What is a Doughnut Portrait? And how to make one
A guide to help you plan and make a Doughnut Portrait for your place, with your community
EN: view this tool in English
PT-BR: ver esta ferramenta em português do Brasil
ES: Ver esta herramienta en español (próximamente)
KO: 이 도구를 한국어로 보기 (곧 공개됩니다)
Welcome
Welcome to this guide. If you are new Doughnut Portraits you can watch this 16-minute introduction video, that has the follow chapters:
0:00 Introducing the idea
6:37 Doughnut Portraits at different scales
8:27 Summary and examples
9:45 How to make a Doughnut Portrait
14:53 Available support
About this tool
The purpose of this tool is to give you the confidence to start a process of organising and making a Doughnut Portrait for your place, whether for your civic organisation, neighbourhood, city, bioregion, or nation.
You can pick and choose from the elements in this tool, and we welcome you to adapt anything to suit your needs and your plan.
Feel free to make a copy of any of these slides (File > Make a copy) and make your own adaptations.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Someone or a small group of people to work through the elements of the tool with, before planning anything.
2. Time to digest the elements of the tool, including the slides to introduce the idea, the case studies and the Doughnut Portrait Tool Library. It's a lot, so take your time.
3. For any support, please contact DEAL Communities & Art Lead, Rob Shorter at rob@doughnuteconomics.org.
Community engagement planning
This element helps you think about who you want to reach in your community, in what settings, in what order, and the roles people might play. It helps you engage your community and build capacity for the work.
It includes how you might frame your work, so that it is engaging, welcoming, inviting and accessible. And how you design your engagements with an understanding of people’s different interests, capacities and needs.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Print a Community Engagement Canvas to to ideate and plan with your core group of community organisers.
2. Time to research who you might like to engage first.
3. Time to reflect on a framing question for the work - you might like to test this out with people.
Choosing your case studies
There are 28 case studies of Doughnut Portraits that people have made at different scales, created by a mixture of communities, universities, local governments and other organisations.
Read through the case studies and choose those that inspire you and those that are most relevant to what you’re planning. Then add them to the workshop element ‘Introducing the idea’ where it says [add your chosen case studies slides here].
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Time to read through the case studies and identify those which are most relevant to what you’re planning.
2. You might want to contact the people who made specific portraits to learn more or ask specific questions. If you can't find contact details via the slides and links, feel free to contact DEAL Communities & Art Lead, Rob Shorter at rob@doughnuteconomics.org.
Practical preparations
This element helps you prepare for a workshop, and includes considerations for where to meet, how to design brave and accessible spaces, setting up your space to facilitate a good workshop flow, and how to start and end well.
It also contains a check-list of materials to prepare, depending on which elements you are using.
Note that this element doesn’t contain detailed timings. Instead we invite you to plan your own workshop timings using the times offered as a guide.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Time to research available spaces. This could come after engaging with more community organisers locally.
2. Access to a printer.
3. A space with a screen for your presentations, and a space that has plenty of wall space for activities that require it.
Doughnut Portrait Tool Library
We’ve created a Doughnut Portrait Tool Library to help you with Exploring our ‘how’.
The library is organised into sections for each possible layer of a portrait, as well as other useful tools to introduce the ideas of the Doughnut and useful tools for community engagement.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Time to go through the library and explore the tools available.
2. Time to revisit the library to add new tools that you've used that aren't already there.
Warm-up activity
This element is a fun and energising warm-up activity that gets people talking and thinking insightfully about the idea of what a portrait is.
It starts with an activity (done in pairs) where you sketch a portrait of each other in just ten seconds! Then you have ten minutes to make a more complete portrait.
It concludes with a collective reflection process that raises questions and insights that apply to your process of creating your Doughnut Portrait for your place.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. One piece of paper per participant, size A4.
2. One pen per participant.
3. Tables and chairs (or clipboards) for people to write on.
Introducing the idea
A Doughnut Portrait is looking through these four lenses, at our place and community, and making visible what we find, in a wide diversity of ways, so that we can take action towards the future we want. A future with everyone living well within planetary boundaries.
This element has a 16-minute video that introduces the idea and some examples of Doughnut Portraits so that you don’t have to worry about presenting it yourself.
And it includes showing the most relevant and inspiring case studies to your community.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Print all the slides from this element (one set) and print your chosen case studies, size A4.
2. A screen to present the slides.
3. The script (that you can adapt) for you to talk through the slides.
4. A wall space for you to post the slides and case studies.
Finding our 'why'
This element invites us to find our collective reason for this work by asking ‘Why do we want to create a Doughnut Portrait for our place?’
As organisers, you might already have an idea what your reason is. But whether you do or you don’t, this element will bring together diverse perspectives and will form a solid foundation for your collective work and help guide you when things get difficult.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. One piece of paper per participant, size A5.
2. One pen per participant.
3. A wall space for participants to post their pieces of paper with their 'why' statement.
Exploring our 'how'
No two Doughnut Portraits are the same, and no two processes to create a Doughnut Portrait are the same. There are, however, common things between them.
This element introduces some possible ‘layers’ of a Doughnut Portrait, along with some examples, to enable your community to explore what they want to create and how they might do that.
There is a Doughnut Portrait Tool Library for people to explore and workshop canvases for people to write down their thoughts and ideas.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Print all Layer Canvases (7 in total), size A2, and any pages you like from the Doughnut Portrait Tool Library, size A4.
2. A screen to present the slides.
3. The script (that you can adapt) for you to talk through the slides.
4. Clusters of tables and chairs for people to discuss each layer in small groups.
Caring for our 'who'
Part of the strength of this work is the connections we make in the process: the connections with our place, with the world, and with each other, as a community.
