Last updated: 1st June 2026

Most people have heard of maybe five.

There’s a reason for that. These movements grew up in different places, at different times, calling the same ideas by different words. They’ve never had a shared name, a central HQ, or a unified communications budget. Most of them don’t know each other exist.

They all speak different languages and exist in different silos.

I call this The Tower of Babel Problem.

That and The Visibility Gap (they’re not being shared on the news so no one knows they are a diverse ecosystem of solutions all working on our shared problems, and they don’t know how to take action — but you do if you’ve heard Antidote’s new podcast or joined our monthly How to Start workshop).

This list is the start of making them visible to everyone.

A quick note before you scroll. Almost everything here is a movement, not a single organisation. Each one has anywhere from a handful of groups to thousands of organisations operating under its umbrella worldwide. You couldn’t list them all here. Search any of these terms and you’ll find a whole ecosystem of people already doing it, already building it, already proving it works.

In Network Weaving, a vital tool for bringing all these scenes and movements together that we’ll be learning about soon at Connectioning, we see that everything, the economy, is made up of networks of people. And there are two types of networks:

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Those Close by Form a Tie

We have already started mapping the local networks, those close by each other forming ties, and you can see the efforts to start mapping these networks here:

This article attempts to map something that is, frankly, very hard to map: Birds of a Feather Flock Together.

People uniting globally over shared interests and passions.

Just like people unite locally over sports, traditions, crafts or other interests.

We’re working on a proper evaluation framework to show exactly how much traction each of these movements has, how fast it’s growing, and what it would take to bring it fully mainstream. Some of these are still embedded in the old systems and are at least partially extractive as keen minds will observe. After all, how can conscious capitalism and ecosocialism possibly exist in the same ecosystem?

Stay tuned for that! Evaluation frameworks coming which address this.

For now this is a rough text-only “map”, ordered from the most proven and accessible down to the movements still mostly living in the ideas layer.

A note on that “last” category. The thought layer matters. We needed the thinking. But we have enough theory now to move forward and scale the creation of this economy.

The shift that’s needed at this point in history is from theorising to building and implementing both ideas, and the solutions that we’ve found that work, spreading them globally until we achieve an economy that supports all life.

A special acknowledgement to , author of The Economics of Kindness, whose 146 Names for a New Economy (February 2026) contributed additional frameworks and helped surface important aliases across many of these movements. You can find his full list here:

Guy Dauncey

146 Names for a New Economy

Compiled by Guy Dauncey, author of The Economics of Kindness: The End of Capitalism, the Birth of a New Ecological Civilization Palgrave/Macmillan, Spring 2026…

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5 months ago · 10 likes · Guy Dauncey

The 300+ List

(Links coming soon, this is a work in progress and some parts may be inaccurate until we do a full curation, which takes a lot of time and work, so thanks for bearing with us!)

Or join for any amount via Open Collective.

Join via OC

Cooperatives — Businesses owned and democratically controlled by the workers, customers, or communities they serve. Over 3 million worldwide employing 280 million people. The most proven alternative economic model in existence.

Links: International Cooperative Alliance, Cooperatives UK, Project Equity, Start.coop Resources, Cooperation Works! Network, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives

Wellbeing Economy — Redefining national success around people and planet instead of GDP growth. Already policy in Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, Finland, and Canada.

Links: WEAll.org, Wellbeing Economy Course

Community Wealth Building — City and regional strategies that anchor spending, employment, and ownership locally rather than letting wealth leak out. Pioneered in Cleveland and Preston, now spreading globally.

Links: The Democracy Collaborative, CLES UK, Guide to Advancing Community Wealth Building in the US

Credit Unions — Member-owned financial institutions that return profits to members rather than shareholders. Already in most towns. Easier to join than a bank and genuinely better for you.

Social Entrepreneurship — Businesses where solving a social or environmental problem is the core model, not an add-on. Thousands of entry points for founders who want their work to matter.

Links: Social Enterprise UK,

Mutual Aid — Communities meeting each other’s needs directly, without waiting for governments or markets to catch up. Exploded during COVID and never stopped.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) — Pay a local farm upfront at the start of the season and receive fresh produce throughout. Keeps money local and farmers viable. Apps like Red Hen are starting to make this kidn of thing scalable and accessible.

Fair Trade — Products certified to guarantee fair wages and conditions for the people who made them. In most supermarkets now.

B Corps — Businesses certified for meeting high standards of social and environmental performance. Over 9,000 certified globally across 90+ countries. Part of the broader social enterprise movement.

Benefit Corporations — A legal business structure that requires directors to consider workers, community, and environment alongside profit. Different from B Corp certification, this is the law itself changing. Part of the broader social enterprise movement.

Transition Towns — Community-led resilience projects building local food, energy, and economic systems. Started in Totnes, UK. Over 1,000 communities in 50+ countries now.

Community Land Trusts — Land held in permanent community ownership, removing it from the speculative market forever. Growing fast in the UK and US.

Housing Cooperatives — Resident-owned housing that permanently removes homes from the speculative market and keeps them affordable.

Community Gardens — Shared growing spaces building food access, social connection, and local resilience at the same time.

Community Fridges — Community-run spaces where surplus food is shared freely. Simple, effective, spreading.

Repair Cafés — Community spaces where people fix things together, reducing waste and building skills and genuine connection.

Tool Libraries — Shared tool collections so communities share resources instead of everyone buying their own.

Circular Economy — Designing products and systems so materials stay in use rather than becoming waste. Now mainstream in both business strategy and national policy.

Timebanking — Exchange skills and time without money. One hour equals one credit, whatever the service, whoever you are.

Community Banks — Locally owned, relationship-based banking that keeps financial resources in communities rather than funnelling them to shareholders.

Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) — Community-issued currencies and skill exchanges that keep economic value circulating locally.

Open Source — Software, hardware, and knowledge built collaboratively and shared freely. Already runs most of the internet.

Permaculture — Designing systems that work with natural patterns rather than against them. Practical, global community, genuinely accessible.

Sharing Economy — Access over ownership. Libraries of things, car shares, skill swaps. Making the most of what already exists.

Platform Cooperativism — Worker-owned digital platforms where drivers, delivery workers, and freelancers own the platform they work on rather than being exploited by it.

Solidarity Economy — An ecosystem of cooperatives, mutual aid, community enterprises, and social businesses working in coordination. The connective tissue between movements.

Doughnut Economics — Kate Raworth’s framework for an economy that meets everyone’s needs within planetary limits. Guiding city policy in Amsterdam, Brussels, and beyond.

New Economy — The broad movement building economic alternatives. Umbrella term for hundreds of organisations already operating worldwide.

Regenerative Economy — Economic systems designed to restore and regenerate natural and social systems rather than deplete them.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) — Community-controlled lenders directing finance toward underserved communities and places mainstream banks ignore.

Ethical Banking — Banking that avoids harm and actively directs money toward positive social and environmental outcomes.

Social Economy — The sector of cooperatives, mutual societies, associations, foundations, and social enterprises that puts people before profit. Hundreds of millions of participants worldwide.

Cooperative Economy — The interconnected ecosystem of cooperative enterprises across every sector operating as a genuine alternative economic layer, expanding beyond just coops to all cooperative endeavors.

Shop Local — Prioritising local businesses and keeping spending circulating within communities. The most immediately accessible entry point for most people.

Solarpunk — A cultural movement imagining futures that are both ecological and joyful. Growing fast, especially with younger generations.

Degrowth — Movement arguing that wealthy economies need to deliberately scale down consumption and redistribution, and build community wealth and cooperative enterprise in their place. The name leads with the problem. The movement is building real economic alternatives, including cooperatives, community land, and local economic infrastructure. Major intellectual and organising reach, particularly in Europe.

Post Growth — Framework advocating for economies measured by wellbeing rather than growth. Real policy momentum in the EU and increasingly in municipal governments. Strong overlap with the degrowth infrastructure.

Access Economy — Access over ownership. Shifting from buying things to sharing them, from car clubs to libraries of things to tool shares. Already embedded in daily life for millions of people who don’t know there’s a name for it.

