designing systems for resilient communities

8/14/2019 Designing Systems for Resilient Communities

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Designing Systems for

Resilient Communities

2013 Annual Report of the Donella Meadows Institute


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Letter from the Board

Friends and colleagues of Donella Meadows,

Please join with us in writing a new chapter of the story that Dana begantelling forty years ago. The Sustainability Institute, now renamed the DonellaMeadows Institute, has entered an era in which it makes two importantcommitments. The first of these is to secure Danas enormous legacy as aninspiring leader, scholar, writer, and teacher. The process of cataloging andarchiving all of Danas writings and research began in 2011 under thededicated leadership of the Institutes Interim Executive Director, Jeanne

Bragdon. Today it continues through a collaboration with Dartmouth College,where Dana served as Professor of Environmental Studies and the Collegesfirst full-time tenured female faculty member. As her writings emerge fromstorage, the Institute is making them available on its website. Much workremains to be done.

Our second commitment is to use northern New England as a learninglaboratory where we can test and apply the tools and processes of systemsthinking for moving the world closer to sustainability. In charting a new coursefor the Institute, the Board agreed that the New Economy and regionalresilience movements were the ideal points of engagement for applyingsystems thinking to the challenges of sustainability. That work is now underwayas we focus on Vermont as a model and build networks to help achievecollective impact.

We are now seeing our efforts come to fruition. In October, we contributed toNew Economy Week by coordinating the airing of commentaries on Vermont

Public Radio and publishing Vermonts New Economy: A look at the NewEconomy by the numbers. Both of these efforts helped introduce a new typeof economy to a wide audience of Vermonters, an economy that focuses firstand foremost on peoples wellbeing and happiness. In addition, we broughtDana Meadowss thoughts to bear on the question of the commonalitiesamong the multitude of economic experiments emerging in communitiesacross the country: What constitutes a sustainable economy?

It has been a great privilege to have helped prepare the way for the Institutesnew era. All of us at the Donella Meadows Institute recognize that we have acentral role to play in accelerating the shift to sustainability.

Yours sincerely,

Bill Bittinger Wayne Barstad

Former Chair Chair


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Operating IncomeContributions . . . . . . . .Contract Fees . . . . . . . . .Royalties & Copyright . . . .

Speaking & Events . . . . . . .Rental Income . . . . . . . . .Endowment . . . . . . . . . .Total Income &Endowment Funding . .

$28,473

94,00836,012

8,67024,812

193,467

$385,442

Operating ExpensesAdministration . . . . . . .Programs . . . . . . . . . . .Organizational Dev . . . . . .

Subcontracts . . . . . . . . . .Rent & Other . . . . . . . . . .Fundraising . . . . . . . . . . .Total OperatingExpenses . . . . . . . . .

$120,475

114,37117,086

78,84350,508

4,159

$385,442

Financial Report

The 2012-2013 fiscal year marked the rebirth of our Institute as a learning lab and

active community organization. As part of launching our Sustainable EconomiesProgram and renewing our Donella Meadows Legacy work, we hired new staff,made significant updates to our website, and laid the foundations for grantwritingand fundraising to support our programs.

Although the income we brought in from these fledgling programs was not enoughto completely cover their start-up expenses, we are confident that our investment inthese program and increased fundraising efforts will pay off in the near future. In

fact, we welcomed fiscal year 2013-2014 with a $50,000 donation from a privatefoundation to support our Sustainable Economies work.

Our Sustainable Economies Program builds on success stories such as farmers markets to help promotesimilar models of vibrant local economy across other sectors like forest and agritourism.

A very heartfelt thank you to all of the individuals and organizations whohelped make our many accomplishments possible this year! Your generouscontributions allow us to carry forward Danas sustainability work.


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Donella Meadows Legacy

One of our primary goals is to maintain Danas invaluable legacy by providing acomprehensive, free, and easily accessible archive of her work online. We also striveto keep her work alive and inspiring by developing resources that extend access toDanas ideas to an ever-larger audience and apply them to current issues.

