DOEN is striving for a world based on a circular economy, in which everyone counts, that puts the commons first, and there is room for radical imagination.
DOEN focuses on supporting pioneers working toward three overarching, interconnected themes:
What we do
Regenerative economy
DOEN is looking for pioneers that are focusing on building a regenerative economy: an economy designed to restore natural systems and create a sustainable future. This involves the use of natural materials, renewable energy sources, regenerative agriculture, landscape restoration, and restoration of the living environment (water, air and soil). We want to help build an economy that adds value and has a positive impact on people and the planet.
Within this theme DOEN supports:
- Entrepreneurs who are working on landscape restoration or regenerative agriculture using new business models.
- Initiatives aimed at reducing the use of raw materials or replacing scarce raw materials with other natural materials.
- Citizen collectives that are putting a regenerative economy into practice.
Social solidarity
DOEN strives to help build a society in which everyone can participate, everyone counts, and people look out for each other.
DOEN seeks pioneers who promote an inclusive society:
- Residents’ initiatives: Small-scale neighbourhood projects in the Netherlands that mainly have an impact on those directly involved as well as larger long-term community initiatives that can challenge and change existing systems (via the Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds).
- Social enterprises in the Netherlands, which use work as a means of giving people a place in society, and initiatives that help such enterprises to move forward (via the VriendenLoterij Fonds). In the coming years, DOEN wants to make social entrepreneurship the new normal.
In the period ahead, DOEN will also explore how it can best support pioneers working to increase the socioeconomic security and resilience of people.
Power of imagination
DOEN believes in the change power of imagination as a collective process. That we need to shape our society differently is clear to more and more people. But what exactly this might look like is harder to imagine. We want to imagine a world not as it is, but as it could be. The art of this imagination can question seemingly unquestioned, dominant truths and give space to a multiplicity of perspectives, glimpses, voices and stories.
DOEN supports:
- Arts and cultural projects that use radical imagination to show that a different world is possible and and working to create and accommodate a multitude of perspectives.
- Artists who involve groups of people in their artistic process, engaging in what is known as social practice, and develop alternative perspectives with them.
- Initiatives within the arts and cultural sector seeking horizontal, equal and more inclusive forms of collaboration.