Impact Investing — Directing investment capital toward measurable social and environmental outcomes alongside financial returns. Moving from niche to mainstream in global finance.

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) — Corporate standards for accounting for social and environmental impact. Imperfect and heavily contested, but shifting enormous amounts of capital.

Building fast. Worth joining now.

Solid infrastructure and serious momentum, even if they haven’t fully broken through yet.

15-Minute Cities — Urban planning that puts essential services within a 15-minute walk or cycle for every resident. Real implementation underway in cities worldwide.

Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) — Building from what communities already have rather than what they lack. Changing how local development actually gets done.

Bioregional Weaving — Connecting organisations and people across a natural region to build coordinated local economic and ecological resilience.

Business for the Common Good — Business models explicitly oriented toward serving the common good rather than maximising private returns.

Car-Free Cities — Cities redesigning streets for people rather than private cars. Real results already in Oslo, Amsterdam, Ghent, and dozens of others.

Care Economy — Making visible and fairly valuing the unpaid and underpaid care work that holds all other economic activity together.

Circle Economy — Practical application of circular principles in business, finance, and city planning with strong institutional reach.

Civic Tech — Technology built specifically to strengthen democratic participation and public good. Thousands of projects globally.

Coliving — Shared housing models combining private space with shared resources and genuine community, as a practical response to the housing crisis.

Collaborative Economy — Shared use and ownership of resources across communities, organisations, and sectors.

Commoning — The active practice of governing shared resources collectively, from urban land to local food systems to digital infrastructure.

Commons Economy — An economic model based on community-managed commons rather than private property or centralised state ownership.

Community Arts — Art created with and for communities as a tool of social transformation and local identity.

Community Care Networks — Locally organised systems of mutual support for neighbours, elders, and people with health or care needs.

Community Currencies — Locally issued currencies that keep economic value circulating within a community rather than being extracted outward. STRO (Social Trade Organisation) in the Netherlands has built Cyclos, open-source payment software that makes community and complementary currencies technically viable at scale. (See: Network Weaving - The Two Types of Networks. “Community” can be locally rooted or globally rooted by interest)

Community Economy — Recognising and actively strengthening the diverse economy that already exists beyond the formal market and state.

Community Wealth Funds — Pooled community investment vehicles that build lasting local asset ownership rather than individual wealth accumulation.

Complete Streets — Road design that serves pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport users, not just private cars.

Creative Placemaking — Using arts and cultural activity to strengthen local places and the economies within them.

Democratic Economy — Building economic institutions that include workers, communities, and stakeholders in genuine governance.

Democratising Work — Transforming workplaces through worker ownership, cooperative governance, and shared decision-making.

Digital Commons — Shared digital resources, infrastructure, and knowledge owned and governed collectively rather than by platforms or states.

DIY Culture — Making, fixing, and creating as acts of economic independence, skill-building, and community connection.

Economy for the Common Good — Christian Felber’s model measuring business success through social and ecological contribution rather than profit alone.

Ecovillages — Intentional communities building ecological and social resilience at neighbourhood scale. Over 1,000 worldwide.

Ethical Business — Business practices that prioritise fairness, sustainability, and social responsibility as core operating principles.

Ethical Marketing — Marketing practices that refuse manipulation, respect audiences, and serve genuine human needs rather than manufactured ones.

Ethical Supply Chains — Tracing and transforming supply chains to ensure fair wages, safe conditions, and ecological responsibility throughout.

Food Not Bombs — Decentralised mutual aid network serving free food globally. Decades of operation, hundreds of chapters.

Food Sovereignty — Communities and nations reclaiming control over their own food systems, seeds, and agricultural practices.

Free Stores & Really Really Free Markets — Community spaces where everything is free, building gift culture and genuine connection.

Gift Economy — Economic exchange based on giving without immediate expectation of return, building trust, reciprocity, and community bonds.

Intentional Communities — People deliberately choosing to live and build community together, sharing resources, responsibilities, and daily life.

Localism — Prioritising local decision-making, production, and exchange over globalised systems that extract wealth from communities.

Localized Economy — The practical application of localism: local production, local ownership, local exchange.

Maker Economy — Building economic independence and community resilience through making, manufacturing, and skilled production.

Maker Spaces — Shared workshops and studios with tools and equipment for community members to design, make, and build.

Neighborhood Economy — Economic systems and practices that circulate wealth within a neighbourhood rather than extracting it outward.

Next Economy — The practical transition to economies that operate within ecological limits and distribute wealth more fairly.

One Small Town — Community model where residents collectively launch enterprises and share the income across all participants.

Open Access Economy — Making knowledge, research, and resources freely accessible to everyone rather than locked behind paywalls and licences.

Open Education Resources — Educational materials that are free, openly licensed, and accessible to anyone anywhere.

Ownership Economy — Economic models that give workers, users, and communities genuine ownership stakes in the organisations and platforms they use.

P2P (Peer-to-Peer) — Direct economic exchange between individuals without centralised intermediaries extracting value.

Participatory Budgeting — Communities directly deciding how public money gets spent. Originated in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Now in thousands of cities worldwide.

Peer Economy — Economic exchange built on peer relationships and mutual recognition rather than hierarchical market transactions.

Place-based Organising — Community organising rooted in specific places, building power and solidarity from the neighbourhood up.

Placemaking — Creating and activating public spaces that build community belonging and local economic vitality.

Public Banking — State or municipal banks directing credit toward public good rather than private profit.

Purpose Economy — Organisations and economic activity oriented around a clear social or ecological purpose.

Purpose-Driven Economy — The broader shift toward businesses and institutions measuring success through their purpose, not just their profit.

Radical Neighboring — Intentionally building real connection and mutual support with immediate neighbours as a social and economic act.

Regenerative Capitalism — Businesses adopting regenerative principles within market structures, bridging toward deeper transformation.

Seed Libraries — Community-owned seed collections for freely sharing, preserving, and building food sovereignty.

Slow Food / Slow Money — Prioritising quality, locality, and ecological soundness in food systems and local investment.

Social Enterprise — Organisations that trade goods or services to achieve a social mission. The category is bigger than most people realise. It includes charities that generate income through trading, hybrid legal structures like Community Interest Companies (CICs) in the UK, Social Purpose Corporations (SPCs) in the US, and Low-profit Limited Liability Companies (L3Cs), as well as Socially Trading Organisations (STOs) and a growing range of models that don't fit neatly into "business" or "charity" but are building real economic infrastructure anyway. Deeply established in the UK and EU, growing globally.

Solutions Journalism — Rigorous journalism that reports on responses to social problems, not just the problems themselves.

Stakeholder Economy — Economic governance that formally includes workers, communities, and ecological considerations alongside shareholders.

The Commons — Resources and systems owned and managed collectively, from land to software to knowledge to water.

Triple Bottom Line — Measuring business success through people, planet, and profit simultaneously.

Workers’ Self-Management — Workers governing and managing their own enterprises collectively without external owners.

Zero Waste Economy — Economic systems designed so nothing is wasted and every material becomes a resource for something else.

Slow Medicine — Healthcare practices that prioritise patient-centred, holistic, and community-based approaches over industrial medical models.

Seed Libraries — Community-owned collections of open-pollinated seeds shared freely to build food sovereignty.

Homeschooling / Unschooling / Free Schools / Democratic Schools — Community-based and self-directed alternatives to industrial education, building agency and genuine learning from childhood.

Tactical Urbanism — Low-cost, community-led urban interventions that test and demonstrate better ways of using city spaces.

Serious experiments. Less visible.

Real economic experiments and infrastructure doing important work. Most people outside the movement have never heard of them.

Afrofuturism — Cultural movement imagining and building futures through the lens of African diasporic experience, with growing community economic dimensions.

Agri-DAOs — Decentralised autonomous organisations applied to agricultural land and food systems. Early stage and genuinely novel.

Alternative Media Networks — Cooperatively owned and independently operated media building public knowledge outside corporate ownership.

