FundAction's Preamble

Preamble

The world is changing faster today than at any point in history, and it is impossible to tell how the world, and within this world, Europe, will look in a decade.

We face a multitude of crises, from climate change, migration, technological upheaval, xenophobia and rising inequality. The temptation to withdraw and focus inward, the attraction to walls rather than to bridges, to radicalisation and polarisation, and to gated societies has never been so high.

At the same time, we have never had such access to information, connection, and possibilities for organising and mobilising people to make real change before. The time has come to recognise that there can be and that there are alternatives.

Everywhere, people organise, resist oppression & build a renewed horizon of justice, solidarity, of cooperation and of genuine care (for one another, for nature, for our common future). These attempts, as fragile and as scattered as they may sometimes be, are our best hope to eventually break this cycle of hatred and violence, and to steadily engage in the transition towards a just and sustainable future for all.

We believe in people power, in movement building, in organising. We are committed to help people and civil society actors in Europe cooperate in order to [resist] all forms of domination, exploitation and oppression; to [rethink] the way we relate to one another; and to [renew] our societies, our future and the path in between.

[resist]

For this to happen, we know that we need to break existing power structures & dismantle entrenched privilege and to support increased and greater participation and equal opportunity through large and small acts of resistance to debunk the myth that we can’t change these systems.

[rethink]

We are committed to strengthen efforts to concretely define our collective path and journey towards this just and sustainable future.

We acknowledge that this includes changing ourselves, the way we organise as well as the way we relate and interact with one another - in order to create collective understanding and ownership of both the "where" (we are going) and the "how" (we get there).

[renew]

From our perspective, this requires a commitment to go after the root causes of the many crises that we face, and the capacity to go beyond an issue-based approach, in order to trigger broad, systemic change.

Nothing about us without us!

We are committed to "power with" (as opposed to “power over”) - to strengthen and nurture the collective power of those who are directly affected by the issues they organise around, fight against, create from.

This new funders/activists collaborative is one of our attempts to build resilient communities of actors engaged in progressive transformative change - towards a regenerative economy, in a fair Europe, within a world of solidarity and the planetary boundaries.

We recognise that too often, philanthropy can be part of the problem much more than of the solution. Philanthropy can't pretend not to be challenged by the demands for real democracy, for active participation and for accountability (to movements, to activists and to citizens rather than only to financial accountants and tax authorities).