The 19th-Century Family Fortunes Funding Degrowth

In their launch editorial, the authors of the New Economies for Ending Poverty (NEEP) roadmap called for “changing the rules of the global economy.” They were promoting a policy playbook for the ‘degrowth’ movement, which has the stated goal of reducing economic production to redistribute wealth and reduce resource consumption. An Effort News investigation identified the source of NEEP’s income: 19th and early 20th century family fortunes. Those calling for degrowth are not the poor and hungry. Instead, they are heirs to generational fortunes, whose wealth insulates them from the shortages degrowth would cause. NEEP proposed 80 policy measures, including maximum income, price controls, job guarantees, and binding limits on resource use. Their plan drew widespread outcry from economists, who argued NEEP authors were misrepresenting the views of economists and misrepresenting reality.1 NEEP’s own finances are convoluted — their donation sizes are literally hidden using Swiss bank accounts. NEEP is primarily funded through P4NE, or Partners for a New Economy, whose funds were held by the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation (SPF). Effort identified these donors using public records and filings:

19th Century Heirs Robert Bosch Stiftung Laudes Foundation MAVA Foundation 20th Century Heirs Marisla Foundation KR Foundation Oak Foundation The Americans Omidyar Network William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Ford Foundation

Here’s how P4NE hid the full list, along with donation amounts, from the public. P4NE’s funds are held by the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation (SPF), meaning that SPF is the recipient of all P4NE donations. SPF combines 106 hosted funds into a single mixed fund, obfuscating donation totals for each. This technically lawful practice hides the amount donated by each P4NE donor. However, by cross referencing multiple sources with SPF’s filings, Effort identified minimums for several donors. Identified donor-side records Funder Reported amount USD equivalent Record status and supporting sources Oak Foundation $4.51 million US$4.51 million P4NE-linked award rows: Ford Foundation $1.70 million US$1.70 million P4NE-linked award/reporting rows: Omidyar Network Fund $2.00 million US$2.00 million Four P4NE-linked Form 990-PF rows: William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $500,000 US$500,000 P4NE-linked commitment and Form 990-PF payment: KR Foundation DKK 47,900,721 About US$7,324,387 Laudes Foundation €249,000 About US$284,607 Likely match SPF grant; the source identifies a grant “For piloting a funder learning journey by creating a primer on new economy ideas and practices to be piloted with foundations and family offices.” The reality is that donors give money to causes because those causes advance their goals. The strongest backers of P4NE’s degrowth projects are families that secured generational wealth, some centuries ago. Past all of the language of ‘justice’ and ‘equality’, degrowth NGOs like P4NE share two things in common. First, their source of income makes them immune to the struggles ordinary people face in an economic downturn. Second, their inherited wealth makes them indifferent to the obstacles to creating new wealth. Conceptually, the degrowth movement is the extension of the hidden, inherited wealth that created it.

1 Former Belgian finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt and economist Dieter Van Esbroeck called the op-ed “utter nonsense.” The vast majority of economists continue to support economic growth. One survey of economists found that 69% agreed with the statement “Policy-makers should prioritize economic (GDP) growth.” Another survey found that 72% of economists agreed or tended to agree that “Climate-neutral growth will be possible with new technologies.” ↩

Laudes Foundation

Wealth source: C&A, 1841 clothing and fashion empire.

Laudes was founded in 2020 by the heirs to the Brenninkmeijer family business, COFRA. The Laudes launch release names Martijn Brenninkmeijer as chairman, and current governance lists Eric Andrew, Martin Rudolf and Edward Brenninkmeijer as family representatives.Laudes history, COFRA family-business history, Laudes governance, Laudes launch release.

MAVA Foundation

Wealth source: Hoffmann-La Roche, 1896 pharmaceutical business.

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