Roy Amara Fund
Roy Amara Fund
The process of thinking about the future empowers people to see that the decisions they make today, individually and collectively, shape the future we all share. The Roy Amara Fund for Participatory Foresight brings this power to the public—and honors the man who invested his life in developing a literacy of futures thinking.
From 1971 through 1990, Roy Amara built the Institute for the Future into an enduring organization “to enlarge existing understanding concerning technological, environmental, and societal changes and their long-range consequences.” From this founding vision, Roy created a sustainable futures research organization that has worked for the past 40 years with many large organizations—businesses, foundations, and governments, to help them better prepare for the future. We believe it is time to bring Roy’s vision and IFTF’s powerful tools to communities and organizations that could not afford our services but that could greatly benefit from our methods and processes.
The fund serves as a catalyst for building a broad futures literacy in the community—in schools, among NGOs, and in community-based organizations. It is a seed fund to launch new initiatives in partnership with organizations that are compatible with IFTF’s professional and social practices and that have the potential to sustain strategic foresight beyond the seed funding. Most importantly, the fund serves populations that could not otherwise afford to participate in the larger dialogue about the future.
Past Projects
In collaboration with East Palo Alto Charter School/Collective Roots and the Hoopa Reservations Elementary School, the Amara Fund’s inaugural effort promoted the aims of its Jeffrey Rowe Initiative. This special project was designed to expand youth forecasting literacy, especially in under-served communities. In addition to providing an engaging educational experience for students, the project increases community partners’ capacity to incorporate forecasting skills in their curricula. It also improves IFTF’s ability to adapt its forecasting methods for culturally specific audiences, and broadens its reach beyond corporate and large nonprofits to reach grassroots youth organizations that would not typically have access to forecasting.
More recently, the Amara Fund has supported the BodyShock competition, which aimed to recruit ideas to improve global health over the next 3-10 years by transforming our bodies and lifestyles. The fund has also called upon the public to address future challenges through the California Dreams competition, in which citizens shared their visions of the future of California over the next 3-10 years.
Your Participation
We are seeking support from organizations and individuals who admired Roy and believe in the value of participatory foresight. Contributions of any size are welcome and fully tax deductible. The initial fundraising goal for 2008 is $100,000, with IFTF matching the first $50,000. In order to grow an immediate base for the greatest impact, we are asking for your support at the following levels:
- Action Circle - $10,000 and above
- Insight Sponsors - $5,000 and above
- Foresight Contributors - $2,000 and above
The forces shaping our world today will have their greatest impact in the long-term future, but they require intelligent choices today. The Fund for Participatory Foresight is thus timely. It will use foresight to provoke insight and action for diverse publics. We look forward to collaborating with you to pursue this goal, while honoring Roy’s memory in a productive, meaningful way.