Our Journey

Building a regenerative economy is a collective process. The Third Horizon Fund is taking shape through conversations, gatherings, partnerships, and shared learning across the bioregion. This page documents where we've been, what we've heard, and how our thinking and approach are evolving.

1. Where We Are Now (October 2026) 

Following our July workshops and September Climate Week gathering, we're beginning to translate our emerging vision into a more concrete financing strategy. Several areas of work are underway:

• Developing a prototype project portfolio. We're identifying projects that could benefit from new forms of regenerative finance and beginning to explore their capital needs.

• Strengthening our partnerships. We're engaging existing lenders, funders, and organizations to understand where collaboration could help unlock financing.

• Refining the fund model. We're exploring how different financing tools, governance structures, and operational partnerships could work together.

• Organizing for the next phase. We're clarifying the team's roles, exploring working groups, and developing a budget and fundraising strategy to support the initiative's next stage.

2. September 2026 — New York Climate Week

During New York Climate Week, we convened a conversation with prospective collaborators, funders, and partners to share the emerging Third Horizon Fund strategy and invite feedback. The discussion helped clarify several important questions about how to move from vision to implementation.

What we heard

• Make the model tangible. Demonstrate how the fund could work through real projects, concrete financing needs, and illustrative transactions.

• Build on existing institutions. Strengthen relationships with banks, CDFIs, funders, and other regional organizations rather than duplicating their work.

• Clarify our distinctive contribution. Articulate where a new bioregional financing facility could fill gaps that existing institutions cannot easily address.

• Balance coordination and direct financing. Explore how the fund might combine capital orchestration with its own financing activities.

• Develop a credible pathway to capital. Connect the emerging project pipeline with potential funders and investors whose objectives align with the initiative.

• Support projects beyond financing. Consider the role of technical assistance and other support that can help regenerative projects become investment-ready.

We're using this feedback to inform our project pipeline, partnerships, organizational development, and financing strategy.

3. July 2026 — Coming Together

In July 2026, we convened two workshops at the Shumacher Center for New Economices and the Garrisson Institute to explore how finance could better serve the regeneration of the Hudson Valley and neighboring regions. The workshops brought together people working across finance, agriculture, ecological regeneration, community development, and other fields to explore how new financial infrastructure could serve the long-term flourishing of our bioregion.

Following the workshops, we invited participants to share their reflections, identify financing and partnership needs, and help shape the next phase of the design process.

Several themes emerged from the feedback:

• Build on the relationships in the room. Participants valued the opportunity to connect across disciplines and organizations, and expressed interest in continued collaboration.

• Start with real needs and opportunities. Participants identified needs ranging from financing for regenerative agriculture and regional food infrastructure to bridge loans, guarantees, and support for local enterprises.

• Go beyond financial products. Some participants encouraged us to think more deeply about the outcomes we want to achieve, the institutions and relationships needed to achieve them, and the support projects need to become financeable.

• Be intentional about participation and priorities. Feedback highlighted the importance of involving more people directly implementing regenerative practices, broadening representation, and identifying where the initiative could make the greatest difference.

These insights are helping shape the Third Horizon Fund as we move from collective envisioning toward developing a practical financing model, grounded in the opportunities and needs of the region.

5. The Origins

How it began

The Third Horizon Fund grew out of a shared recognition that building a regenerative regional economy requires more than individual projects. It requires financial infrastructure capable of connecting capital, community priorities, and long-term stewardship of place.

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