There's a growing understanding that hyper-local organisations are #NeverMoreNeeded. This has got me thinking about how they are funded, particularly for core costs, and how people may want to 'give' to their local area without a specific cause or organisation in mind. Well... 
👆The model above is my attempt to visualise some ideas I've been having about this.
My hunch is that this is nothing new at all, so I'd love to learn about any examples that look like this.
The thinking that has led to the picture above goes something like this thread...
My hunch is that this is nothing new at all, so I'd love to learn about any examples that look like this.
The thinking that has led to the picture above goes something like this thread...
1) If we recognise the importance of small voluntary organisations - constituted or otherwise - as part of a local ecosystem that makes society work, why do we repeatedly ask them to justify their existence for each and every piece of funding they require?
2) Every evaluation I have ever done with some element of local delivery ends up with a finding that talks about the importance of the local, trusted relationships that these organisations have as a key mechanism for making things 'work'. So let's just accept this as a thing.
3) If this is a thing, we should make funding available for them to exist - to cover bills, tea bags, whatever - with no (onerous) questions asked. This isn't about funding project delivery - that can still happen as it has been.
4) But where could this funding come from? Furthermore, how could the source of the funding be slightly more sustainable and with more added value than the traditional donate, spend, gone, repeat model? i.e. How can each £1 contributed work harder?
5) As someone who is privileged enough to have some savings, I want a way for that money to work harder than just sitting around for my own personal benefit - although I want it to do that too.
6) Following on from 5), I don't have a specific cause or organisation which is my go-to outlet. But I do care about where I live and ensuring that the fabric of that place works as best it can for everyone else there too. I recognise the crucial role of groups and orgs in this.
7) So, how can I connect what I care about (and will reap the rewards from in the long run anyway) with those that may benefit from what I have at my disposal, and in a way that works for them so they can concentrate on the things that they have proved to do so well?
8) And can the decisions about how any funding like this is spent be democratic, transparent and equitable? Things like @SheffSOUP and @weR500Together show how this can work already.
Any thoughts or examples, particularly relating to the points related in 4) above? And if it doesn't exist, who's up for investigating it further?
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