Doing this work together as a community gives us the opportunity to practice and role-model the care we want to see more of in our community.
This element is an invitation for you to share and discuss your needs - individual and collective - so that you can identify the things that will support your work and your collective purpose.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. Print enough Care Canvases for 1 between every 3 people, size A3.
2. Space for people to break out into groups of 3 (ideally some outdoor space as well).
3. A wall space for people to post their care canvases.
Sharing our portrait
As you start your process to create your Doughnut Portrait there will be lots of unknowns ahead of you. And that’s fine. A healthy project will be able to dance with unknowns and embrace emergence and complexity.
This element is to plant the seed of the question: ‘how will we share our portrait?’ so that the question can be alive throughout your collective process and eventually come to fruition when you’re ready to share your work with the world.
View the slides in Google Slides (right-click, open in new tab or window)
View the slides here in the browser (below)
Things you'll need
1. One piece of paper per participant, size A4.
2. One pen per participant.
3. A wall space for participants to post their framed ideas.
Acknowledgements
This tool has been created by Rob Shorter with support and contributions from members of the DEAL Team including Ruurd Priester, Kate Raworth, Andrew Fanning and Leonora Grcheva.
The tool has been made with:
Co-design contributions from the global DEAL Community, including: Adam Pickersgill, Alison Whitten, Bill Morrisett, Brian Dowling, Chandni Deadwyler, Charlotte Vetter, Cyrus Mbugua, David Rodriguez, Diane Randell, Edina File, Ellie Ivanova, Faye Lu, Franziska Raedeker, Garam Lee, Genesis Kelly Lontoc, Holli Kearns, Ina Dimitrieva, Joy Njeri, Karen Doore, Kyle Hutchinson, Kyungmin Lee, Lauren Goetze, Megan Stachura, Monica Zazueta Tabor, Moze Jacobs, Muheti Mbazima, Penelope Lopez Gonzalez, Peter Lefort, Roisin Markham, Shayan Azhar, Shreya Krishnan, Spana, Sudha Rakesh, Sunkyung Han, Tansy Drake, Tatira Mirez, Wonny Tjon, Xavier Veciana, Yoonnam Lee, and Yunquan Cheung;
Graphics from artists on Canva, including: sketchify, goodstudio, Seita, Sensvector, Alyssa Babasa, Impro Studio, Vector Juice, lemono, Drawlab19, cosmaa, Vectorium, grmarc2, Zabi Jose, Vectorfair G, Nevzorova, iconsy and Icons8; and
Photos from CIVIC SQUARE (by Paul Stringer, Angela Grabowska and Thom Bartley), Regen Sydney (by Peter Dowson), N’KUMI (by THE REIS Photography), Leeds Doughnut Coalition, Doughnut4Wien (by Katy Shields), Neutinamu Library and LivMundi Institute (by Ana Lavaquial)
I would like to give extra special thanks to CIVIC SQUARE for their inspiring neighbourhood organising and generous sharing of their work, and to London Doughnut Coalition for being the catalyst to develop and evolve this tool.
And I’d like to thank our allies whose work has contributed to this tool, including Rebecca Lee and the Universal Recognition Movement and Paul Atkins of Prosocial World.
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Fabien Zhao
Beijing, China
Cross-sector innovator, social ecosystem facilitator, focusing on emerging market practices and commercial solution implementation. Exploring sustainable business innovation, integrating new technologies with traditional resources to address industry pain points and create societal value.
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Penny Reynolds
Norman, Oklahoma, United States
I became frustrated with micro-level work in addressing youth homelessness locally a decade ago and began a long journey to find answers to addressing it instead on a macro-level. Now, here we are. I’m in my last semesters as a Social Work student, and will be applying for a Master’s in the field this year to work on what we’re all talking about here.
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Duc Chu
Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland
Working towards sustainable transitions and democratic economy. Outreach member of a student-led cafe co-op at Aalto University, Finland. Would love to have a chat and discuss collaborations :)
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Michelle Rockwell
Montana, United States
I’m a systems thinker, technical project leader, and community organizer with over 15 years of experience in engineering and project management — and more than 5 years in grassroots organizing, campaign strategy, and economic justice advocacy. I currently serve as Finance Manager and Community Organizer at United Workers Association, where I bring both operational leadership and movement-grounded commitment to every role I take on. My work is grounded in building movements that support long-haul leadership, challenge poverty-producing systems, and prioritize care as a political act. I’m also leading a health access landscape assessment as part of the effort to introduce the Nonviolent Medicaid Army to Montana. This work is grounded in the belief that access to healthcare is a human right, and that poor and dispossessed people must be the ones leading the way toward transformation. In parallel, I'm helping to develop a data-informed Doughnut model for San Jose, CA. Both efforts reflect my commitment to building systems that center dignity, justice, and ecological balance — whether through direct organizing or long-term structural design. My vision is to bring Doughnut Economics to Montana.
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David A. Rodríguez Díaz
Carolina, Puerto Rico
Political science professor at the University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras focused on public policy and administration. My interest and approach to Doughnut Economics is from a political and public policy perspective.
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Vincent Delaloye
Blonay, Vaud, Switzerland
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Kyungmin Lee
Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Kyungmin Lee is the Co-Founder of Y-Donut (Yongin Doughnut Economics Coalition) and an active member of Neutinamu Makers and the Supunro Cooperative based at Neutinamu Library. She holds a PhD in Public Administration and currently serves as a Research Assistant Professor at Ajou University in South Korea. Her research focuses on integrating Doughnut Economics into grassroots policymaking, aiming to build regenerative and redistributive communities through participatory governance and locally grounded innovation.
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Diane Randell
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