FAQ

Frequently asked questions about DEAL.

Doughnut Economics aims to rethink our economies to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet. You can find out more by visiting About Doughnut Economics.

Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) is putting 21st century economic thinking into practice in order to create regenerative and distributive economies where people and planet thrive in balance. You can find out more by visiting About DEAL.

We are a dynamic team dedicated to turning the ideas of Doughnut Economics into action. Meet each member of the DEAL Team and find more out about our current projects.

What are the rules for joining the platform, and becoming a member of a community?

Please see our Code of Conduct for a full description of what it means to be a member of the DEAL community, including what you can expect of us and what we ask of you in return. Only individuals can currently join the platform, not organisations.

See About Local Groups & Networks for our full guidelines, and details about what it means to create and run an Open Group or Network.

Doughnut Economics calls on businesses to demonstrate how they are going to transform so that they will belong in a future that is regenerative and distributive. The answer is a journey into the deep design of business itself – explored through the Purpose, Networks, Governance, Ownership, and Finance of any business. DEAL's Doughnut Design for Business tool and accompanying paper is based on this idea of business redesign, and guides businesses through a workshop that is aimed at catalysing innovations in their deep design that can unlock the actions needed to help humanity into the Doughnut.

DEAL's broader policy covering business asks that any events, stories, public engagement or any other ways in which business engages with the Doughnut, is focused on transforming the deep design of business. The policy also asks that 'company Doughnuts' are avoided (more on this here). The seven principles that are included in DEAL’s policy for businesses apply to anyone engaging with the topic of business and Doughnut Economics, including businesses themselves and consultants. To read the full business policy of DEAL, please click here.



You must be an admin to act on behalf of an open group or network on the DEAL Community Platform.

See the Local Groups & Networks - Admin Guide for more information on becoming an admin and how to use your admin powers.

Yes. Please see our Licensing Rules for full details.

We have published a detailed methodological guide, called Creating City Portraits, which describes the methods that were chosen to create 'Thriving City Portraits' in several cities, including Amsterdam, and it also identifies useful resources and alternative approaches that we came across in this process of downscaling the Doughnut to places.

Making the concepts of Doughnut Economics available in many different languages is a priority for DEAL. So far, with the help of the community, we have released the Doughnut and Embedded Economy diagrams in over 25 languages.

The Creating City Portraits methodology and City Portrait Canvas for Workshops tool are also available in several languages, and the animated introductions to the Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist have subtitles in more than 30 languages.
 

We are currently investigating the best way of supporting multiple languages on this website, as well as a process to better facilitate community-contributed translations.

In the meantime, if you are interested in providing translations (thank you!), the 'Doughnut Diagrams in 25+ languages' tool includes templates and instructions, but we do recommend that you are familiar with vector graphics software to make use of these.

Once we have a process for community translations we'll share the news via our newsletter. If you have translated a Doughnut diagram, or want to register your interest in future translating, please get in touch via the DEAL Contact Form (select the 'Translations' category).

 
Several modern Internet browsers also have translation features built in, or added via extensions, that can automatically machine translate the content of our web pages, which you may find useful. For examples see Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

For uploading tools and stories, please see 'About Stories' and 'About Tools' for more details.

To add an event that's relevant to the DEAL community, head over to the Events and click 'Add an event', which includes posting guidelines.

If you have a question or want advice about a specific tool on our community platform we encourage you to post a comment on the tool itself where either the DEAL Team or our community can respond and everyone can learn from the responses.

Yes. DEAL takes your privacy very seriously. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.

We love to hear suggestions about how the DEAL Community Platform can better serve the needs of the community. If you're a member, you can offer feedback, discuss ways to improve existing functionality, and propose new features via the Platform Development Hub.

Yes! Please Contact Us and choose 'Platform' from the category selection and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Please Contact Us and choose 'Events' from the category selection to send us a message about any Doughnut-related events.

Yes! Here is a list of academic articles and reports that we update periodically. This list is not exhaustive, and please do let us know if you would like us to add additional sources by sending a message via the contact page and choose 'Research & Data Analysis' from the category options.

We have published the following tools which are particularly useful for researchers: 

  • Creating City Portraits, which describes the applied methods that were chosen to create City Portraits in several cities, including Amsterdam. It also identifies useful resources and alternative approaches that we came across in the process of downscaling the Doughnut to places (available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Portuguese).
  • List of Academic Articles and Reports, which engage with the core concepts of Doughnut Economics (updated periodically). 

If you are wondering about DEAL support for your thesis/dissertation, unfortunately our small team does not currently have capacity to get involved on an ongoing 1-to-1 basis. That being said, we may be able to direct you to others who share your interests within the wider research community if you get in touch using the DEAL Contact Form and select the ‘Research & Data Analysis’ category.

If you are wondering if DEAL can potentially collaborate as part of a research project grant application, please bear in mind that our small team is at full capacity with existing commitments at the moment, so we have to choose new collaborations with care. We assess potential collaborations carefully on a case-by-case basis, so do get in touch using the DEAL Contact Form and select the ‘Potential Collaborations’ category.

Not quite yet, but it will be. In the spirit of open design and creating commons resources, we do plan to release the source code for the DEAL website and Community Platform as soon as possible. We’ll share further news here, on social media and in our newsletter.

Not at present, however we think that a certification programme could have huge benefits for everyone: it would create confidence for consultants, for the recipients of their work and for DEAL. It would also protect the integrity of the concept and ensure that Doughnut Economics is used in a transformational way. We are currently exploring this idea and we will follow up with updates in the coming months.

Unfortunately we don't have any internship or volunteering opportunities at this time. If internship opportunities do arise in the future, we will advertise them and recruit for them much like any other job at DEAL, with an application process and interview.

Kate and the rest of the DEAL Team's time is very full supporting the work of the global DEAL Community and so we are sorry to say that we don’t have the capacity to review or provide endorsements for books, nor are we currently able to write articles for journals and other publications.

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© Doughnut Economics Action Lab (2024)