All Roads lead to the Hearth Summit

Stop 3: HEART Stop 3: HEART

As all roads continue to converge, the Hearth Summit in June in Ljubljana, Slovenia, draws ever closer. Your place by the collective fire is held, and our shared journey deepens with every step.

We have now arrived at the third of four stops on our path to the HEARTH. These short stops along the way offer meaningful glimpses into what awaits, inviting you to connect more deeply with the spirit of this gathering. Today, the invitation is to start feeling into the pulse of the movement: its people, its purpose, and the pathways we are walking—together.

Remember, soon you’ll receive separate emails with important logistical details as we approach the Summit.

With an open heart and no further ado, dobrodošli (welcome) to our:

From Project to Movement

As with any living organism, a movement begins as a breath—subtle, often unseen—and grows through connection, nourishment, and time.

The Wellbeing Project began in just that way. What started as a response to the quiet ache and burnout felt by social change leaders has evolved into a global Wellbeing Movement—an ecosystem of care. Like the branching of mycelium underground, what began small has become a thriving network of changemakers practicing wellbeing in their lives, work, and communities—each interconnected, each alive.

45 seasons, 135 new moons, and 3,108 sunrises have passed since we first shared our deep conviction with the world –that Wellbeing Inspires Welldoing – and whether you joined us at sunrise 1, 4,000, or 4,108, you are part of this living story—a story still being written.

From the start, The Wellbeing Project has been about catalyzing a culture of inner wellbeing for all changemakers. It has always been a collective endeavor. Born in 2014 from the understanding that meaningful change requires shared wisdom and effort, this work has been co-created—drawing on the experience and creativity of diverse communities and institutions around the world.

Rooted in practices of co-creation, emergence, and deep listening, and trusting the rhythm of living systems, this journey has been both grounded and expansive. Over the years, the Project has:

This evolution has been emergent, made possible by the willingness and responsiveness of actors across the social change field. Each group—like a cell in a greater organism—has moved at its own rhythm: some completing their cycles and gently sunsetting, others evolving into communities of practice.

What began as a project is now co-created with over 60 institutions across nonprofits, foundations, academia, media, venture capital, and the arts—anchored by Ashoka, Georgetown University, Impact Hub, Porticus, Skoll Foundation, and Synergos.

Each individual, institution, and relationship has been essential in shaping this journey—creating the conditions for the Wellbeing Movement to thrive within the social change sector.

Being part of a movement is personal, aspirational, and rooted in hope. At its HEART, this movement reflects a deep optimism—an unwavering belief that transformation is possible.

And that HEART is you. And that HEART is you.

Together, we are nurturing a world where wellbeing is not an afterthought, but a foundation—essential not just for personal resilience, but for meaningful, lasting impact. This movement is living proof that when changemakers are supported from within, transformation becomes possible—both in themselves and in their changemaking.

Beating Hearts Together

In June, more than 1,000 souls from around the world will come together and meet in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Perhaps you already know some of the incredible fellow changemakers that will be present. You may have journeyed together through programs, networks, or conversations. Others will be strangers— at first—until you meet and recognize the familiar spark of shared purpose.

And quite the opposite of random, we are paying attention to each of the HEARTS who will be beating together. We’re gathering a vibrant, diverse mix:

This Summit is not just about “who is attending”—it’s about who we are together. Because we are not just the audience of the Hearth Summit—we are its living, breathing heart, and we believe we all are essential to our collective wisdom.

An Architecture of Belonging

Throughout the arc of human history, adversity has always walked beside us, taking many forms. And now, for better or worse, it is we who stand in the stream of time, bearing the weight of this moment—living through hardship and wonder, all in a single breath.

We recognize that the number of the Hearth Summit in-person attendees doesn’t represent even a fraction of the vast body of changemakers working toward a better world. And yet, we believe that the right constellation of these hearts and minds is more than enough to continue reshaping our collective story—to spark a hopeful narrative that reawakens a felt sense of connection: to ourselves, to one another, and to the natural world.

Every conversation, encounter, and experience at the Hearth Summit will be guided by the lens of Ecological Belonging—a living reminder that we are not separate from the Earth, or from one another. This lens invites us to ask not only how we want to live together, but also how we want to be in relationship—with land, and with life itself. Not as a theory, but as a daily, embodied practice.

Belonging begins with connection, and connection becomes possible through closeness. That is why, throughout our time together, we will gather in Family Circles—human-sized groups that reflect the larger experience of the Hearth Summit in a way that is personal, grounded, and alive. These circles are a fractal expression of the Summit’s intention: to hold space for us to recognize ourselves as a movement, while holding complexity through care. They will be a space to reflect, digest, make meaning, and be witnessed—together.

Through these circles, we hope the vast will become near, the abstract will become felt, and the collective will become real—each circle a mirror of the experience we will share at the Hearth Summit. In this way, we reflect the greater ecosystem of the wellbeing movement, until it becomes not something we simply witness, but something we begin to embody.

The Next Beats of the Hearth

And as we step deeper into this architecture of belonging, we will be gently held by the turning of the season. The summer solstice marks yet another threshold, reminding us that we are part of a larger, universal cycle of life—and that transformation, present in both the seasons and in social movements, moves in spirals, not lines.

As the sun reaches its peak, it will also begin to bid farewell to our shared in-person experience. Each of us will return home carrying a spark from the collective Hearth—a fire to illuminate our gestures, our words, and the way we choose to lead and live.

But the Hearth Summit is not an ending. It is a continuation—a moment of convergence before new branching begins. The story does not end in Ljubljana; it continues through each of us. Because the path ahead will be lit by the sparks you bring with you, nurture and transform at the Hearth, and carry forward into the world.

Like a living organism, this community will continue to adapt, grow, and regenerate. We are not simply attending an event—we are shaping the conditions for a new culture of social change, one rooted in connection, care, and collective wellbeing.

And in this way, the Hearth will continue—in many places, through many hearts, as the Wellbeing Movement.