Appropriate Technology — Tools and technologies matched to human scale and community capacity, rooted in E.F. Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful.”

Barter Networks — Direct exchange of goods and services without money. Simple, resilient, and active in economic downturns.

Beautiful Trouble — A creative toolbox for campaigners and activists distilling decades of social movement wisdom into practical techniques.

Beloved Community — Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a community of justice and love where poverty, hunger, and hatred have been eliminated. Now an active community building framework.

Bioeconomy — Economic systems based on renewable biological resources rather than fossil fuels.

BioFi (Biological Finance) — Financial instruments designed to fund and value biological systems and ecosystem services, treating nature as economic infrastructure.

Biomimicry — Designing economic and technological systems by mimicking patterns found in living systems.

Biophilic Design — Architecture and urban design incorporating natural elements for human health and ecological connection.

Bioregionalism — Organising economic and social life around natural ecological regions rather than political and administrative boundaries.

Blue Economy — Economic development based on sustainable and regenerative use of ocean resources.

Buen Vivir / Sumak Kawsay — Indigenous Andean philosophy and practice of living well in harmony with community and nature. National policy in Ecuador and Bolivia.

Center for Story-based Strategy — Organisation building narrative and strategic framing capacity within social movements.

Citizen Science — Communities and non-specialists contributing to and co-producing scientific knowledge, changing who gets to know and decide.

Circular Living Economy — Applying circular economy principles to the full texture of everyday life, not just industrial production.

Community Capitalism — Localised forms of market activity governed primarily for community benefit rather than private return.

Community Cellular Networks — Community-owned mobile phone networks providing connectivity in underserved areas.

Community Healing Practices — Locally grounded approaches to community wellbeing drawing on cultural traditions and collective wisdom.

Community Health Workers — Community members trained to provide health support within their own communities, making healthcare genuinely local.

Community Internet — Community-owned internet infrastructure providing affordable connectivity outside corporate monopolies.

Community Mental Health Approaches — Community-based and peer-led alternatives to clinical mental health services.

Community Rights Movement — Legal and political movement establishing rights for communities and natural systems, including rights of nature.

Community Science — Communities producing and owning scientific knowledge about their own local environments and conditions.

Community-owned Internet — Broadband infrastructure owned and operated by communities for communities.

Contemplative Sciences — Integrating contemplative practices into scientific and economic frameworks for human and social wellbeing.

Cosmopolitan Localism — Local economy and ecological grounding combined with global awareness and solidarity. Thinking globally while building locally.

Cross-Movement Messaging Coordination — Building shared language and narrative across social movements to amplify collective impact.

Cultural Heritage Preservation — Protecting and building from cultural traditions, knowledge, and practices as economic and social assets.

Cultural Organizing — Using cultural expression and identity as tools for building community power and economic alternatives.

DAOs (Decentralised Autonomous Organisations) — Internet-native organisations governed by their members through code and consensus, without centralised hierarchy.

Data Commons — Data treated as a shared community asset rather than corporate property.

Decentralisation — Distributing power, decision-making, and economic activity away from central nodes toward communities.

Decentralised Economy — Economic systems organised through distributed networks rather than centralised control.

Decolonising Philanthropy — Challenging and transforming philanthropic practices that replicate colonial power dynamics.

Decolonize Wealth Network — Movement and organisation challenging racial wealth gaps and transforming who controls philanthropic resources.

DeFi (Decentralised Finance) — Financial services built on blockchain infrastructure without banks or brokers as intermediaries.

Demurrage Currencies — Currencies that lose value over time if hoarded, incentivising circulation rather than accumulation.

Digital Democracy Media — Media organisations and platforms building informed democratic participation and civic engagement.

Digital Justice — Ensuring fair and equitable access to digital infrastructure, tools, and the economic and political power that comes with them.

Disability Justice — Movement centring disabled people in economic and social transformation, recognising interdependence as a strength rather than a deficit.

Distributed Economy — Economic systems spread across many nodes and communities rather than concentrated in corporations or cities.

Distributed Ledger Technologies — Shared, decentralised record-keeping systems enabling new forms of economic coordination without intermediaries.

Energy Economy — Community ownership and democratic control of energy systems, from solar cooperatives to community grids.

Fediverse — Decentralised social media infrastructure owned and operated by communities rather than corporations.

Federated Learning — Privacy-preserving machine learning that keeps data local, enabling collective intelligence without corporate surveillance.

Feminist Economics — Economic analysis and practice that centres gender, care, and social reproduction alongside traditional economic metrics.

Food forests — Perennial food systems designed to mimic woodland ecology, producing food across multiple layers from canopy to ground cover. Permanent, self-sustaining once established, and actively rebuilding soil and biodiversity over time. Already hundreds of established examples across the UK, US, and beyond. The step up from community gardens: less maintenance, more abundance, deeper roots in every sense. Some of the most successful ones are collectively managed, sitting at the intersection of community land, food sovereignty, and regenerative land use all at once.

Food Justice — Addressing racial and economic inequities in food access, production, and ownership.

FrameWorks Institute — Research organisation developing evidence-based communication and framing strategies for social change movements.

Free Culture Movement — Building shared cultural and knowledge commons outside copyright restriction and corporate ownership.

Global Commons — Governance frameworks for shared global resources including oceans, atmosphere, and digital infrastructure.

Health Commons — Treating healthcare knowledge and infrastructure as community assets rather than private commodities.

Holochain — Distributed computing infrastructure for peer-to-peer applications and alternative internet architecture.

Holacracy — Self-management system distributing organisational authority across teams rather than hierarchy.

Hope-based Communication — Communication frameworks and practices that motivate constructive action rather than paralysis or despair.

Inclusive Economy — Economies deliberately designed to include and work for people currently excluded from economic participation.

Independent Media Alliances — Coalitions of independently owned media organisations building shared audience and resources.

Indigenous Economy — Economic models rooted in Indigenous knowledge, governance, and relationships with land and community.

Indigenous Futurisms — Imagining and building futures grounded in Indigenous knowledge and governance, including economic futures.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems — Bodies of knowledge developed by Indigenous communities over generations, increasingly recognised as economic and ecological assets.

Just Transition — Ensuring the shift to sustainable economies is fair and actively supports workers and communities currently dependent on extractive industries.

Land Back — Movement for the return of Indigenous lands and sovereignty as the foundation of Indigenous economic self-determination.

Media Democracy Movements — Campaigns and organisations building more democratic and diverse media ownership and production.

Media Justice Organisations — Groups working to ensure communities have the media infrastructure they need to tell their own stories.

Mesh Networks — Locally owned internet infrastructure where devices connect directly to each other, building resilient community connectivity.

Metrics Beyond GDP — Developing and adopting economic measures that capture wellbeing, ecological health, and social outcomes alongside financial output.

Modern Monetary Theory — Economic theory that reframes how sovereign currency systems work, with significant implications for public investment and social spending.

Movement Communications Platforms — Digital infrastructure built specifically for social movements to organise, coordinate, and communicate.

Movement Ecology — Framework for understanding how different movements, organisations, and individuals relate and coordinate within broader social change.

Movement Journalism — Journalism produced within and accountable to social movements rather than corporate or state power.

Narrative Change Organisations — Organisations specifically focused on shifting the stories and cultural frames that shape public understanding and behaviour.

Nature Connection Practices — Practices that rebuild people’s relationship with natural systems as a foundation for ecological economics.

Nature-Based Solutions — Economic and social problems solved through restoring and working with natural systems rather than replacing them.

New Power — How power operates in networked, participatory models versus traditional hierarchical institutions. Growing body of research and practice.

People’s Assemblies — Community governance structures where ordinary people participate directly in economic and political decision-making.

Popular Education — Education that builds critical consciousness and collective power from the ground up, rooted in Paulo Freire’s work.

Public Interest Communications — Communication practice explicitly in service of public good rather than private or political interests.

Public Narrative Development — Building compelling stories that move communities from passive observers to active participants in change.

Reciprocity Economy — Economic systems based on reciprocal relationships and mutual obligation rather than market exchange or charity.

