Less than 5 minutes of discussion about campaigning has made me look at everything in a different light, which I am grateful for as I was starting to loose a little bit of light on where I was going. Research seemed to be happening, but for no relevance. I think I have found a direction I want to go in now for my final project. This won't stop me loosing focus on my aims for this project hopefully and I will still achieve the outcome I have been striving to reach.
The rest of my talk with Trevelyan brought up the topics of volunteering, funding and finance.
There are many charities that have shifted away from providing hands on services. Instead they are becoming organisations that raise money to support projects and smaller organisations instead. Working for or in partnership with beneficiaries. This is what Childreach International seem to be doing. They are fundraisers, who then support a number of organisations worldwide who are working towards causes within their local communities; such as the project Balsena in Gujarat, India. Childreach International work with the projects facilitator Shaishav, to provide funds keeping it in force and providing for its needs. They don't carry out the direct work themselves.
The majority of roles within charities that are more 'hands-on' take on the form of volunteers. They don't tend to be paid positions unless you have a particular essential skill that can really benefit a charity tremendously. The charity Water Mission International, for example, employ staff who take an active and more physical role within the charity; like Chris Bryan, who is the Jr. Water and Sanitation Engineer. He will be forward facing and help directly, whereas most other staff will have a main base and work from an office.
If it is charitable organisations that you really want to make a career from, you have to develop highly sought after skills that will benefit; such as being a water and sanitation engineer. You have to also know the charity system inside out and understand what the services are for charities of interest.
In Trevelyan's point of view, it is hard to for charities to recruit individuals for the business side to their organisation. The most interest is always with the more forward facing jobs and the ones that deal with the charities issues more closely. These are the sought after and over-subscribed jobs, even though they aren't as well paid. In order to be noticed, you need to show that you know it isn't just a job; it's a passion, a motivation and a commitment (Wright, Trevelyan: 2012). Another thing that will give you a great advantage is having the upper-hand of others in your situation, is volunteering. If you can show you are committed and you have volunteered first, then you gain extra strengths. There are 3 levels of strengths, the best being volunteering completed for the charity you are applying to, the next being volunteering for a charity with similar outcomes and objectives and the last being volunteering of any sort.
Trevelyan suggested that I start to look at the different types of jobs that are out there and what skills you need for them, the values they look for and the issues they want you to be aware of. Research as many varieties in many organisations and compare them. The more knowledgable I am make myself, the better.
Websites such as Linkedin, Charity Job, Raleigh International and Third Sector are where I should start looking and getting a feel of what is available.
Download the job specifications!
Our meeting then moved on to funding, as I will be needing to apply in the future to secure money for my final MA event. One thing I am going to struggle with is this aspect of my event because I'm not working with any local communities at the moment. I am involved with a worldwide charity helping children in India. A lot of funding organisations will only support your project if you can show how a local community or cause will benefit. This is making me ask myself a lot of questions to do with what I am hoping to accomplish. At present, I am looking to create a campaign as I mentioned in my previous Blog, and the event in question will be the opening of the campaign. It will be making people aware of children having a voice. This event will still include my exhibition from everything collected in India, but the way I will be connecting it to the local community is by providing workshops to local children and giving them a chance to voice their opinions on their society and offer them opportunity to speak out on issues they have. This will be made possible through allowing them to create artworks in ways they think appropriate for expressing themselves. The local community can then see what their children are thinking and see that children matter too. If you make a child feel included and important, they tend to have a better quality of life and more ambition for the future. In order t make the campaign/event as successful and effective as possible, I will need to look in to Children's Rights. Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission, speaking at a conference on the 'Right's of Children', commented on seeing individuals "taking advantage of the innocence of children and driving their cause with the help of the fact that children are easily influenced and naturally want to please adults in order to be loved." (Vaclav Havel: 2009). This is what I will be campaigning against because I don't believe that children should be manipulated like that. Encouragement should be shown, giving them a voice and a choice. The conference spoke of these topics in much bigger context than what I am aiming for, but they are still relevant to the smaller issues arising. I am looking at communities, whereas they are speaking about dictators such as Hitler focusing on children and moulding them in to followers. The bigger issues are what I can aim at! But for now, supporting children within poorer communities is my goal. Wallström states that by giving children rights, it benefits society as well as the child. "I believe what is right for children is right for us all." The convention set out the rights of children in 54 articles and 2 optional protocols. The reason I mention this is because articles 12 and 13 were of particular interest to me. Not only are the articles in a language that children can understand and relate to, they also show how children are allowed to express themselves. Article 12 reads, "You have the right to give your opinion, and for adults to listen and take it seriously" and article 13 states "You have the right to find out things and share what you think with others, by talking, drawing, writing or in any other way unless it harms or offends other people". These are what I will be concentrating on and promoting to local children. I want them to communicate with their families/community in a way they feel comfortable with, using my campaign as a platform. Be it a voice recording, short video, sculpture, drawing, letter and so on. As well as my initial event, it will be an ongoing project that will hopefully expand in to a more long-term scheme. As a by-product, I will hope that a more creative community will appear, who are outside the box thinkers and more open-minded.
