Wednesday 18 May 2016

Funding Transition Cambridge

A guest post from Jacky.

In these ever more austere times of cutbacks and shrinking public resources, I often wonder how we in Transition Cambridge seem to be so active and busy as a group with not very much cash to hand.

Our income streams are small and mostly operate in the background: a donations bowl at shows and events, a Local Giving page, and the occasional random windfall cheque - from a grateful individual who benefited in some way from our activities! Some Transition groups have successfully applied for grants and funding and a small contribution from successful grant applications made under the TC name goes to help fund our running costs. There are a surprising number of grant opportunities around, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand pounds. Check out the Resources page on our website where there's a link to a handy page of local money pots. If you know of any others, do let us know or post details on our Facebook page. Occasionally a bigger; windfall comes along: the Sharing Feast of Liberated Food and Song in March raised over £500 to share between Transition Cambridge and Food Cycle.

Over the last few years we've been able to buy important resources (see pictures) but mostly our funds are spent on things with a relatively short life: beautiful posters and leaflets, often designed on a shoestring budget or by generous donations of time and expertise. Also we have expenses for essentials that keep the whole Transition Cambridge machine running such as website hosting, MeetUp membership fees and the odd stamp and envelope.

This super-large marquee is great for events that might need rain protection.

Our beautiful eye-catching Transition Cambridge display banner – light and portable, it gets several outings per year


Cropshare uses hoes purchased with a Sustainable City grant from Cambridge City Council

It's good to know that we can make things can happen without much  cash – but also good to remember  that none of it would happen without  the  energy,  passion and  community spirit of Transitioners!   







No comments:

Post a Comment