2020 has been an exciting, but also a very challenging year for Feasta. We’ll start with the ‘exciting’ part.
The events of 2020 have caused a huge global upsurge in interest in many of the ideas that we’ve been discussing and promoting for the past two decades. These include moving away from GDP as a measure of progress, the need to shorten supply lines and focus more on resilience and less on efficiency, the important connections between agriculture, biodiversity and human well-being, democratising and greening finance, the huge potential offered by a universal basic income and universal basic services, and the vital role of international climate justice.
Now more than ever, we need to redouble our efforts to achieve an economy that is fair and sustainable for everyone. Feasta’s systems-based analyses and the platforms we provide for discussion of these issues are essential to getting beyond a ‘firefighting’ approach to fixing the environmental and social problems that were already very evident before the COVID-19 pandemic, and are even more so now.
The challenge we’re facing is that we had to cancel several brick and mortar events which we had planned for 2020 and we don’t know what the future holds for these in-person events in 2021. Our overall funding has diminished this year, and we really need more memberships and donations to make up the shortfall.
So if you’re looking for a holiday gift for a loved one that would be an investment in the future and would be about as unmaterialistic as you can get, please consider making a donation to Feasta on their behalf. Of course, you can also simply make a donation for yourself or – if you aren’t already a member – join Feasta.
Donations to Feasta go a long way. We’ve increased our online presence substantially this year, co-organising two major online gatherings and producing a 10-part podcast series, ‘Bridging the Gaps’, in collaboration with the European Health Futures Forum. We made three substantive submissions to governmental and inter-governmental organisations, and participated in a series of online discussions with the European Commission and other influential bodies in order to advocate for a move away from growth-oriented policies towards policies – including budgeting – that focus on well-being.
We’ve continued to provide up-to-date and incisive commentary on our website and social media. We also have some important new allies in our work, including the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance.
We’ve achieved an enormous amount for an organisation that’s run on a shoestring with just two part-time staff. All of our analyses and commentary are available online for free.
With your help we’ll be able to keep up the pace in 2021 and indeed – if we get enough donations – increase our capacity.
So please consider making a donation or, if you aren’t a Feasta member already, applying for Feasta membership. Even a modest donation of €5 a month can make an enormous difference to us if there are enough people contributing.
Featured image: sunset at the beach in Cape Town. Source: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/natural-wonders-1400924