Reconomy — Practical movement relocating production, ownership, and economic activity back into communities.

Regenerative Economic Zones — Defined geographic areas applying regenerative economic principles to create model economies.

Regenerative Living Economy — Applying regenerative design to all aspects of economic life, from food to finance to housing.

Resource Generation — Organisation mobilising young people with inherited wealth to support movements for economic justice.

Restorative Economics — Economic models and practices that restore ecological and social systems alongside economic activity.

Restorative Justice — Community-based conflict resolution processes that repair harm rather than only punishing offenders.

Rewilding — Restoring natural processes and species as the foundation for ecological and economic resilience.

Rights of Nature — Legal frameworks recognising natural systems as having rights, changing their status in economic law and governance.

Sociocracy — Consent-based governance systems for organisations and communities, distributing power and decision-making.

Solidarity Finance — Financial systems and instruments built around solidarity and mutual support rather than profit maximisation.

Steward Economy — Economic model where assets are held in stewardship for future generations rather than owned for private extraction.

Strategic Framing — The practice of choosing language, images, and stories that shift public understanding and behaviour toward desired change.

Strategic Framing Initiatives — Organisations and coalitions coordinating strategic framing across movements.

Tech Stewardship — Ensuring technology serves communities and public good rather than extracting from them.

The Octopus Movement — Networked movement exploring new forms of governance, economy, and community grounded in complexity and emergence.

The Solutions Project — Organisation connecting clean energy solutions with frontline communities through storytelling and advocacy.

Thrutopia — Imagining and building societies that navigate through current crises to genuinely better futures, beyond both utopia and dystopia.

Time-Based Economy — Economic systems using time as a unit of exchange rather than money, building relationship and mutual support.

Token Economy — Economic systems using digital tokens to coordinate contributions, rewards, and governance in communities and organisations.

Transformative Justice — Community-based approaches to addressing harm that transform the conditions creating harm rather than just responding to it.

Transmedia Organising — Building social movements through coordinated storytelling across multiple media platforms and formats.

Trauma-Informed Practices — Approaches to community building and economic development that account for and work with collective and individual trauma.

Ubuntu Philosophy — African philosophical framework of shared humanity and interdependence, informing cooperative and community economic models.

Village Economy — Economic models rooted in village-scale community, mutual support, and ecological relationship.

Web3 — Internet infrastructure based on decentralised ownership and governance, enabling new forms of community economic coordination.

Important ideas. Real infrastructure.

These movements have something real and worth paying attention to. Several are primarily problem-focused, with less emphasis on building alternatives. Most have economic infrastructure worth knowing about. The resistance framing is real and sometimes necessary as an entry point. The critical work is what comes next.

Anticapitalism — Broad political movement challenging the foundations of capitalist economics. Significant cultural presence, and importantly, thousands of organisations doing real cooperative and community economic building under this banner.

Beyond Growth — Movement challenging the assumption that economic growth is inherently desirable or necessary. Real policy traction, particularly in the EU.

Climate Justice — Movement connecting climate change to economic and racial inequality, demanding just transitions rather than techno-fixes.

Climate Action — The broad ecosystem of organisations driving transition away from fossil fuels. Enormous infrastructure, increasingly focused on economic alternatives as well as policy.

Community Rights Movement — Legal and political movement establishing the right of communities to govern themselves and their local ecosystems.

Compassionate Capitalism — Market approaches incorporating compassion and social responsibility as explicit values. More mainstream entry point for businesses not ready to go further yet.

Conscious Capitalism — Business philosophy prioritising stakeholder wellbeing and higher purpose alongside profit. Mainstream entry point with growing infrastructure.

Conservation Biology — Science and practice protecting biodiversity as the foundation of economic and social systems. Increasingly connected to community economics.

Deep Adaptation — Framework for communities preparing for serious ecological and social disruption. Problem-focused, but generating real community infrastructure.

Democratic Socialism — Political movement for democratic control of economic institutions. Significant organising infrastructure and real policy wins in multiple countries.

Distributism — Economic philosophy based on widespread distribution of productive assets and property. More thought layer than movement, but growing again.

Dual Power — Strategy of building alternative economic institutions alongside engaging existing systems, rather than choosing one or the other.

Eco-socialism / Ecosocialism — Political movement combining ecological and socialist analysis. Real community and economic infrastructure despite primarily ideological framing.

Ecological Economy — Economic analysis and policy rooted in ecological limits and natural systems science. More academic than activist, but driving real policy change.

Economic Justice — Broad movement for fair distribution of economic resources and power. Real global organising infrastructure.

Emotional Intelligence Development — Practices building the relational and emotional capacities needed for cooperative economic life. More personal development than movement, but important for building what comes next.

Environmental Justice — Movement addressing the disproportionate environmental harm experienced by marginalised communities, with real economic dimensions.

Equitable Economy — Economic models and policies designed to reduce inequality and distribute opportunity fairly.

Extinction Rebellion — Direct action movement demanding government response to ecological crisis. Problem-focused by design, but the community infrastructure it has built includes real economic experiments. Important entry point for many people who find their way to building from here.

Feminine Economy — Economic analysis and practice centring feminine values and relational approaches. Emerging rather than established.

Georgism — Economic philosophy proposing land value taxation as the primary reform. Real academic and policy traction, undergoing a revival.

Green New Deal — Policy framework for simultaneous ecological transition and social investment. Major mobilising infrastructure across multiple countries.

Healing Economy — Economies explicitly oriented toward healing communities, ecologies, and relationships. More emerging than established.

Housing Justice — Movement for affordable, stable, community-controlled housing. Real organising infrastructure globally.

Human-Centered Capitalism — Business and policy approaches centring human wellbeing rather than financial metrics. More mainstream entry point than most on this list.

Human Economy — Economic frameworks that start from human needs, relationships, and wellbeing rather than abstract market mechanics.

Integrative Health Approaches — Healthcare models combining conventional medicine with community, environmental, and relational dimensions.

Just Transition — (Noted above and worth emphasising here.) Ensuring the move to ecological economies doesn’t leave workers and communities behind. One of the most important policy frameworks in the space.

Keystone Species Preservation — Protecting ecologically critical species as the economic infrastructure for healthy ecosystems.

Libertarian Municipalism — Political philosophy advocating for free cities and localities as sites of direct democratic economic governance.

Liminal Web — Loose network of organisations and initiatives exploring integral and metamodern approaches to cultural transformation. More emerging than established.

Living Economy — Economies modelled on living systems, emphasising resilience, diversity, and self-organisation.

Municipalism — Building power and economic alternatives at city and municipal scale through democratic governance.

Natural Economy — Economic systems modelled on natural processes of circulation, regeneration, and balance.

Participatory Economics (Parecon) — Detailed alternative economic model based on participatory planning and equitable compensation. Intellectually developed, limited real-world uptake so far.

Philanthrocapitalism — Using market mechanisms and business models within philanthropy to address social problems. Contested and imperfect, but scaling.

Pluriverse — The concept of a world with many worlds, where diverse economic and social models coexist rather than a single global monoculture.

Post-Carbon Economy — The economic transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable and circular systems.

Postcapitalism — Analytical and political framework exploring what economic systems might emerge beyond capitalism. More theory than practice currently.

Radical Municipalism — Transforming cities into sites of direct democracy and community economic control.

Reproductive Justice — Movement ensuring all people have the economic and social conditions needed to raise children with dignity.

Resilience Economy — Economic systems designed for resilience and adaptation rather than efficiency and growth.

Right to the City — Movement asserting that urban residents should have democratic control over the cities they live in, including their economic systems.

Sacred Economy — Charles Eisenstein’s vision of an economy of gifts, mutual aid, and ecological relationship.

Second Renaissance — Cultural movement anticipating and building toward a new flourishing after the collapse of current systems.

Social Ecology — Murray Bookchin’s framework for ecological and social transformation through decentralised community governance.

Steady State Economics — Economic theory advocating for stable economies that don’t require perpetual growth to function.

Sufficiency Economy — Thailand’s national development philosophy based on enough, balance, and resilience rather than maximisation.