Limits to Growth is now fully accessible online!A real highlight for 2013 was working with the Dartmouth College Library to digitizethe entirety of Danas groundbreaking 1972 study. The complete text and graphicsare now available to read, search, and download online. Since the online versionlaunched in June 2013, nearly 600 people have accessed this amazing resource.

Help us add to our archive! Were always looking for stories, photos, andwritings about Dana. How did Donella Meadows influence your life?

What can you find in our Donella Meadows Archive?Articles and Papers:32

Global Citizens Columns:738

Quotations:17

Dear Folks Letters:167

Videos:1

Radio Interviews:2

I recently came across Dana's work duringmy research and it has been an inspiration,

genuinely changing the way I view theresearch-implementation gap. Her non-

exclusive style of writing is also sorefreshing, something that I've alwaysbeen an advocate of as a secondary

school teacher.

I simply wanted to share this with peopleinvolved in her legacy. I am thankful that

she existed.

Ben Palmer FryDoctoral researcher, London


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Sustainable Economies

Our Sustainable Economies Program focuses on accelerating the transition to aneconomy that serves our communities and preserves our natural assets. In Danaswords, we aim to speak and act, loudly and with assurance, from the newparadigm. This new economic paradigm is embodied by socially responsiblebusinesses, food and energy networks, local investment, and more. We provide acommon narrative to these diverse initiatives, convene systems changers, anddevelop metrics to measure genuine progress. Highlights from this year include:

The New Economy in VermontWe wrote Vermonts New Economy: A look at the New Economy by the numbersand distributed 600 copies during New Economy Week in October.The bookletshares stories and statistics about innovations shifting Vermont to new economicmodels. In addition, we collaborated with Vermont Public Radio and leaders of keyVermont organizations to produce and air a series of New Economy commentaries.They explored solutions for encouraging local food and energy systems, facilitatingcommunity wealth, and promoting and measuring wellbeing. Storytelling groundedin sound data will continue to be an important part of our work going forward.

Social Entrepreneurship HothouseOur workshop for social entrepreneurs emphasized embedding business intovalues and values into business. Each participant worked closely with visiting facultyto test their ideas and help their initiatives gain traction. They left with new strategies,articulated next steps, and peers with whom to continue collaborating. We seeempowering networks of leaders as our next level of engagement for social change.

Vermonts New Economy ConferenceIn December 2012 we teamed up with Global Community Initiatives and the PublicBanking Institute to put on Vermonts New Economy. The conference allowedparticipants to propose topics of their choice for discussion, including alternativemeasures of wellbeing, complementary currencies, and cooperative ownershipmodels. It drew 110 people from across New England and resulted in a coalition ofVermonters dedicated to building a more inclusive and resilient economy.

Conference attendees discussing cooperative businesses as one potential engine for a local economy.


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About Our Institute

Our Mission:

to bring economic, social andenvironmental systems into closer harmony withthe realities of a finite planet and a globally powerfulhuman race by using the disciplines of systemsthinking, system dynamics, and collaborative learningthat were pioneered by our founder, Donella Meadows.

Donella Meadows InstitutePO Box 10122 Beaver Meadow RdNorwich, VT 05055

Phone: +1-802-649-7250Web: www.donellameadows.orgEmail: [email protected]: @DanaMeadowsInst

Get in touch!

Its a big task, but as Dana herself said, we have exactly enough timestartingnow. Help us continue to grow and fulfill our mission!

Tell your friends about us and the work we do Join our online community through Facebook, Twitter, and our newsletter Consider making a financial gift to support our programs

Institute Staff:Marta Ceroni, Sustainable Economies Director (above right)Becky Cook, Office Manager (center)Sarah Parkinson, Communications & Programs (left)

Board Members:Wayne Barstad (Chair), Jay Bragdon (Treasurer), Erik Esselstyn (Secretary),William Bittinger, Gwendolyn Hallsmith, Hal Hamilton

November 2013

designing systems for resilient communities

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