One Year On: Abundancy in Action

2020 was an undoubtably tough year. But this time last year we took on the ambitious challenge of launching The Abundancy Fund and Coalition to fund life-changing learning experiences for people most impacted by COVID-19.

Thanks to 238 of you generously supporting The Abundancy Fund, our 10 partners in the Abundancy Coalition, and many more of you out there championing and cheerleading, on 15th December 2020 we made it over the line — and together you successfully raised £16,165 in 29 days!

Here‘s a message Enroller Amber shared at the time…

“Dear Future Enroller. Please have a brave, mind-opening, connecting, interweaving, enlightening, nurturing and exciting first week of your Learning Marathon. You are in great company. Trust in your peers and most of all enjoy what happens next because I bet there will be surprises, challenges and new doors to open. Try and say ‘Yes’ to them all and see where you go…”

What happened next?

Thanks to your support we were able to award 33 bursaries to people to embark upon Learning Marathons in 2021.

These 30 people were part of 15 Learning Marathons that began this year, with 149 people finding a space to explore, learn, unlearn, connect, find purpose, change behaviour, take action, heal, and more; a place to experience the magic of peer-powered learning.

We’ve had Learning Marathons taking place across the UK, from Sheffield to Bath to London, and around the world, from Berlin to Brazil!

Our hosts have found ways to bring the magic of Enrol meetups to virtual gathering spaces, and some of our peer-groups were able to meet and host their events in person.

A sneak peek into the Learning Marathons

Here’s a glimpse into what just a few of our Learning Marathon participants created with the support of their peer-groups this year:

• Emer travelled the length of the country (with her bike Tina Tourer) meeting and documenting conversations with fish workers to inform theatre work that she makes
• Jasper wrote, recorded and released an EP of 5 tracks and formed a band
• Yas explored home, belonging and borders, and recorded a spoken word piece about belonging
• Allison made a film to express some of the experience of what it’s like to have autism
• Tamika create a ‘dial an ancestor’ phone line
• Melise made a bioplastics mushroom forest installation, using materials from renewable sources such as algae, starch and gelatine
• Claudine explored how crypto can be used as a force for good, and how women could feel more empowered in this space

And here’s what some of this year’s Enrollers said when they reflected on the journey:

“The magic space of the marathon gave me a place and community to reconnect with the poetry in life, as opposed to just its logistics and day to day ‘prose’.” — Aliyah

“I developed my business plan, secured a new creative partner and took on a creative space in the region.” — Christina

“This experience has given me the oomph for life - ignited a few passions, made me feel alive and accepted. It’s truly an experience I will treasure!” — Claudine

For a deeper dive into what Enrollers explored and learned, take a look at some of our Showcase Booklets from this year.

Dive into our Showcase Booklets here

What’s in store for 2022?

As we look forward to 2022, we’ll be celebrating Enrol Yourself’s 5th birthday!

🥳To mark the occassion, we’ll be holding a birthday fundraiser event (keep your eyes peeled for invites in the new year), where everything we raise will go towards replenishing our Abundancy Fund again, to enable even more people to take part in life-changing learning.

🍩We’ll be supporting 12 hosts of doughnut economics peer-to-peer learning journeys with Civic Square (which you can apply to join now across the UK and internationally!)

🌏We’re looking forward to launching our next OwnIt programme in Spring 2022, as we continue to grow a movement of women supporting each other to take climate action with their personal finances

🪄We’ll also be continuing to spread peer-powered magic and will be open up our Host Fellowship again for applications, as well as sharing our craft with our 3-day immersion Huddlecraft101. If you’re thinking about hosting a Learning Marathon with a community or about a theme you care about, sign up to hear first when we launch.

Here’s to 2022 — whatever learning curves it throws our way!