Systems Awareness Training — Building capacity to see and navigate complex interconnected systems, essential for economic transition.

Wisdom Economy — Economies that value and reward wisdom, relationship, and long-term thinking rather than extraction and short-term gain.

The thought layer.

Primarily living in the ideas space. The thinking is important. In many cases it’s excellent. What’s needed most now is for people to take these ideas and build something real with them.

We have plenty of thought. We need more building.

Abundance Economy — The vision of economic systems based on genuine abundance rather than artificial scarcity. Mostly theoretical, with no major movement infrastructure.

Adaptive Leadership — Leadership theory for navigating complex adaptive challenges. Important toolbox, more consultancy practice than movement.

Anarcho Syndicalism — Political philosophy of worker control through radical union organising. Long history and real infrastructure in specific contexts, but primarily ideological in most.

Attention Economy — Analysis of how attention has been commodified and what that means for democracy and culture. Mostly critique, not yet a movement with economic alternatives.

Body-Based Awareness Work — Somatic practices for building self and collective awareness. Important for transformation, not yet an economic movement.

Cognitive Flexibility Training — Building mental adaptability for complex change. Personal development end of the spectrum.

Collective Trauma Resolution — Community approaches to healing collective wounds. Important foundation for transformation, not yet an economic movement.

Communism — Revolutionary political philosophy advocating collective ownership of production. Built real economic infrastructure in certain historical contexts. In practice in the 21st century, mostly ideological.

Conscious Cocreators / Cocreator Movement — Movement building conscious participation in social and economic transformation. Emerging and primarily spiritual framing.

Decision-Making Enhancement — Practices and tools for improving collective and individual decision-making. Toolbox rather than movement.

Earth Economy — Conceptual framework treating economies as embedded within Earth systems. Mostly theoretical at this stage.

Ecosystem Economy — Economic frameworks recognising and accounting for ecosystem services and limits. Academic rather than movement.

Evidence-Based Mindfulness — Applying contemplative practices through scientific validation. Personal development end of the spectrum.

Flow State Economy — Economic systems designed to facilitate human peak experience and flow. Interesting idea, not yet a movement.

Free State Economy — Vision of economic freedom and self-sufficiency. Mostly theoretical.

Geotribalism — Concept of organising society around tribal identification with place. Interesting framing, minimal infrastructure.

Health Psychology Applications — Applying psychological science to health and community wellbeing. More academic than movement.

Integral Parallel Economy — Ken Wilber-adjacent framework for building economies at all levels of human development simultaneously. Very niche.

Knowledge Economy — The mainstreaming of knowledge as economic capital. Already a dominant narrative, still needs a community wealth building layer.

Leadership Development — Building leaders for social and economic transformation. Critical work, more training discipline than movement.

Life Economy — Economic philosophy placing life itself as the central economic value. Mostly conceptual.

Matriarchy — Political and economic philosophy based on matriarchal governance and values. More academic than movement in most contexts.

Nature-Inspired Economy — Economic design inspired by natural systems. Largely conceptual, overlapping with biomimicry and regenerative economy.

Network Economy — Economic analysis of networks as the primary organising structure. Descriptive framework more than movement.

Panarchy — Theoretical ecological framework describing how systems cycle through growth, consolidation, collapse, and renewal. Applied to social systems in theory more than practice.

Peaceful Economy — Economic systems designed to create conditions for peace. Mostly aspirational framing.

Performance Optimization — Individual and organisational performance improvement. Personal development framing, not an economic movement.

Post Scarcity — Vision of economies beyond scarcity through technology and cooperation. Mostly theoretical.

Relational Intelligence Building — Building relational capacity for community and cooperation. More practice toolkit than movement.

Resilience Training — Individual and community resilience practices. Important but personal development end of the spectrum.

Resource Based Economy / Resource-Based Economy — Vision of economies based on resource accounting rather than money. Interesting concept, minimal real-world implementation.

Simbiosis — Networked approach to social and economic transformation through symbiotic relationships. More emerging than established.

Socialism — Political philosophy of collective ownership of means of production. Broad term covering enormous range. Has real economic infrastructure. More political ideology than economic movement in most current practice.

Stress Management & Regulation — Personal practices for managing stress. Individual rather than systemic.

Symbiotic Economy — Economic systems modelled on biological symbiosis. Mostly conceptual.

TPOT (That Part of Twitter) — Loose cultural network exploring metamodern and post-rational ideas online. Very online, very emerging, minimal economic infrastructure.

The Venus Project — Jacque Fresco’s vision of a resource-based economy governed by technology and science. Visionary and mostly theoretical.

The Zeitgeist Movement — Movement associated with Fresco’s ideas and critique of monetary systems. More critique than construction.

Underthrow — Concept of building alternatives that gradually make existing systems irrelevant. Good idea in need of operationalising.

Values-Based Communication — Communication practice aligning messaging with deeply held values. Important toolkit, more consultancy than movement.

Values-Based Messaging Coalitions — Coalitions coordinating around shared values-based language across movements.

Watershed Economy — Economic organisation around watersheds as ecological units. Interesting concept, emerging infrastructure.

And that’s just the beginning.

What you just scrolled through is a map of something enormous.

Each of these is a door. Behind each door are thousands of organisations, practitioners, researchers, builders, and communities who have spent years, sometimes decades, doing the work.

The evaluation framework we’re developing will show you exactly where the traction is, how these movements connect, and where you can plug in. That’s coming. (Along with links)

For now: pick one. Search it. Find who’s building it near you.

Use our Wellbeing Economy Finder Prompt to search locally, or one of the map tools we have.

Don’t see your movement? Please comment below so we can add it! Or tell us what part of the movement of movements you’re in!

Know of any maps like Second Renaissance (a whole scene of movements are mapped here)? We’d love to add more maps, please let us know where we can find them!

The problem was never the ideas. It was that nobody could see they were connected. We have all the solutions we need to create better lives and a better world for everyone. We just need to connect and implement them.

You have some maps and now you’re a part of this.

What will you build or join?

Connectioning is a coordination layer for the wellbeing economy, making hundreds of movements worldwide visible to themselves and everyone else so we can join solutions and grow an economy that supports all life. Follow along to see what’s coming next. And please consider supporting our work with a free or paid subscription.

Did you know?

150,000 people follow this work across the internet.

A tiny fraction pay for it.

We need 400 paid members to make this sustainable so we can make the WEconomy the new normal.

That’s 1 in 14 of you reading this right now.

Ready to join in and make this happen?

Become a member today for as little as $25 monthly or $200 annually.

Subscribe now

Or for any amount via Open Collective.

Subscribe for any amount

For more detailed information about this project, see our website connectioning.io.

Ready to get started now?

Read this first 👇

Subscribe now

We could have a community-owned rideshare in every city.

Here’s the blueprint.

In Colorado, rideshare drivers were earning between $5 and $10 an hour. Uber and Lyft were taking more than half of every fare (this is widely disputed because Uber isn’t very transparent about its pricing model, but I’ve compared rates with drivers and seen them take 30% or less of what I’ve paid!).

They didn’t have job security. No decision making power in the company.

So they built their own.

The Drivers Cooperative Colorado is owned by its 1,500 drivers and on their platform, drivers keep 80% of every fare. Guaranteed.

Plus, it’s one member, one vote. No CEO making decisions for them.

They now serve Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Fort Collins, and just added Denver International Airport.

Daniel Mondragon, one of the drivers, said it plainly: “With the co-op, there’s dignity in work.”

And here’s the thing. They want this everywhere. They have a class on how to start this in your city.

UPDATE: More Perfect Union have featured them in their most recent video!

If you want to learn how to do this, you just email them and ask for the class.

info@coloradodrivers.coop

(DCC was incubated by the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center so you might also want to get in touch with them for more info.)

The model works. It’s proven. It just needs people in each city to hear about it and decide to make it happen.

Which means the most powerful thing any of us can do right now is talk about it.

So next time you’re in an Uber or a Lyft, mention it to your driver. Tell your local business hub, small business center, or chamber of commerce.

