Hi, I'm Ruben Timmerman

My purpose is accelerating systemic change through conscious practices in people and organisations.

Contact me? I:

Respond slowly to mail (especially long ones)
Say no to save time (especially to coffees)
Always try to help (especially good causes)

Nederlands

Hi, ik ben Ruben Timmerman. Ik heb in 2008 Springest opgericht, en in 2021 is dat overgenomen. Sindsdien werk ik als impact investeerder, effectief altruïstisch donateur, operationeel "directeur" (zonder managers!), en adviseur voor startups en stichtingen.

Momenteel werk ik voor (en met) Rutger Bregman's The School for Moral Ambition. Daarnaast ondersteun ik Volt Europa en Volt Nederland, plus wat kleiner werk voor organisaties waar ik in doneer of investeer.

Ik heb geen Nederlandse versie meer van deze site, dus hier moet je het mee doen... 🙃

01Work

What I'm building now: ops-as-a-service for nonprofits. We do the ops, they do the good. It's a foundation, so the mission comes first, not the profit.

I co-founded the School with Rutger Bregman and three others. It's now a foundation in Amsterdam, Brussels and New York, and a movement of 25,000+ idealists in 150+ countries, taking on causes others overlook, like Big Tobacco and factory farming. Our purpose and principles align nearly perfectly with mine.

Initiated and led the project to build a new website platform for 30 countries and over 200 chapters, which I still support. I was General Secretary for Tech and Way of Working with the ambition to get closer to a self-managing (volunteer based) organisation, still coaching some of my former colleagues.

IPE is a progressive think tank that publishes economic policy studies to demonstrate how Dutch society could work better. I'm helping out the founder as a coach for growing the organisation, as well as the rest of the team with operational and marketing advice.

02Passions

Raising my 16yr old daughter and 3yr old son, Hunt Gather Parent inspired
Preventing populism from gaining power, finding effective interventions to scale
Enabling people in self-managing organisations with Holacracy & OKRs
Donating with effective altruism mindset, consciously evaluating my impact
Investing in funds / startups that have a systemic impact on sentient suffering
Fighting my chronic back problems with swimming, Iyengar yoga, core workouts

03Giving Take the 10% Pledge ↗

I pledged to give away €500k to good causes over 10 years. With my impact investments, that's 20% of my wealth. If you live in a wealthy country like me, I urge you to do the same.

04Opinions

I've done a lot of writing, presenting and training on running startups, self-management, OKRs, Holacracy, Getting Things Done, Usability / UX and online marketing. Indulge yourself here:

05Past work

Springest got acquired at the end of 2021 after 14 years of pioneering the biggest learning marketplace in Europe. 55 Springeteers worked in Amsterdam and Berlin. We won several prizes for best employer and best learning culture. We fully adopted Holacracy as one of the first companies in Europe in 2012.

06Other involvements

I invested in these startups, funds and charities that help solve the climate crisis or structurally improve society:

Investments · €25-50K

Polar Night Energy: sand based, seasonal, residential / industrial heat storage
Valyuu: reduces waste and emissions through a reusable electronics marketplace
Vaayu: helps online retailers calculate and cut carbon emissions
Quatt: reduces gas reliance through hybrid / electrical heat pumps
The Social Handshake: enables tax-friendly charity donations for employees
BIYU: own less, do more, by renting products like DIY tools and expensive devices

Crowdfunding or certificates · €10-25K

The Sharing Group: several mobility sharing services, eg. MyWheels, Cargaroo
YB (Yoghurt Barn): fully plant based consumer brand and coffee place
European Sleeper: reducing air travel with night trains to major European destinations
Lenteland: convert existing farms into regenerative community owned farms
Reliving: curated second hand furniture delivered to you
Unpluq: take control of addictive tech
Several solar parks via Duurzaaminvesteren.nl (now Enerfip) and Zonnepanelendelen.nl

Funds · €200-250K

Fair Capital Impact Fund: early stage and scale-up investments in climate, energy, food and circular
iFund Foundation: investing in social enterprises in energy, food, water, or resources
Carbon Equity: decarbonization and energy transition funds that invest in 100+ climate startups

Donations · €10-100K

Volt Nederland & Europa: the only truly European political party
Instituut voor Publieke Economie: economic think tank publishing progressive policy advice
The School for Moral Ambition: helping people increase the impact of their careers
Impact Unfiltered: banning nicotine use to prevent addiction and 8M annual deaths
AIM (Incubated Charities): incubate high-impact charities with evidence-based ideas
I took the 10% Pledge in Jan. 2022, to give away 10% of my income to charitable causes

07Randoms

Some things I like and support:

Supermercator: a great vintage shop / coffee place in De Baarsjes in Amsterdam, with regular creative music nights
Trusting People handbook: unfinished operations management guide of Springest
Wildflyer: a really important and cool startup (no investment), preventing and managing forest wildfires through software