The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025

ProjectTogether Creating a new “operating model” for social change Year founded Regions represented Entity type Non-profit organization2015 Germany, as well as a pilot initiative in Switzerland05 Background ProjectTogether started in 2015 as a grassroots social incubator, providing young social innovators with virtual coaching and social start-up bootcamps. In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ProjectTogether co-organized #WirVsVirus, mobilizing citizens, business and government to develop solutions for challenges arising from the pandemic. This virtual hackathon ran in March 2020, bringing together 28,361 citizens and generating 1,498 solutions in just 48 hours. ProjectTogether then organized a six- month implementation programme that supported 130 solutions out of the hackathon, of which, after six months, 25% had successfully finished, 50% were still up and running and 25% had stopped. Building on this momentum, ProjectTogether launched a second initiative called UpdateDeutschland. Based on learnings from #WirVsVirus – in particular, that municipalities are key in driving change forward – this process included more than 60 mayors from across Germany. Rather than developing solutions from scratch (as in #WirVsVirus), UpdateDeutschland brought together more than 300 existing initiatives and matched them with mayors and municipalities in order to scale solutions from one region to other regions. These two “missions” provided ProjectTogether with the basis for codifying a new “operating model” (or “HOW”) for mobilizing cross-sector alliances, bringing together hundreds of actors to address significant social challenges. However, these first initiatives addressed quite broad social themes. To hone their methodology further, ProjectTogether began to assume a more mission-oriented approach, defining common goals and then organizing hundreds of stakeholders from government/state, corporates and civil society behind these shared goals. Today, ProjectTogether has applied this approach to 10 themes – including shortage of skilled workers and green jobs, arrival processes for refugees and migrants, circular economy, regenerative agriculture and food systems, and more – while mobilizing more than 100,000 citizens in 2,500 organizations. Headquartered: Berlin, Germany Number of employees Budget range €5.5 million ProjectTogether also manages €4.5 million in pooled funding for mission-generated collective action projects.Groups assembled Organizations involved Constituents represented3,000 organizations are involved in the ProjectTogether community. ~100,000 people are or have been involved in one or more missions and the broader ProjectTogether community. 50 full-time COLLECTIVE ACTION CASE STUDY 10 thematic “missions” bring together stakeholders from government, public administration, corporates and civil society.Marlene Charlotte Limburg The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 35