Word of mouth is how this spreads. Someone hears it, tells someone else, and eventually the right person in the right city decides to make it happen.

This is how we grow an economy that works for all of us.

Jessica Friday is a wellbeing economist and culture strategist. With a community wealth building story that’s been cited in Scottish Parliament and millions of views on her content worldwide, she coordinates hundreds of movements worldwide ditching the economy we have now for one that works for all of us.

Did you know?

150,000 people follow this work across the internet.

A tiny fraction pay for it.

We need 400 paid members to make this sustainable so we can make the WEconomy the new normal.

That’s 1 in 14 of you reading this right now

Become a member today for as little as $25 monthly or $200 annually.

Or for any amount via Open Collective.

Subscribe for any amount

For more detailed information about this project, see our website connectioning.io.

Ready to get started now?

Read this first 👇

Connectioning

How to get started in the Wellbeing Economy movement!

If you’re here, you've seen the stories. Worker cooperatives and for-purpose companies giving drivers a real alternative to Uber. A food distribution startup revolutionising the industry spun up in months off of one viral Tiktok video. Countries like Scotland, Bhutan…

Read more

a year ago · 122 likes · 11 comments · Jessica Friday

People

Jessica Friday

@fridayseconomics

Telling viral stories of the economy that serves all of us, inspiring hope to action. Subscribe to 👉 JESSICA FRIDAY for industry insights and to follow my story CONNECTIONING for news and how to get started with your projects!

Subscribe now

I posted a reel about this podcast and went to bed.

Woke up to my phone just...

Well, have a look:

🔥🔥🔥Screw this! 🔥🔥🔥

Notification after notification, hundreds of them, all saying the same two words: “Screw this.”

Which made me laugh out loud, because yes. Exactly. That’s the whole point.

The podcast is called Screw This, Let’s Try Something Else.

It’s made by my friend and collaborator , and it is, without question, one of the most important things you can listen to right now if you want to stop feeling helpless about the state of the world and actually understand how people are building the alternative.

Not someday.

Now.

In real communities, with real results.

Brian Eno called it “a podcast of hope-filled stories that could genuinely change the world.”

Yes, that Brian Eno!

Matt and I have been working on the same mission from different angles. I do short-form storytelling, these newsletters, the reels that go viral.

Matt makes beautifully produced, long-form content, visiting real places and sitting with real people, capturing HOW they pulled something off, not just that they did.

Both of us are trying to answer the same question: what does it actually look like when communities stop waiting for someone else to fix things?

This podcast answers it six times over.

In episode one alone, you hear how a community of 3,500 households in Bristol knocked on every single door, asked three questions, and used the answers to rewrite their local housing policy, end a food desert, and build the biggest community-owned wind turbine in England. It nets them £100k a year. Owned entirely by the neighbourhood.

They also changed their local housing rules so it’s now illegal to build a home without electric car charging points and proper insulation.

Illegal.

That’s what people can do when they decide to actually do it.

And that’s just episode one.

Six episodes, five communities, five proof points that the world we want is already being built by people who got fed up waiting for permission.

And one episode entirely dedicated how you can do this too.

Matt and his co-host, storytelling expert, Maryam Pasha, visit Fordhall Farm, Co-operation Hull, East Marsh United, Carrick Greengrocers, CIVIC SQUARE, and Ambition Lawrence Weston.

Each episode pairs the story of what happened with an expert making the case for what it could look like if that idea scaled nationally.

That’s the combination that matters.

Story plus scale.

Proof plus possibility.

It’s what changes minds, and inspires others to do the same.

Check out this preview from Maryam and Matt 👇

They also built a postcode search tool so you can find community-led projects within five miles of your house (UK, but check out our US and Global maps too).

Because inspiration is great, and proximity is better.

Go listen. Share it with someone who needs a practical reason to believe things can change.

Then subscribe to Matt’s newsletter to follow along as he walks through each episode.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Find projects near you: postcode search tool (UK)

Follow Matt:

And read the article and subscribe to ANTIDOTE here.

Ready to get started? Let us know in the comments, and become a member for access to resources, support, community and tools to help you along the journey.

Subscribe now

Jessica Friday is a wellbeing economist and culture strategist. With a community wealth building story that’s been cited in Scottish Parliament and millions of views on her content worldwide, she coordinates hundreds of movements worldwide ditching the economy we have now for one that works for all of us.

Did you know?

150,000 people follow this work across the internet.

A tiny fraction pay for it

.

We need 400 paid members to make this sustainable so we can make the WEconomy the new normal.

That’s 1 in 14 of you reading this right now

Become a member today for as little as $25 monthly or $200 annually.

Or for any amount via Open Collective.

Subscribe for any amount

For more detailed information about this project, see our website connectioning.io.

Ready to get started now?

Read this first 👇

Connectioning

How to get started in the Wellbeing Economy movement!

If you’re here, you've seen the stories. Worker cooperatives and for-purpose companies giving drivers a real alternative to Uber. A food distribution startup revolutionising the industry spun up in months off of one viral Tiktok video. Countries like Scotland, Bhutan…

Read more

a year ago · 122 likes · 11 comments · Jessica Friday

People

Jessica Friday

@fridayseconomics

Telling viral stories of the economy that serves all of us, inspiring hope to action. Subscribe to 👉 JESSICA FRIDAY for industry insights and to follow my story CONNECTIONING for news and how to get started with your projects!

There’s a reason you feel like everyone else figured something out that you missed. A code you weren’t handed. A meeting you weren’t invited to.

The thing is? There is no meeting.

No one got the manual. The people who look like they did? They found people a step or two ahead of them and paid attention. That’s it. That’s the whole secret.

Well besides obviously being born into families and communities where everyone is already miles ahead of everyone else!

For most of us, the blueprint isn’t handed down and conditioned into us early as children. It grows sideways, between people, in real relationships, in communities that make it up as they go and share what they learn.

We’ve spent years watching how people actually grow, how movements actually spread, how change actually happens in the real world rather than in a TED talk. And what we found is five things.

Not a checklist but a cycle.

You don’t have to do them in order. You don’t have to do them all at once.

Pick one start there and you’re moving.

Connect

Connecting comes first because nothing else works without it.

But connection doesn’t mean what most productivity content says it means. It’s not networking. It’s not building your LinkedIn presence. It’s not even making friends, exactly.

It’s the moment you stop pretending you’ve got it handled.

Asking for something.

Accepting help you would normally deflect.

Showing up somewhere unfamiliar because someone invited you and you said yes instead of no. Complimenting a stranger and meaning it, or inviting someone into something you care about, even though it feels vulnerable.

Connection is the smallest bridge between isolation and belonging, and you can cross it in a hundred different ways. You don’t have to be an extrovert. You don’t have to go to an event and work the room.

You just have to find one moment today, one actual human contact that you let matter.

The research on this is unambiguous: social connection is the single strongest predictor of wellbeing across income levels, cultures and age groups.

We are wired for it.

The disconnection most people feel isn’t weakness; it’s a symptom of systems that profit from isolation.

Reconnecting is, in the quietest possible way, a revolutionary act. (And it’s also the foundation of uniting and coordinating all of humanity to transition to the Wellbeing Economy — if you want a deep dive on that, my newsletter is the place for that kind of thing.)

Create

Creating is the heart of all transformation.

Not making content. Not building a brand. Not performing productivity.

Creating something because you are alive and making things is part of being alive.

It could be a meal. A garden bed. A conversation you designed on purpose. A piece of writing you never publish. Could be a media to action company to change the entire world economy if you’re like me. ;)

Doesn’t matter the scale. Creation is how you take what’s inside you and give it a shape the world can touch.

The reason this matters beyond the personal is that the world gets changed by people who make things. Not by people who plan to make things, or who consume content about making things, or theorise about how things might be made.

The act itself is what moves you forward; motivation follows action, it almost never precedes it. And clarity comes from action more thank thinking.

So don’t wait to feel ready. Don’t wait for the plan to be complete.

Make the small thing now and see what it tells you.