Below is an example of allowing children to contribute to their community. Hanley bus-station is being renovated and children were given the chance to make the area look more pleasant whilst the construction work is taking place. They can feel proud that they have been asked to get involved and can express what their interpretations of the transport system is like/or should be. This has been produced through a series of drawings.
Moving back on to the topic of funding (as the above was me thinking out loud), Trevelyan introduced me to 'Awards For All', who are a National Lottery funded organisation offering 'grants of between £300 and £10,000 for projects that improve communities, and the lives of people within them. It is for voluntary and community groups, schools and health organisations, parish and town councils.' When considering your application, they are looking for you to meet certain criteria and it can be a tough battle to become a successful candidate. Being able to propose an idea or project to the panel that benefits one of their outcomes, you are likely to be considered. With 'Awards For All', they fund projects that are giving people more of a chance in life through providing access to training and development so they can improve their life skills; projects building a stronger community bond and allowing them to problem solve their issues collectively; projects which generate healthier and more active individuals and communities; and lastly, projects which improve rural and urban environments so people are able to gain more access and enjoyment from. All forms have to be completed as much in advance as you can, to ensure you are well prepared for possible rejection and the need to apply elsewhere. There are countless guide sheets to read through before you fill out a form, and a lot of small print. It is vital that you make sure you're eligible before you sit for hours filling out a form. On the 'Awards For All' website, if you look closely enough, you see a bulletin informing readers that funding is no longer available to small projects if they are based around the Arts, Heritage or Sports. This will end up ruling out a lot of people because sport for example, is a huge base for a lot of projects. A link is provided to help you find other Lottery Grants that can help.
You could easily miss this statement if you weren't looking for it! The suggested funders are more specific to certain projects instead of a general fund such as 'Awards For All'. 'Arts Council' is one that I need to keep in mind; as my projects are based around using Art as a communication device. But whether I will be able to apply for funding through them will be an bridge I'll cross when I know exactly what my project will consist of. This is because I still may be connecting my event to a charity and funding is harder to come by when you are an individual helping charitable organisations. On their website they comment that "Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better." If you can fit your idea/project in to one of their priorities or goals stated in the 2011-2015 mission statement, then you have a good perch on which to apply for their funding. One of the 'Art Council's' goals involves the engagement with children:
The People's Postcode Lottery is also another port of call when thinking for funding. Trevelyan tells me that it is aimed towards smaller, more local projects. They award between £500 and £2000 to charities and community groups across Britain. Registered charities can apply for up to £1000. The "People's Postcode Trust is a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People's Postcode Lottery." I personally think this is a great way to generate money and fund beneficiaries. Over 628 projects have been funded so far, including creative and expressive groups, play therapy, sculpture projects and so on. The trust are always encouraging groups to apply for the funding as they know how much even the smallest amount can benefit and make 'the world of difference' to an organisation. Owen Hurcome is the contact for Staffordshire; Arts Development.
After researching into what funding is available, the content of the applications and how to fill one out effectively to ensure success is looked upon. I need to be very clear on what my aims are and how I will be trying to achieve them. I also have to make sure that my project fits in with the funders mission statement and objectives.
As I will be organising an event, information they will want to know is; Who's coming, when, where, what are you doing exactly, who are you benefiting, what are your budget estimates? Etc.
I have been informed that trying to get thing for free to keep the budget down is an incentive to funders because they like to see you have done things for yourself and they aren't funding everything. Match-funding is also essential to try and get. Organisations like 'Awards For All' like to contribute to a bigger picture and not fund the whole project.
Councillors can also be of help for small projects with their board budgets. This is a path I need to research in to more. As of yet, I don't know where to begin looking for this type of information without finding a broad variety of irrelevant information.
As I have mentioned previously, volunteering is the key if I want to get my foot in the door. A brilliant way to do this so it highly benefits myself, is trying to get onto a Charity Board. It is unpaid, but an amazing experience and a pathway to many possible opportunities! In today's world it's a real catch 22 when applying for jobs; you can't get a job because you need experience, but you can't gain the experience without having a job. Through volunteering, you show willingness and determination to succeed in the charity sector.
I NEED to research about the Charity Commission. This needs to be my next high priority as I know it will give me a lot of vital information. Not only that, everybody I have spoken to so far have told me it is essential to my understanding and research.
If there is any information that Trevelyan thinks could be of importance to me, he is going to email and let me know, as well as arrange another meeting to go into more depth around the areas I want more information from.
