“If you’re one of the visionaries who believes in an ecological future where humans and nature can actually live harmoniously on this planet then this is a great project for you…” -Andrew Millison
The Quadratic Funding Model tripled my small donation to a local regenerative ecological project. By applying democratic principles and a mathematical formula to crowd-funding many grass-roots environmental restoration programs are flourishing. This template for amplifying real impact in your community is inspiring and empowering in many ways. Let’s get into it below!
Nature has her own formulas for perpetuating life that is collaborative. Rain nourishes plants that feed the animals and humans in a nourishing cycle that allows life to thrive. Societal systems are mostly based on extraction that leaves people and our environment depleted. Money is like the rain within these human systems as it allows for the growth of businesses, trade, and community initiatives.
As the wealth gap increases we see traditional funding models and philanthropy plagued with inefficiency, bureaucratic red-tape and even corruption. Billionaires and corporations disproportionately decide who gets elected and what gets funded across the nonprofit and NGO system. Unfortunately the needs of people, communities and the environment get neglected. This leaves many ordinary citizens feeling powerless and voiceless about what is prioritized in society. All of this is about to change!
What is Quadratic Funding?
Quadratic funding is a unique democratic approach to crowdfunding. This method amplifies small individual contributions by matching them with a larger central pool. What makes it innovative is that the matching amount is determined by the number of unique donors rather than the total dollars raised. For example, the matching fund prioritizes a project that raises $1,000 with 250 donors over a project that raises the same amount with just a few donors. This prevents wealthy backers from dominating the outcome while ensuring that projects with popular grassroots support receive the most funding.
Ma Earth is a pioneer in the field of collective funding for community regeneration. They have a list of over 200 projects on their website that span everything from food security, local organic agriculture, community resilience, permaculture, coral reef restoration, biodiversity programs, educational outreach and beyond.
Since I live in Arizona I donated to Plant the Rain -Water Harvesting Native Food Forest in Tucson and my small donation was tripled. It made me feel like a big spender plus I will get to witness the impact first hand. What makes me particularly excited about the project is that it is easily scalable in cities across the Southwest and in arid areas around the world.
Making it Rain in the Desert
This is not only a practical way to preserve water through permaculture practices in urban areas. It is a metaphor for quenching the economic thirst that many grass-roots organizations, communities and individuals are experiencing. As political and corporate leadership ravishes the planet in a devastating rampage of extraction and exploitation we now have a way to level the playing field.
Why Arizona Matters for the Global Environmental Movement
I was fortunate to meet Andrew Millison 3 decades ago when he attended, and later taught at Prescott College. Prescott College is a small liberal arts and environment school in central Arizona. Arizona is a rugged environment with a long and storied history of environmental activism. It is home to actress and environmental activist, Katie Lee; Edward Abbey, author of The Monkey Wrench Gang; Gary Nabhan and Mahina Drees, founders of Native Seed Search; Peg Millet, Dave Foreman and Brad Lancaster just to name a few. Yet the larger backdrop for this region is perhaps the most ancient practitioners of environmental stewardship in North America, The Native Hopi People.
Prescott College was founded upon a single truth: taking care of the world and one another is the key to a beautiful future for all. For more than 60 years, our students, professors, staff, and alumni have forged a passionate community of changemakers, determined to face our evolving world head-on. –Prescott College Website
The Hopi, A Thousand Years of Permaculture in the Desert
The world knows the Hopi for their prophecies, their blue corn, and their unique dry-farming practices. In the 1990’s Andrew Millison and myself went to the world famous urban laboratory called Arcosanti for a corn-planting ceremony hosted by a Hopi Elder named Morgan Saufkie. He later invited us to see ancient Hopi Dances on the mesa and participate in various traditional ceremonies. This formed a foundation for our friendship and our life-long dedication to highlighting solutions to heal our planet.
If sustainable and regenerative practices can work in the harsh arid climate of Arizona, they can work anywhere. The Hopi Villages go back many centuries. Continuous occupation places them among the oldest human communities in North America.
Scaling Regenerative Principles into a Global Movement
Andrew has taken the seeds of his inspiration from Prescott College, the Arizona Drylands, and the Hopi People and spread them across the whole world. His educational programs, community projects and Youtube videos reach millions of people. One of his earliest mentors is Brad Lancaster who started a permaculture water harvesting oasis in the heart of Tucson in the Dunbar Springs Neighborhood.
30 years have passed since they first met. Dunbar Springs is the proof of concept for this amazing work. A neighborhood that was once sweltering in heat without shade is now lush with foliage, a food forest and a vibrant creative community practicing permaculture. The city is now applying these ideas to municipal building codes and beautifying the town making it more sustainable. If Tucson can do this, everywhere can do this… and YOU can help!
Grab Your Friends, Some Popcorn and Prepare to be Inspired
Andrew Millison and Brad Lancaster have teamed up with the Ma Earth quadratic funding platform to produce a stellar video about their work. It launched yesterday on Youtube, it’s only about 20 minutes long and you can watch it below:
Here’s How to Get Involved!
The time for sitting on our hands or wallowing in cynicism about the state of the world is over. You have a real opportunity to participate in making positive impact. Whether you’d like to support Plant the Rain in Tucson or pick another project on the menu at Ma Earth you can become part the change. It’s not about the quantity of your donation. Even a $5 donation will increase the project’s popularity and multiply the matching funds awarded. It was deeply empowering to see my small donation tripled.
Small acts, like sharing this article or video on your social media has a ripple effect. We are not only making change with our actions. We are transforming the world through our attitude and the ways we engage our community. Inspiration is infectious and we have a great opportunity to create waves of change. Even the parched desert landscape knows how to bloom with vibrant colors and life after a light sprinkle from the heavens. Be like that storm cloud on a hot summer day and make it rain in the desert with your generosity and enthusiasm.