Share

Sharing connects what we create.

Broadcasting is putting something out and hoping it performs. Sharing is giving something away because it mattered to you and you think it might matter to someone else.

A story. Something you learned. A resource. An opportunity. An introduction. The article that changed how you see something. The person you met who would be perfect for what your friend is working on.

This is how networks actually grow. Not through algorithms, not through paid reach, through people choosing to pass something on.

Every time you do that, you are laying a brick in infrastructure that doesn’t belong to any platform, can’t be taken away, and compounds over time.

Sharing is also how you find your people. You share what’s true for you and the right ones recognise themselves in it. You attract them in.

The wrong ones scroll past. You repel them.

Both outcomes are correct!

Reflect

Growth without reflection is just motion.

You can be busy. You can be productive. You can tick off a hundred small actions and end up exactly where you started if you never stop to ask what you’re actually learning.

Reflect doesn’t mean journal for thirty minutes every morning (unless that’s your thing!).

It means pause. Look at what happened.

Notice what surprised you, what didn’t work, what you’d do differently, what you want more of.

And then, if you can, share that reflection with someone else. Because the most valuable learning in any community isn’t the expert content at the top; it’s the honest account from someone two weeks ahead of you saying “here’s what I tried, here’s what happened.”

That is worth more than any masterclass.

Your context is specific. Your situation is specific.

The best guide for your next step is your own honest assessment of your last one.

Ground

The wellbeing economy starts with your actual wellbeing.

Rest is not a reward you earn after productivity.

It’s not the absence of doing.

It’s the part of the cycle that makes everything else possible; the fallow season that refills what the growing depleted.

Whatever grounds you: go outside (yes, touch actual grass!), move your body, be quiet for a while, sleep, cook, call someone you love for no particular reason. This is not separate from the work. It is the work.

A world that works for everyone has to first work for you. If you’re running on empty trying to build a better future, you’re missing the point of the future you’re trying to build.

Ground yourself. Come back. The cycle starts again.

Any one of these is enough to start.

You don’t need all five. You don’t need them in order. You need the one that’s available to you today, the one that feels like the smallest possible step, and you need to take it.

The people who change things aren’t the ones with the best plan. They’re the ones who kept moving. Who stayed connected, shared what they learned, and created something even when they weren’t sure what it was for. Who rested without guilt and came back.

There’s no manual.

But there is each other.

Rhythms

We are what we repeat.

Ever heard that?

The best part about it is, we are always just a few steps away from changing who we are — IF we do those things consistently.

From our heartbeats to our news cycles, rhythms rule life and the world.

So it’s vital to repeat these steps consistently.

Try, fail, try again.

But you don’t have to do it on your own.

In fact, it’s best if you do it with others.

1+1=11

And it’s much easier to rewire your brain when you surround yourself with others doing the things you want to do. Who are most like the person you want to be. And who are creating the world you want to see.

Create your own community of practice, or you can join in one of ours.

Jessica Friday is a wellbeing economist and culture strategist. With a community wealth building story that’s been cited in Scottish Parliament and millions of views on her content worldwide, she coordinates hundreds of movements shifting us from the extractive Me-Me-Meconomy to a regenerative and restorative WECONOMY.

You’ll find her living out of Calcifer (her Mini Cooper) and scheming with creators, cooperatives, and communities to advance the transition to an economy that works for all of us. To follow her journey, find her on the socials here.

Did you know?

150,000 people follow this work across the internet.

A tiny fraction pay for it.

We need 400 paid members to make this sustainable so we can make the WEconomy the new normal.

That’s 1 in 14 of you reading this right now

Become a member today for as little as $25 monthly or $200 annually.

Or for any amount via Open Collective.

Subscribe for any amount

For more detailed information about this project, see our website connectioning.io.

Ready to get started now?

Read this first 👇

Connectioning

How to get started in the Wellbeing Economy movement!

If you’re here, you've seen the stories. Worker cooperatives and for-purpose companies giving drivers a real alternative to Uber. A food distribution startup revolutionising the industry spun up in months off of one viral Tiktok video. Countries like Scotland, Bhutan…

Read more

a year ago · 122 likes · 11 comments · Jessica Friday

People

Jessica Friday

@fridayseconomics

Telling viral stories of the economy that serves all of us, inspiring hope to action. Subscribe to 👉 JESSICA FRIDAY for industry insights and to follow my story CONNECTIONING for news and how to get started with your projects!

Many attempts are being made to map the rapid advance of a new economy around the world. Here are our favourite directories and networks.

Worldwide

➡️ Murmurations’ Networks Cobot Tool

This is the most comprehensive map available, with over 83,000 entries to date. It’s also still massively incomplete. I looked locally and found only a handful of organisations on this map, when I know there are more than a thousand just in our social economy directory, Based, covering the Liverpool City Region.

That should give you an idea of the scale of this.

Instructions for adding your project to the map here.

UK

For a UK-only postcode search tool, check out ➡️ Antidote’s page dedicated to this.

US

And for a US tool, check out the Wellbeing Economy Directory from , , , and .

See the map and add your project at ➡️ https://wellbeing-directory.up.railway.app/

NOTE: Most things happening aren’t actually mapped yet!

You can also try out this prompt to start finding them:

Jessica Friday

A prompt for finding wellbeing economy projects near you!

For the past three years, I’ve been searching for people building community wealth and wellbeing economies…

Read more

a year ago · 56 likes · 8 comments · Jessica Friday

And these movements aren’t just local. Check out the global categories list (many orgs will span multiple categories) for more than 300 movements working towards the new economy.

And for the current story about the EU’s rapid advancement, read more here:

150,000 people follow this work across the internet.

A tiny fraction pay for it.

We need 400 paid members to make this sustainable so we can make the WEconomy the new normal.

That’s 1 in 14 of you reading this right now

Become a member today for as little as $25 monthly or $200 annually.

Or for any amount via Open Collective.

Subscribe for any amount

For more detailed information about this project, see our website connectioning.io.

Ready to get started now?

Read this first 👇

Connectioning

How to get started in the Wellbeing Economy movement!

If you’re here, you've seen the stories. Worker cooperatives and for-purpose companies giving drivers a real alternative to Uber. A food distribution startup revolutionising the industry spun up in months off of one viral Tiktok video. Countries like Scotland, Bhutan…

Read more

a year ago · 122 likes · 11 comments · Jessica Friday

People

Jessica Friday

@fridayseconomics

Telling viral stories of the economy that serves all of us, inspiring hope to action. Subscribe to 👉 JESSICA FRIDAY for industry insights and to follow my story CONNECTIONING for news and how to get started with your projects!

You're thinking: "This sounds amazing, but HOW do I actually get started? What can I do TODAY? How do I start or find this in my area?"

Here's your roadmap.

Step 1: Find What's Already Happening Near You (15 minutes)

The reality check: Wellbeing economy initiatives are probably already happening in your area - you just don't know about them yet. For most people, local action and community building will both have the most impact on their own lives and create local effects that scale globally, becoming part of a vast network of interconnected movements.

Your mission: Use this AI prompt to discover what's already building in your community:

Find Wellbeing Economy Projects in Your Area

Click this link for a prompt that will help you find:

• Worker cooperatives

• Community land trusts

• Local currencies

• Mutual aid networks

• Community-owned businesses

• And 300+ other types of initiatives (they go by so many different names! But we all have the same goals.)

Wanna check out all 300+ movements towards a new economy we’ve documented so far?

Check out this article 👇

Pro tip: Start with just a few types that excite you most. Don't try to research everything at once. Also, this prompt isn’t perfect. So far we have had people finding between 50-100 in their area, but you may not have as much luck, especially if you’re rurally located. (Also, sometimes it makes stuff up!) Don’t let this discourage you and message us or subscribe for access to our chat and support resources to get some support.

Subscribe now

Step 2: Show Up, Connect, Learn (1 hour)

Once you find something interesting:

Just connect. Just show up. These are the little steps that lead to big change.

