The Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) was founded in 2019 by Kate Raworth, Rob Shorter, and Carlota Sanz to support the growing global community applying the doughnut framework in practice. DEAL operates as a distributed network rather than a centralized institution, providing tools, methodology, case studies, and community infrastructure to cities, businesses, educators, and communities adapting the framework to their contexts.
DEAL's signature contribution is the City Portrait methodology — a diagnostic tool that enables a specific place to locate itself on the doughnut's two axes by measuring local social-foundation performance and local ecological-ceiling transgression. Amsterdam's 2020 portrait was the first major application; dozens of subsequent portraits have been produced for cities and regions across Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific.
The organization has also developed toolkits for business adoption (including the "Enterprise Design" methodology), educational curricula for schools and universities, and community organizing frameworks. Its commons-based operating model — tools released under open licenses, contributions welcomed from the community — embodies the distributive design