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Contents

Who are we?
Background
The Timeline
How it is financed
Governance
A word on languages
How you can help


Who are we?

We are a diverse multinational team of varying age, ethnicity, background and connection to Moral Re-Armament (MRA)/Initiatives of Change (IofC).

Click here to see all the main contributors.

We have also been working with two Indian web developing companies:


Background

This project is possible because of the Foundation for a new world. Part of the capital from the sale of Alnäs, the MRA centre in Sweden, in 2001, was given to the association Kultur for Livet (Renewal Arts, Sweden), aimed at focussing the arts in MRA. In 2012 the members of the association put that capital into a foundation with the simple purpose of making available for all people of the world, a means of exploring, primarily through the internet, the spiritual and moral heritage of Frank Buchman and his work. The purposes of the foundation are listed here.

An international group of people has worked over several years to clarify the aims and scope of the project. Work was done to gather material, classify it, and to define the database structure to hold the resources. Some initial ideas for website design were prepared.

And to understand the conceptual vision, please read our Publisher's Statement.


The Timeline

  • 2018: In 2018 all this preparation work took off, with a technically strengthened team dedicated to producing the first version of a website. A very simple 'Alpha' version was launched in January 2019, illustrating the possibilities of what is an enormous undertaking.
     
  • 2019-2020: During 2019 and 2020 we concentrated on adding content and presenting it in more useful and interesting ways. A completely new front-end design and user experience was finalised and implemented during the second half of 2020. All this work culminated in the current 'Beta' release in December 2020. Although the site is fully featured and functional, we still use the term BETA to signal that it is still with rough edges to be ironed out. We have many ideas of how to develop it further.
     
  • 2021-2023: The BETA site has since then continued to develop and has seen many new technical improvements; a new and improved search engine, automatic translation of pages made possible, an indicator of "incomplete material" added, indication of translation languages on cards... to name only a few! Apart from the technical improvements, almost 2 500 new pages were added in those two years.
     
  • 2024: A new and exiting year ahead!

How it is financed

We have got this far thanks not only to the capital of the Foundation but through the generous giving of many individuals and institutions. You can read more about the finances here.

We can only continue developing the website if we receive more financial support. Please consider donating to future development here. You may want to give something once, or regularly. You may also want to remember the not-for-profit foundation in you will.


Governance

Decisions regarding all aspects of the website and the archives are taken in consensus by the Production Team or sub teams, who by their willingness to meet weekly and read and respond to issues have claimed that right. The team also consults with many outside in order to find clarity on issues in light of the mission of the Foundation and Publisher's statement.

The final legal responsibility resides with the Publisher, who is appointed by the board of the Foundation.


A word on languages - and use of words

One of the major challenges of this web platform has been the number of languages for which we wanted to have full interface text, as well as content. We have at present 12 interface languages, and material in many more – over 30. If there is not yet a lot of material here in your language, please be patient with us, this is a work in progress.

We would be delighted for your offer of material, or help - see below.


How you can help

Visit our Support page for full details.