This document constitutes the activity and financial report for the 2024 financial year of Fundação Terra Agora (FTA) and reports on the activities carried out between January 2024 and December 2024 — operations commenced in April 2024.
Work commenced with two primary areas of focus:
- Formalisation of Fundação Terra Agora
- Establishment of the External Services Team
Formalisation of Fundação Terra Agora
Following the publication of official recognition, a transition plan was defined for the work carried out by the founding committee, together with the holding of the first meetings of the governing bodies and the acquisition of a digital minutes solution.
The main activities were:
- Engagement of a legal advisor, Patrícia Mendes
- Registration with the Commercial Registry Office
- Reporting to General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (SGPCM)
- Registration with the Tax Authority (April 2024)
- Registration with Social Security (May 2024)
- Commencement of operations for financial year 2024 from May 2024
- Acquisition and implementation of a digital minutes solution (arkeyvata.pt)
- Holding of the firstBoard of Administration meetings (April 2024)
- Holding of the first Board of Trustees meeting (April 2024)
- Holding of the first Supervisory Board meeting (September 2024)
- First version of the 2024–2028 strategy, activity plan and budget for 2024
- Working with accountant João Sengo, to establish the chart of accounts and define initial procedures (payments, monthly accounts closing, management control)
- Activity and Financial Report for the founding accounts of Fundação Terra Agora
- Approval of the 3 letters of principles and code of ethics, as well as the formal acceptance of individuals serving the foundation
- Internal organisation into circular, dialogic teams
The FTA has been formally established, with all governing bodies active and all operational instruments in place. The exception is the Technical Advisory Council which, due to the departure of members and limited availability, remains under constitution — this matter is being resolved by the Board of Trustees.
External Services Team
The establishment of external service providers was another initial priority, including:
- João Sengo, Accountant
- Patrícia Mendes, Legal Advisor
- Isabel Valente, Communications
- Joana Novo, Designer
- Alexandra Lopes, Technology
The following individuals also collaborated with the Foundation:
- Sara Simões, Capacity Building and Forum Regenerar Portugal (FRP)
- Guilherme Garcia, Forum Regenerar Portugal (FRP)
Despite all efforts, it was not possible to recruit individuals for ‘Education’ and ‘Strategic Assets and Guardian Entities’. Maria Rosa supported the education area for two months on a pro bono basis and subsequently departed. This is attributable to the absence of a budget for these areas and the difficulty in finding individuals available to undertake them on a pro bono basis or on a results-linked arrangement.
All individuals who served the FTA initially did so on a pro bono basis, after which the defined rate for contracted services was applied — communications, preparation of Forum Regenerar Portugal, information systems support, capacity building activities and back-office support.
These individuals organised themselves into teams operating on a circular basis, and began to oversee the different areas of the FTA, adopting a team operating code (an example from the communications team is provided in the annex):
- Communications Team: Isabel Valente, Joana Novo and Marco de Abreu
- Forum Regenerar Portugal Team: Sara Simões, Guilherme Garcia, Rita Nunes*, Isabel Valente, Marco de Abreu, Daniela Nunes (purpose), Paulo Dias (imatch)*
- Equipa Technology: Nuno Matias, Alexandra Lopes*, Paulo Costa*
- Capacity Building Team: Sara Simões, Gil Penha-Lopes*, Marco de Abreu
- Back-Office Team: Marco de Abreu, João Sengo and Patrícia Mendes
- Donations Campaign Team: Rita Nunes*, Isabel Valente*, Marco de Abreu*, Nuno Matias*
Following the formalisation of the Foundation and the formation of teams, priority was given to the various activities set out in the 2024 activity plan. Below is a summary by area/team.
Communications
The main activities in the communications area were:
- Integration of the work carried out by the founding committee: brand identity, website
- Communications strategy
- Brand Guidelines
- Logo rectification
- Website maintenance (including migration to FTA server)
- Social media strategy and publications management: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Telegram (Terra Agora Community channel)
- Foundation database and mailing list platform (Brevo)
- Newsletter ‘Regeneration News’ — 3 issues
- Internal Communications — 4 issues
- External Communications/ media relations
- Foundation launch campaign (April)
- First Guardian Entity campaign (July)
- FRP campaign planned3 — postponed following the postponement of the FRP.
- Institutional presentation of the FTA
- Management of community communications and responses (social media, website)
Forum Regenerar Portugal
For the Forum Regenerar Portugal (FRP), in addition to forming the team, partnerships were established with:
- Presencing Institute
- Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which supports the event
- Purpose, which holds the concept of ‘Forum Regenerar’
A first three-day design of the FRP was produced, targeting January 2025. The concept and all supporting graphic materials were produced, as well as an investor presentation and package.
However, the FRP required postponement due to changes in partnership conditions, with its delivery now planned for 2025.
The FRP was designed to generate revenue for the FTA, representing the first instance of own-source revenue generation.