• Attend a meeting

• Email someone who’s already involved in these projects

• Buy from a cooperative

• Volunteer for an event

• Ask questions

• See this Wellbeing Economics FAQ for common questions. For a deeper dive, see the Transformative Change Master Resource List.

Listen first. What are their biggest challenges? What do they need help with? How long have they been operating? See our Conversation Guide for help connecting.

Look for patterns. What's working? What's not? What could work in other places? How could I help.

Step 3: Take Your First Action (Got 5 minutes to an hour? Do this right now)

Pick ONE of these and do it today. Small

The 5-Minute Actions:

• Share a story about a local initiative on social media. Here’s one that needs more media coverage: Driving Change in Colorado.

• Sign up for a cooperative's newsletter

• Rate/review a local cooperative business

• Join a community group's mailing list

The 15-Minute Actions:

• Want to help? Email one local organization to ask how you can help

• Want to start something in your community? Research starting a tool library in your neighborhood (or see the Local Futures Action Guide or Shareable.net for TONNES of other ideas!).

• Are you more business minded? Reach out to your local small business center or your country or region’s coop and social enterprise networks. Here are some links for the UK and US:
  Social Enterprise UK
  Co-operatives UK
  Social Enterprise Alliance US
  National Cooperative Business Association US

• Find 3 friends who might be interested and send them this guide

• Post in a local Facebook group asking "Anyone know about cooperatives around here?"

The 1-Hour Actions:

• Attend a meetup or event

• Start a group chat with friends about this

• Research what it takes to start something new in your area.

Step 4: Connect with the Movement

Subscribe to get the Whatsapp link (It'll be in your welcome message! If you’re already subscribed and haven’t gotten the link, please DM me.)

This is at the moment just a group chat for general help and networking.

Coming soon we will have:

• Weekly networking calls

• Monthly community calls for newcomers (launching soon!)

• Strategy discussions and collaboration opportunities for cocreators and stewards

Fair warning: We're still building this community! It's active and growing, but we're figuring things out as we go. Perfect if you want to help shape something from the ground up.

Step 5: Start Thinking Like a Creator

Shift your mindset from:

• "What's wrong with the system?" → "What can I create that works better?"

• "I'm just one person" → "Who else cares about this?" We are moving from ME to WE (which also is the intials for Wellbeing Economy :)

• "This seems impossible" → "What's the smallest version I could start?"

Key principle: You don't need permission to start building alternatives. Most of these projects started with just three people sitting around over a brew committed to solving a problem in their community. Here’s Matt Golding’s with more on how big change starts small.

What's Next?

This week:

1. Do the 15-minute local search

2. Pick one 5-minute action

3. Subscribe to this newsletter for the Discord link.

This month:

1. Attend one meeting or event

2. Connect with 3 people doing this work

This year:

1. Be part of launching or growing one initiative

2. Help document and share what you learn

3. Connect your local work to the global movement

Need Help?

Join our monthly workshop!

Remember This

You're not starting from scratch. Over 300 types of wellbeing economy initiatives and movements with millions involved already exist. Your job isn't to invent something new - it's to find what resonates with you and your community, then make it happen or grow its impact where you are.

Every major cooperative, social enterprise, land trust, or community project started with someone saying "What if we tried this here?"

That someone could be you.

Ready to start? Hit subscribe and check your welcome message for the Discord invite. If you didn’t get it, shoot me a DM! Get started with us and help build the economy and world that works for everyone.

🔗 Essential Links:

We just started a Community Wealth / Wellbeing Economy wiki! Check it out here. (And please let us know if anything’s broken — it’s a work in progress!)

• Wellbeing Economy FAQs - Start here if you're completely new

• Deep Dive Resource List - For when you're ready to go down rabbit holes

• The Drivers Coop Story - See what's possible

• Local Project Finder - Your starting point for local action

P.S. Love what we're building? Consider becoming a paid subscriber to directly fund this transformation and help me secure stable housing to focus fully on this mission.

Did you know?

150,000 people follow this work across the internet.

A tiny fraction pay for it.

We need 400 paid members to make this sustainable so we can make the WEconomy the new normal.

That’s 1 in 14 of you reading this right now

Become a member today for as little as $25 monthly or $200 annually.

Or for any amount via Open Collective.

Subscribe for any amount

For more detailed information about this project, see our website connectioning.io.

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Connectioning

How to get started in the Wellbeing Economy movement!

If you’re here, you've seen the stories. Worker cooperatives and for-purpose companies giving drivers a real alternative to Uber. A food distribution startup revolutionising the industry spun up in months off of one viral Tiktok video. Countries like Scotland, Bhutan…

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a year ago · 122 likes · 11 comments · Jessica Friday

People

Jessica Friday

@fridayseconomics

Telling viral stories of the economy that serves all of us, inspiring hope to action. Subscribe to 👉 JESSICA FRIDAY for industry insights and to follow my story CONNECTIONING for news and how to get started with your projects!

This guide helps you have purposeful conversations that build authentic relationships and explore possibilities for positive change. Use it for your 60-minute connection actions or adapt it for shorter interactions.

Before Your Conversation

• Set an intention: What do you hope both of you will gain from this conversation? It’s okay to go in with no expectation of the outcome other than to connect.

• Choose a comfortable setting: Find a space (physical or virtual) where you can talk without distractions

• Come with curiosity: Approach the conversation with genuine interest and curiosity rather than an agenda

Opening (5-10 minutes)

• Start with genuine connection before diving into topics

• Share what inspired you to reach out specifically to this person

• Briefly mention your interest in building community and creating positive change

• Ask what's currently energizing them in their work or community life

Exploring Shared Values (15-20 minutes)

Suggested questions to explore (choose 2-3):

• "What matters most to you about the community you live in?"

• "When you imagine a community that truly works for everyone, what does that look like?"

• "What existing initiatives or approaches have you seen that inspire you?"

• "What small changes in your local environment could make the biggest difference?"

• "Where do you see opportunities for positive change in your work or daily life?"

Finding Alignment (15-20 minutes)

• Share a brief story about a community initiative that inspires you

• Explore areas where your perspectives and interests naturally align

• Discuss practical actions that might be possible in your shared context

• Remember: seek alignment beyond agreement - you don't need to agree on everything

Next Steps (10-15 minutes)

• Identify one small, concrete action you both feel excited about

• This might be:

  • Exploring a local initiative together

  • Connecting each other to relevant resources or people

  • Planning a small community gathering

  • Collaborating on a specific project

  • Set a timeline for follow-up

Closing (5 minutes)

• Express appreciation for specific insights they shared

• Summarize key points of alignment

• Establish how you'll keep in touch

• Invite them to connect with broader community initiatives if they're interested

After Your Conversation

• Send a follow-up note with any resources or connections you promised

• Reflect on what you learned and how it might inform your approach

• Consider sharing key insights (with permission) with others in your network

Remember

The goal isn't to convince or recruit, but to discover authentic connections that might lead to aligned action. Transformation happens through relationship, not persuasion.

See something in this guide that could be modified or improved? Please let us know! Connectioning is a cocreative process and we welcome contributions. :)

Did you know?

150,000 people follow this work across the internet.

A tiny fraction pay for it

.

We need 400 paid members to make this sustainable so we can make the WEconomy the new normal.

That’s 1 in 14 of you reading this right now

Become a member today for as little as $25 monthly or $200 annually.

Or for any amount via Open Collective.

Subscribe for any amount

For more detailed information about this project, see our website connectioning.io.

Ready to get started now?

Read this first 👇

Connectioning

How to get started in the Wellbeing Economy movement!

If you’re here, you've seen the stories. Worker cooperatives and for-purpose companies giving drivers a real alternative to Uber. A food distribution startup revolutionising the industry spun up in months off of one viral Tiktok video. Countries like Scotland, Bhutan…

Read more

a year ago · 122 likes · 11 comments · Jessica Friday

People

Jessica Friday

@fridayseconomics

Telling viral stories of the economy that serves all of us, inspiring hope to action. Subscribe to 👉 JESSICA FRIDAY for industry insights and to follow my story CONNECTIONING for news and how to get started with your projects!