakers.Don’t lose the essence of the Doughnut
The Doughnut diagram must have a social foundation and an ecological ceiling to be considered a Doughnut adaptationDon't overdo the sugar
The Doughnut is a powerful visual with a playful name. Do be playful in your visualisations, but don't show just a sugary snack. Try and focus on the Doughnut as a conceptual shape (two concentric rings)Don't use the ideas to promote ‘a new kind of capitalism’
Don’t use Doughnut Economics to greenwash or to promote ‘a new kind of capitalism’: go deeper and explore new economic possibilitiesDoughnut Principles of Practice
To ensure the integrity of the ideas of Doughnut Economics, we ask that the following principles are followed by any initiative that is working to put the ideas of Doughnut Economics into practice.
Embrace the 21st Century Goal
Aim to meet the needs of all people within the means of the planet. Seek to align your organisation's purpose, networks, governance, owner-ship and finance with this goal.See the big picture
Recognise the potential roles of the household, the commons, the market and the state – and their many synergies – in transforming economies. Ensure that finance serves the work rather than drives it.Nurture human nature
Promote diversity, participation, collaboration and reciprocity. Strengthen community networks and work with a spirit of high trust. Care for the wellbeing of the team.Think in systems
Experiment, learn, adapt, evolve and aim for continuous improvement. Be alert to dynamic effects, feedback loops and tipping points.Be distributive
Work in the spirit of open design and share the value created with all who co-created it. Be aware of power and seek to redistribute it to improve equity amongst stakeholders.Be regenerative
Aim to work with and within the cycles of the living world. Be a sharer, repairer, regenerator, steward. Reduce travel, minimize flights, be climate and energy smart.Aim to thrive rather than to grow
Don’t let growth become a goal in itself. Know when to let the work spread out via others rather than scale up in size.Be strategic in practice
Go where the energy is - but always ask whose voice is left out. Balance openness with integrity, so that the work spreads without capture. Share back learning and innovation to unleash the power of peer-to-peer inspiration.
Guidelines for businesses
Doughnut Economics calls on businesses to demonstrate how they are going to transform so that they will belong in a future that is regenerative and distributive. The answer is a journey into the deep design of business itself – explored through the Purpose, Networks, Governance, Ownership, and Finance of any business.
DEAL's Doughnut Design for Business tools support those working with and within businesses, those involved in business education and policy-makers. It is supported by a detailed policy for how businesses can, and can't, engage with Doughnut Economics.
Guidelines for local governments
Pioneering places around the world are turning Doughnut Economics into practice. Local governments at many scales - from villages to megacities - are adopting the tools and concepts of Doughnut Economics in order to help bring about a thriving future.
DEAL provides a wide selection of practical tools and useful guidance to support this work, as well as a list of "Dos and Donts" that we ask all local governments putting the ideas of Doughnut Economics into practice to follow.
Guidelines for organisations & networks
We invite all groups, networks and organisations that are using Doughnut Economics to take action to make an acknowledgement to the rest of the community about how their practice is aligned with the wider DEAL Community’s principles and guidelines.
Licensing, attribution and derivations
The ideas and diagrams of Doughnut Economics, and the tools and stories of DEAL are all in the commons. We invite you to use and adapt them to create methods to play with and apply the ideas of Doughnut Economics.
The name ‘Doughnut Economics’ and 'Donut Economics' are trademarked in order to prevent their misuse. We also maintain the rights to the names ‘Doughnut Economics Action Lab’ and ‘DEAL’, as well as our logo and branding.
The DEAL logo represents the DEAL Team and can only be used: when a member of the DEAL Team is involved in an event; on content co-created with the DEAL Team; or as attribution on content produced by the DEAL Team (e.g. the Doughnut Diagrams, see below).
The Doughnut, Overshoot Doughnut, and Embedded Economy diagrams are also available for you to use under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.
We ask that they are attributed as follows:
- When using any of these diagrams in a presentation, please use the attribution 'Raworth 2017'.