Technology
Work in the technology area included:
- Inventory of existing systems upon the creation of the FTA
- Support for teams and users
- Research, selection and implementation of the digital minutes solution: arkeyvata
- Research into the FTA collaboration solution: Google + Slack
- Creation of the FTA web server to host its websites
- Support for the FRP
Capacity Building
In the capacity building area, initial approaches were made to:
- SS Commons Conference, in which we participated
- Contact with several Municipal Councils regarding the FTA governance model
This is an area requiring dedicated effort and the development of relationships with universities, NGOs, Municipal Councils, the State and other actors in the FTA’s areas of interest. Budget allocation is required.
Education
Some informal contacts were made regarding potential training activities in areas where the FTA has competencies. A dedicated individual and budget allocation are required.
No expenditure was incurred in this area.
Strategic Assets and Guardian Entities
The focus in this area was the management of the relationship with PlantarFuturo and the potential Guardian Entity project Idanha-a-Vida. A visit to the project was made with a shared celebration, and the first dialogue space was opened towards the development of the Guardian Entity project which will be submitted à FTA, within the framework of the signed MoU, by September 2026.
Contacts were made with several projects, potential Guardian Entities, to learn about what would be required to become Guardian Entities of the FTA, as well as with individuals who own land and wished to enquire about the conditions for donating land à FTA. It is worth highlighting 2 that are evaluating the donation of their lands and becoming Guardian Entities of the FTA:
- Associação M.A.E,
- Quinta Ten Chi.
A number of other possibilities were also assessed that came to our attention through the FTA’s communications, both in terms of properties — primarily for sale — and potential Guardian Entities.
A dedicated individual and budget allocation are required for this area.
The 2nd dialogue and the presentation of the FTA to the Idanha-a-Vida team took place.
Resource Mobilisation
In the area of resource mobilisation, several lines of action were opened:
- Identifying opportunities for the FTA to generate its own revenues from 2025: FRP, Capacity Building and Education — the FRP was the primary focus
- Identifying available funding for which the FTA could apply; given the nature of a Foundation, few opportunities emerged in Portugal — one possibility is to apply for projects in partnership
- Contact with individuals with investment capacity (e.g. technology entrepreneurs) and those close to FTA members — this generated some interest but did not materialise into any investment; two approaches were pursued: individual support and involvement, and donations of between €10K and €50K annually over 3 years; multi-year donations attracted greater interest, and the individuals we were able to reach did not show interest in investing in this area (pointing instead to the education sector)
- Establishing a resource mobilisation team; this did not succeed, leading to the idea of a donations campaign, as well as a proposed funding strategy to be presented to theBoard of Administration for 2025
Changes to the Governing Bodies
The end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 also brought several changes to the governing bodies. Most notably, Marco Paulo de Abreu resigned as member of the Board of Administration and President of the Executive Committee (PEC), having concluded his involvement on 31 December 2025. Filipe Miguel Moreira Alves was elected PEC, but owing to limited availability, transferred his position to Ivan Sellers on 31 March 2025.
The President of the Board of Administration (CBA), Filipa Simões Dobos, also tendered her resignation with effect from 31 March 2025. Ivan Sellers will assume the position of CBA on a temporary basis, combining roles and relinquishing the position of Chair of the Board of Trustees.
Also noteworthy are the resignations of José Mateus (Technical Advisory Council), Hugo Lopes (Board of Administration) and Maria Cláudia Gonçalo (Technical Advisory Council), as well as the appointment of André Vizinho (Chair of the Technical Advisory Council). The appointment of new executive and non-executive members is expected during 2025.
Financial Accounts
In keeping with the FTA’s commitment to the principles of transparency and good governance, the principal financial documents for the financial year under review are presented below: the Income Statement by Nature and the Balance Sheet. These documents reflect the financial position of the Foundation and the manner in which resources have been utilised in fulfilment of its mission.
As 2024 was the year of the FTA’s establishment, only €140 was generated in relation to subsidies, donations and operational bequests. This amount relates to two spontaneous individual donations, of €100 and €40, which arose following media coverage of the FTA’s launch.
On the other hand, External Supplies and Services and Staff Costs were the most significant expenditure items, owing to the necessity of establishing an initial team.
The FTA’s principal fixed asset remains Herdade Marrocos, where the Idanha-à-Vida Project is being developed. The remaining balance of the initial endowment of €254,000 is held in bank deposits.
Final Note of the 2024 Annual Activity and Financial Report
This Report was prepared by the Executive Committee (EC) in office during 2024. The accounts were closed and signed in advance by the outgoing EC on 31 December 2024. Notwithstanding the early date, following a detailed analysis of the financial position as at that date, as well as dialogue with the outgoing EC, the current President of the EC did not identify any irregularities or material causes for concern.
It is also acknowledged that the approval of this Report falls outside the statutory deadline set out in paragraph i), clause 3, of Article 12 of the Foundation’s Statutes, which stipulates a vote within three months of the close of the financial year. The current EC undertakes to strengthen oversight and scheduling mechanisms to ensure strict compliance with deadlines in future financial years.
25 June 2025