TWIST BIOREGIONAL WORKSTREAM

The TWIST Bioregional Workstream explores how investing for systems change can be rooted more deeply in place, aligning capital with the ecological, cultural, and social systems that sustain life.  It brings together practitioners, investors, and community leaders who are connected to a Place and actively explore bioregional approaches to finance, governance, and collaboration. Rather than offering a fixed model, the workstream is a space for collaboration, shared learning and field-building.

A Shift Toward Place-Based Systems Change

Across the TWIST community, there is a growing recognition that lasting systems change cannot be achieved through abstract, disconnected interventions. Instead, it must emerge from the living dynamics of specific landscapes and communities.

The bioregional workstream supports this shift by asking:

  • How can capital be mobilised in ways that regenerate ecosystems and communities?

  • What does it mean to invest with a place, rather than into it?

  • How can financial systems reflect the complexity of real-world systems?

The Bioregional Working Group

Launched in early 2026, TWIST Bioregional Working Group convenes members of our Ecosystem who are funding bioregional portfolios or building the infrastructure for place-based initiatives. Through learning series and shared resources, we are exploring and gaining insights on how investors, communities, and ecosystems might support this work.

2025 Report: “Bioregioning for Systems Change”

Our 2025 exploratory report captures these early learnings from conversations we held with some of our TWIST community members who are actively engaging in bioregional efforts , serving as a directional map for what questions and areas to explore as a community.

Report “Bioregioning for Systems Change - Emering Practices Across Diverse Landscapes” (2025)

Read here

  • "When we talk about bioregional efforts, it’s not in the past, it’s in the making. "

    — Tania Rodriguez, CO_ Plataforma

  • "Bioregioning is a verb – it’s about finding your agency, stewardship, and identity within a landscape."

    — Leon Seefeld, Dark Matter Labs

  • "There’s no hard definition. A bioregion can shift depending on perspective; it’s both geographical and social, and the boundaries are always fluid."

    — Viliana Dzhartova, ReImagined Futures

  • "It’s that feeling when you travel out of your area and sense: this is no longer my bioregion."

    — Karin Müller, Bioregional Weaving Labs

  • "Respecting place means respecting the ownership of place, taking off the investor hat and becoming a facilitator alongside local communities. This means working with community members and stakeholders who determine how their place evolves across generations."

    — Fumi Sungeno, Japan Social Innovation and Investment Foundation (SIIF)

  • " If we want true systemic transformation, we have to look at the exact opposite of the models we’ve inherited. Kwaxala is building a coordinated system that stands opposite to extractivism.

    — Pete Corke, Kwaxala

  • " I am interested in learning from others who are financing and capacity building backbone organizations - using a poly-capital approach. I believe a leading indicator for success is the capacity of the leaders to understand and implement systems change – on the inner as well as the outer side."

    — Charly Kleissner, Co-Founder of Toniic and TWIST

  • "How can the important role of ‘weaving’ or financial orchestration be better supported and financed? How can financial orchestration capacity be built and institutionalised?"

    — Anja König, ALV Foundation

  • "We don’t yet know where the next generation of bioregional fund architects will be trained — but we know we need them."

    — Tania Rodriguez, CO_

  • "You need to be clear who does what, otherwise everyone overlaps, and the people on the ground get lost."

    — Karin Müller, Bioregional Weaving Labs

  • "Bioregional efforts don’t always learn from one another. Or different attempts doing similar work are not connected enough to create a critical mass. Instead of saying ‘someone else is already doing this,’ we should say: this is great; here are others doing similar work. How do we support creating hundreds of examples?"

    — Claudia Garuti, Better Way Foundation

Join the TWIST Bioregional Workstream

If you are designing or funding bioregional portfolios, leading place-based initiatives, or building the governance, capital, and learning infrastructures that enable regenerative practice, we invite you to enrol in the Bioregional Working Group. By completing the form, you will help us understand who is in the room and shape future sessions around the questions and challenges you are navigating.

Once you complete the participation form, you’ll receive:

  • Calendar invites and Zoom details for upcoming sessions;

  • Access to session materials;

  • Invitations to future practitioner-focused conversations.

Enrolment Form

For specific questions and clarification about the Workstream, you can also reach out directly to Maria Balcazar Tellez.