- When using any of these diagrams in websites, or publications, please use the full attribution below.
Full attribution of the Doughnut and Overshoot Doughnut diagrams:
- Title: The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries.
- Credit: Kate Raworth and Christian Guthier. CC-BY-SA 4.0
- Citation: Raworth, K. (2017), Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist. London: Penguin Random House.
Full attribution of the Embedded Economy diagram:
- Title: The Embedded Economy
- Credit: Kate Raworth and Marcia Mihotich. CC-BY-SA 4.0
- Citation: Raworth, K. (2017), Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist. London: Penguin Random House.
The Doughnut Diagrams are also available in over 25 languages.
All tools uploaded to the DEAL Community Platform - by the DEAL Team and the wider community - are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. This means they can be used for any purpose, so long as you provide attribution and share back any changes you make, under the same licence.
If you are using or modifying tools created by the DEAL Team we ask that you include the attribution [Derived from DEAL - doughnuteconomics.org], as shown to the right.
This licence applies to the tool’s name, description, main body, embedded images, and downloads such as documents and presentations. It does not apply to external content such as websites or embedded videos, unless these are explicitly specified in the main body of the tool.
For example, Get Animated! Introducing the Seven Ways tool specifically notes that the embedded animation videos are also available under a CC-BY-SA licence, and attributions are detailed in the acknowledgements section at the bottom of the tool.
By default, stories uploaded to the DEAL Community Platform remain under the ownership of the original author(s). Being more personal in nature than tools, this helps to ensure that everyone feels comfortable sharing their stories publicly.
However, when uploading your story you may optionally choose to release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence so that it can be used more widely, just like a tool.
If this licence is specified, it applies to the story’s name, description, main body, and any embedded images, unless otherwise noted. It does not apply to external content such as websites or embedded videos, unless these are explicitly specified.
If a story has not been released under this Creative Commons licence, you should seek permission from the author(s) before using it outside the DEAL Community Platform.
Complying with local law and regulation
Please ensure that you comply with applicable law and regulation when participating in the DEAL community or using DEAL resources – DEAL is not responsible for the use of DEAL’s resources but we need everyone in the community to help protect the integrity and principles of the Doughnut by not using DEAL’s resources non-compliantly with local law and regulation – whilst DEAL is governed by UK law, you may need to think about the laws in your own jurisdiction or where you are going to make use of the resources.
Political non-partisanship
It is core to the effectiveness of our approach that DEAL is politically non-partisan. As such, DEAL C.I.C complies with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 and Representation of the People Act 1983.
Any organisation engaging with Doughnut Economics in the UK, is responsible for complying with this legislation, too. In the UK, election law (as well as other legal areas) can apply to broadly public-facing activities which are either intended to or could be seen as intended to promote or oppose a candidate or political parties at a UK election – this can include being seen to influence people to vote for parties or candidates which promote certain policies or hold certain opinions (‘regulated activity’). DEAL does not engage in regulated activity, and it is important that the concepts and tools of Doughnut Economics (including the DEAL’s logo) are not used for this type of activity either by those in our community or the public.
As such, DEAL is not making its resources available or engaging with its community in order to facilitate any party-political goal or for activities that could be seen to be intended to influence elections. Please respect this and ensure that you do not use our resources or participate in our community in a way that could be reasonably viewed as intended to influence the UK election results or electoral success of:
- one or more particular political parties;
- one or more political parties which advocate (or do not advocate) particular policies, or which otherwise fall within a particular category of parties; or
- candidates who hold (or do not hold) particular opinions or who advocate (or do not advocate) particular policies, or who otherwise fall within a particular category of candidates.
To find out more about UK election law ruled ahead of the upcoming UK general election, please visit the Electoral Commission’s website.
By participating in the DEAL community and using DEAL’s tools and concepts and in using, you agree to comply with all applicable local laws and not to use our resources for regulated electoral activity.
