The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025

Network level The ProjectTogether community brings together individuals from all missions as well as dedicated individuals from all areas of society – pioneers, experts, activists and visionaries – working collectively towards a more liveable future.Action level 10 missions unite hundreds of stakeholders across sectors to address pressing societal issues through the development of collective action projects – shared projects of various stakeholders working towards a goal that they could not achieve on their own.Supporting level The ProjectTogether team incubates and supports missions with dedicated “circles” of team members responsible for progressing missions through key model milestones. ProjectTogether also convenes key individuals who are not formally part of the organization – fellows, senior advisers, ambassadors and other key roles – to support missions and key projects with their expertise. Vision: ProjectTogether is convinced that society cannot solve the problems of today with the tools and methods of the past. They believe that society needs a new “HOW” to come together across sectors and hierarchies to develop and implement solutions to collective action problems of the present. While ProjectTogether’s missions are very diverse with regards to the mission topics, they are united by a common methodology and core principles that guide the work across missions. Overall, ProjectTogether’s mission also have a common vision of making Germany and Europe fairer, more resilient and more future-proof. Method: ProjectTogether emphasizes that democracies are being tested and must demonstrate that they can deliver results. ProjectTogether’s methodology is based on the idea that a new “HOW” is needed – a new “operating model” to work collaboratively to solve society’s most pressing challenges. Each mission uses the same operating model: 1) all relevant stakeholders unite behind a common mission; 2) people working on similar topics are brought together to identify areas of impact, levers that help address the mission’s challenge; 3) participants work to understand the problem in concrete terms; 4) solutions are bundled together; 5) collective action projects are developed around challenges that none of the actors could solve alone; and 6) solutions are scaled and anchored with pooled resources and continuous learning. This model is updated periodically as part of the team’s continuous learning process. Principles: ProjectTogether’s methodology is underpinned by six key principles: 1) act with a mission in mind; 2) promote coordinated action; 3) build communities of trust; 4) form unusual alliances; 5) sense current possibilities and iteratively experiment to build on existing momentum; and 6) make sure that people feel empowered, included and needed. Practices: Missions conduct regular virtual “community calls” to assemble the entire mission community and provide updates on current activities and initiatives. Missions also circulate monthly newsletters to keep members aware of events and milestones. To sustain engagement, missions conduct in-person retreats each year, bringing mission members together to build trust and advance collective action projects, as well as an annual in-person or hybrid “festival” to bring together the larger stakeholder group.Collective architecture The collective pathway Marlene Charlotte Limburg The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 36