AboutArising Quo was an initiative exploring how and where to redistribute concentrated wealth - as a regenerative force - in order to enable transformation. It ran from 2022 to 2025. In March 2026, Stefan announced its closure.
The story behind Arising Quo.
The following piece was written by Stefan at the time of the initiative's launch, and tells the personal story behind why it existed.
That origin story held throughout the work, but so did the difficulty of acting on it with integrity. Arising Quo also accumulated questions it couldn't yet answer: about structure, about readiness, about what transformative redistribution actually requires of the person doing it.
The operational pause that began in 2025 was intended to create space to answer those questions. What it clarified instead was that Arising Quo, in its current form, had served its purpose. In March 2026, Stefan brought it to a close. You can read his account of that decision, and what comes next, here.
What Arising Quo did.
Arising Quo was rooted in a spirit of enquiry, exploring questions of why to move wealth at this time, how to move it, and where to move it to, with equal emphasis on each.
The funded explorations were a reflection of this: each one a way to learn and gather insights to share with partners, with a wider field of interest, and to inform what came next. They represented areas where we saw gaps and opportunities, or potential for new practice to be tested. An archive of the funded explorations can be found here and a summary of learnings can be found here. An overview of our reparative work can be found here.
Stefan Binder, funder and founder.
Cassie Robinson, strategic lead, bringing a background in psychology, systems innovation, futures and foresight, and transition design.
Felicitas von Peter, founder of Active Philanthropy, supporting collaboration with wealth holders and connecting Arising Quo with the wider philanthropic landscape.
Johannes Lundershausen, coming from climate philanthropy, bringing reflections on the sector and on the intersections between climate and systemic inequality.
tiff Webster, team member who subsequently led the reparations exploration that spun out of Arising Quo at the end of 2023.
Corbin Lamont, team member and, later, associate supporting design and documentation.
Who was involved
-
For any questions about Arising Quo's archive or past work: hello@arisingquo.com.