Towards an Ecosystem of Connection, Community, and Healthier Online Spaces

Fewer people belong to the clubs, congregations, unions, and community groups that once anchored everyday life. Online spaces have filled the gap, often in ways that deepen loneliness and polarization. Who is working to build something better, and how do we find them? We are commissioning a project to explore who is doing this work across the United States, Canada, and the European Union. 

On both sides of the Atlantic, people are more isolated than they were a generation ago. Membership in community organizations has declined, and online socialization has taken much of the place of in-person connection. The effects are widely felt. For some, loneliness leads to a retreat from civic life, while others embrace political grievance, distrust of democratic institutions, and authoritarianism. Men and boys experience distinct forms of social isolation that can draw them toward polarizing or far-right politics and away from support for gender justice.  

The response is already under way, but it is fragmented. On both sides of the Atlantic, litigators, researchers, tech policy advocates, youth-safety groups, community builders, game designers, and practitioners are working on addressing social isolation and polarization but more connection among them is needed.  

The challenge of social isolation is felt globally but manifests uniquely in different contexts. We want to know more about where policies and priorities on these issues have transatlantic overlaps and where there are distinctions. For example, digital governance looks very different in the US, Canada, and Europe, as are the conversations on isolation of men and boys. 

The Project 

The Heinrich Böll Foundation Washington, DC invites researchers, analysts, and independent consultants based in the United States, Canada, or the European Union to apply for a mapping project examining a central question: 

Who is doing meaningful work on loneliness, community, and social cohesion across the US, Canada, and the EU, and who is building online spaces that strengthen, rather than substitute, in-person connection?  What promising and underexplored avenues for future cooperation already exist and should get further attention, and what spaces for cooperation are missing? 

One researcher or small team will receive $8,000 to produce an 15-20 page analysis that maps the ecosystem working on these questions.  

This commission supports a broader transatlantic inquiry into online isolation, polarization, and rebuilding connection. The mapping project will serve a larger project whose ultimate goal is to bring together experts and practitioners from many fields to learn from one another, develop policy and practice questions and ideas, and workshop answers that fit the distinct contexts of the US, Canada, and Europe (whether nationally or more locally). 

This report will initially be for internal purposes, but we welcome discussion for parts of the analysis to become public-facing. 

Project Scope 

The work should surface and show overlaps, gaps, and connections among the organizations, networks, funders, and initiatives already engaged in work on loneliness and community-building. It should give particular but not exclusive attention to work on healthier online spaces, including ones that promote in-person community. We are especially interested in work that sits between conversations that usually happen separately: tech policy and content moderation, loneliness and isolation, youth online safety, the "manosphere" and its pull on men and boys, social media addiction, and online polarization that spills into anti-democratic engagement. 

Actors and organizations can include: 

• nonprofits, community organizations, and civic infrastructure groups; 
• research institutes, academic centers, and think tanks;
  
• tech policy, digital rights, and litigation organizations;
  
• platforms, startups, and product teams building pro-social or community-oriented online spaces;
  
• gaming companies, game communities, and groups working with online moderators and streamers;
  
• youth-serving organizations and those supporting young adults after they leave school systems;
  
• groups working specifically with boys and men, including on isolation, online radicalization, and masculinity;
  
• philanthropic funders and government or intergovernmental initiatives shaping the field;
  
• others actors that could play innovative roles if mobilized.  

Applicants should briefly propose a clear framework for how the ecosystem will be categorized and which dimensions will be mapped, such as geography, issue area, theory of change, target population, scale, and funding source. We welcome creative approaches to presentation, provided the final product is usable by a non-specialist audience. 

Questions the project should help answer 

The work will inform a larger set of questions that should serve as the background to the final mapping report. This initial project is not intended to answer these questions, but they are meant to guide the project: 

• What does it look like to build lasting, cross-cutting community, not just echo chambers, and who is doing that work?
• What turns an online space into a real "third place" that feeds back into offline life instead of acting as a harmful substitute for it?
  
• What relieves loneliness and isolation durably, and what is known about how reducing them affects pro- or anti-democratic civic and political engagement?
  
• What is specific to the experience of boys and men in online ecosystems, and which initiatives are countering the harms?
  
• What do young people need for healthy civic and social engagement online, beyond protection from harm, and what support exists once they age out of school? What role could the gaming industry play?
  
• What comparable supports exist for adults, who have been as susceptible as children to many of the dynamics policy now seeks to shield young people from?
  
• How do the differing digital governance approaches in the US, Canada, and the EU shape the work that is possible on community-building and depolarization? How might the US Meta settlement and EU efforts to limit addictive design and young people's access to social media change that landscape? 

Deliverables 

The selected applicant will produce: 

• an analytical report identifying key existing or potential future clusters, gaps, notable or promising models, and cross-border differences between the US, Canada, and the EU;
• recommendations of organizations and individuals for engagement in the broader inquiry, with a brief rationale for each; and
  
• a short briefing to our team on findings, and availability for follow-up questions as the broader project develops. 

The project should reflect firsthand knowledge of the field, not only desk research. We encourage applicants to propose interviews, outreach, or other ways of reaching organizations that are less visible online. 

Eligibility and application 

This is a selective commission open to researchers, analysts, and consultants based in the US, Canada, or the EU. We welcome applicants with backgrounds in civil society and philanthropy, technology policy, social psychology and sociology, community organizing, youth development, digital media, or related fields.  

Applicants should submit: 

• a 500–750 word proposal outlining your approach, proposed framework and sources, methods for identifying and verifying organizations, timeline, and any relevant prior experience; 
• a CV or résumé; and
  
• a relevant work sample (such as a prior landscape analysis, report, or database). 

Applications are due by November 5, 2026. Only one applicant or team will be selected. Early applications are encouraged. 

A draft of the work should be submitted by December 14, with feedback round with HBS to follow. 

Applications must be submitted via BambooHR. Applications submitted elsewhere cannot be considered. 

Compensation: $8,000