Twelve Things We’re Grateful For This Year1. Conversations about capital and power are becoming less taboo More people are willing to talk honestly about capital, power, ownership and control. 2. The acts of courage happening in communities The people on the ground doing the quiet, persistent work of convening, listening, mapping assets, and building trust in their communities. The first conversations, the brave questions, the decision to start — long before things feel certain or funded. 3. Small wins that change the story A meeting that goes well. A group that forms. A new relationship forged. The first local decision where people felt they had real power. Each one matters. 4. Bigger wins that cement the story and show others what is possible Such as local groups in Castlemaine purchasing the Hub, Bellingen establishing a Community Land Trust, Yarra Ranges leading on economic and capital transitions. 5. The growing community capital network The people across Australia and internationally who are backing this work, sharing insights, opening doors, and strengthening the movement. 6. Our partners and allies in adjacent movements Those advancing wellbeing economies, regenerative economies, Doughnut Economics, cooperatives, employee ownership, community foundations, community asset ownership and more. If you’re building these futures too — we see you, value you, and can’t wait to collaborate more in the new year. 7. Partners and funders supporting community investment infrastructure Those backing the development of the Local Investment Fund & Mutual Program and helping create genuine pathways for inclusive, community-owned and institutionally-backed local investment. 8. Quiet champions inside institutions People in councils, government, philanthropy, corporations and finance who are working to create enabling policy and funding settings, planning frameworks and capital architectures for community capital, often without recognition. 9. People who stayed in the room when the conversations got hard Discussions about money, ownership, power and governance can be challenging — and those who lean in make this work possible. 10. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership Custodians and organisations advancing land, governance, economic and cultural sovereignty and showing what deep, place-based stewardship really looks like. 11. The natural world The land, waterways, ecosystems and species that underpin all forms of capital and remind us what regeneration really means. 12. The growing belief that another system is possible The shift we’re seeing — from extraction to stewardship, from centralisation to local control, from short-term gains to intergenerational wellbeing.
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