The last words I heard from him as he was walking away from our meeting was, 'Good luck out there, its a competitive sector'. Great words of encouragement!!
Below is an example of allowing children to contribute to their community. Hanley bus-station is being renovated and children were given the chance to make the area look more pleasant whilst the construction work is taking place. They can feel proud that they have been asked to get involved and can express what their interpretations of the transport system is like/or should be. This has been produced through a series of drawings.
Moving back on to the topic of funding (as the above was me thinking out loud), Trevelyan introduced me to 'Awards For All', who are a National Lottery funded organisation offering 'grants of between £300 and £10,000 for projects that improve communities, and the lives of people within them. It is for voluntary and community groups, schools and health organisations, parish and town councils.' When considering your application, they are looking for you to meet certain criteria and it can be a tough battle to become a successful candidate. Being able to propose an idea or project to the panel that benefits one of their outcomes, you are likely to be considered. With 'Awards For All', they fund projects that are giving people more of a chance in life through providing access to training and development so they can improve their life skills; projects building a stronger community bond and allowing them to problem solve their issues collectively; projects which generate healthier and more active individuals and communities; and lastly, projects which improve rural and urban environments so people are able to gain more access and enjoyment from. All forms have to be completed as much in advance as you can, to ensure you are well prepared for possible rejection and the need to apply elsewhere. There are countless guide sheets to read through before you fill out a form, and a lot of small print. It is vital that you make sure you're eligible before you sit for hours filling out a form. On the 'Awards For All' website, if you look closely enough, you see a bulletin informing readers that funding is no longer available to small projects if they are based around the Arts, Heritage or Sports. This will end up ruling out a lot of people because sport for example, is a huge base for a lot of projects. A link is provided to help you find other Lottery Grants that can help.
You could easily miss this statement if you weren't looking for it! The suggested funders are more specific to certain projects instead of a general fund such as 'Awards For All'. 'Arts Council' is one that I need to keep in mind; as my projects are based around using Art as a communication device. But whether I will be able to apply for funding through them will be an bridge I'll cross when I know exactly what my project will consist of. This is because I still may be connecting my event to a charity and funding is harder to come by when you are an individual helping charitable organisations. On their website they comment that "Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better." If you can fit your idea/project in to one of their priorities or goals stated in the 2011-2015 mission statement, then you have a good perch on which to apply for their funding. One of the 'Art Council's' goals involves the engagement with children:
The People's Postcode Lottery is also another port of call when thinking for funding. Trevelyan tells me that it is aimed towards smaller, more local projects. They award between £500 and £2000 to charities and community groups across Britain. Registered charities can apply for up to £1000. The "People's Postcode Trust is a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People's Postcode Lottery." I personally think this is a great way to generate money and fund beneficiaries. Over 628 projects have been funded so far, including creative and expressive groups, play therapy, sculpture projects and so on. The trust are always encouraging groups to apply for the funding as they know how much even the smallest amount can benefit and make 'the world of difference' to an organisation. Owen Hurcome is the contact for Staffordshire; Arts Development.
After researching into what funding is available, the content of the applications and how to fill one out effectively to ensure success is looked upon. I need to be very clear on what my aims are and how I will be trying to achieve them. I also have to make sure that my project fits in with the funders mission statement and objectives.
As I will be organising an event, information they will want to know is; Who's coming, when, where, what are you doing exactly, who are you benefiting, what are your budget estimates? Etc.
I have been informed that trying to get thing for free to keep the budget down is an incentive to funders because they like to see you have done things for yourself and they aren't funding everything. Match-funding is also essential to try and get. Organisations like 'Awards For All' like to contribute to a bigger picture and not fund the whole project.
Councillors can also be of help for small projects with their board budgets. This is a path I need to research in to more. As of yet, I don't know where to begin looking for this type of information without finding a broad variety of irrelevant information.
As I have mentioned previously, volunteering is the key if I want to get my foot in the door. A brilliant way to do this so it highly benefits myself, is trying to get onto a Charity Board. It is unpaid, but an amazing experience and a pathway to many possible opportunities! In today's world it's a real catch 22 when applying for jobs; you can't get a job because you need experience, but you can't gain the experience without having a job. Through volunteering, you show willingness and determination to succeed in the charity sector.
I NEED to research about the Charity Commission. This needs to be my next high priority as I know it will give me a lot of vital information. Not only that, everybody I have spoken to so far have told me it is essential to my understanding and research.
If there is any information that Trevelyan thinks could be of importance to me, he is going to email and let me know, as well as arrange another meeting to go into more depth around the areas I want more information from.
The last words I heard from him as he was walking away from our meeting was, 'Good luck out there, its a competitive sector'. Great words of encouragement!!
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