The 2040 Fund

As 2017 draws to a close, we’re excited to announce our 2040 Fund. As technologies and corporate power gain critical mass, ETC’s contribution will shift from from fighting technologies one by one to defining the “positive possible” of the longer term, and illuminating pathways out of the current mess.

To make that possible, our goal is to build a base of donors to our 2040 fund who contribute an average of $20.40 per month. Want to be part of it? Click here to donate now.

Or read on to find out more.

THE STORY SO FAR

At ETC Group, we’ve seen a lot of victories over the last 40 years. The terminator seed was sent back to the future it came from, geoengineering experiments were pulled down from the sky, several ocean fertilization projects were drowned or exposed, and some synthetic biology ingredients were waylaid on their way to market.

We have slowed down several dangerous technologies, frustrated some corporate strategies and won a lot of victories for a small organization. But in the bigger picture, technology developments and corporate concentration trends are speeding up.

Artificial intelligence, robotics, synthetic biology and geoengineering: all of these technologies are combining into technological platforms, driven by metastasizing corporate power. They are posing ever-greater threats to the livelihoods and lives of many of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

To respond, we know we need to pick up our pace as well. Technologies that used to arrive in single file are now marching in formation – rapidly emerging interconnected platforms are impacting diverse peoples and diverse economic sectors. We need to address technological change as a whole.

INTRODUCING THE 2040 FUND

ETC Group’s priority is now to illuminate the pathways out of the mess that corporate power and profit-driven technologies have put us in. That means looking ahead and mapping the realistic ways we can move institutions, finance, and partnerships toward positive results for the world’s majority.

Our job is to define the “positive possible” for the decades ahead and map out the practical structural changes and financial pathways that, through long-term partnerships and strategic alliances, can get us there. We’ve already started this work – we’ve been working for years to develop technology assessment capacity at the UN, for example – but we need to find a new gear.

That’s why we’re launching the 2040 fund: a resource to expand our work for a future where technology serves the needs of humanity, and not the other way around. This strategic fund will allow ETC Group and allies to see and engage with long term strategies for change to 2040 and beyond. With 40 years already behind us, we are setting up for the long term, and there are reasons to be hopeful.

With your support, the 2040 Fund will enable ETC:

• Track technologies and alert social movements years before they make impact

• Develop strategies that build global people-power

• Leverage powerful partnerships to create new institutions and practices

Our goal: 1000 people giving an average of $20.40 per month, directly contributing to this long-term work. Will you become one of the first to sign up?

Join us in changing the course of the future to something fairer. The need has never been more urgent.