euforia, an innovative, youth-driven NGO based in Switzerland with a community of volunteers in over 20 countries across three continents, will let go of all its 17 employees as of December 31st, so that it can continue to fully focus on the solutions that our current world needs, flying financially lighter.
A chapter is closing, a new one is starting. As of 2020, euforia will take a new form shaped out by the highlights AND the ooopses from its past. The ooops culture has been a core value since the very beginning of our existence and we have been sharing and exploring it with volunteers, partners, corporate clients and anyone we collaborated with over the last twelve years. It stands for the right to try and fail, because we strongly believe that it is how we learn and grow. This invitation to dare and be courageous has been fundamental to become the innovative and bold organization we are today: we are who we are and we work the way we work because we step out of our comfort zones and dare to take risks.
Today, our greatest ooops is not being able to financially support the organization in its current shape from January onwards. For a few years now, our financial situation has been a bit of a roller coaster. A lot of our energy has gone into the fundraising challenge that every NGO faces, and we have struggled to secure the necessary support from foundations or clients to finance our existing projects and structural costs to pursue our vision. We worked on it, made adjustments, went through a reinvention process, took new chances – but it has not been enough. And today, we reached the conclusion that our business model the way it is today is not sustainable.
The decision was not easy to make, but felt so right. Rather than letting only a part of the staff go, reducing percentages and putting more pressure on ourselves to deliver even more with less resources, we decided to all leave together by the end of the year. The minute we took this radical decision collectively, we felt it was utterly aligned with who we are and what we stand for. We see this decision as an opportunity for 2020 to be the year to reset the counters and give space for euforia 3.0 to emerge. Because rest assured, this decision does not mean the end of euforia.
First of all, because euforia is way more than a team of staff. euforia lies in the community, culture, attitude and methods that we have explored together with volunteers, participants, partners and clients. This culture of euforiapreneurs is present in each one of us wherever we are and whatever we do. Secondly, because we trust that this decision will allow a beautiful phoenix to rise from its ashes. We are now designing an inclusive and open transition process for euforia 3.0 to emerge to keep contributing to a better world. Please get in touch with us (contact@euforia.org) if you hear the calling to be part of this :) We don’t know yet what form euforia 3.0 will take, but we do know it will only be stronger and impacting thanks to the learnings that come with this decision.
- part of the euforia team last summer in Portugal. We send you the best wishes!