Rising at the National Cultural Sector Network Conference: Young People, Money & Activism
Article by Jess Bunyan.
Three of us travelled up to The National Gallery in London yesterday for the annual Cultural Sector Network Conference for fundraisers from across the UK. We were delivering the closing plenary to the whole conference (eek) and this is what we learnt from the day:
1. Last minute prep
Getting 3 members of the team in one place for long enough to talk about one thing is a rarity (only slightly kidding) so we may have been writing our notes on the train down that morning. Possibly.
2. Climate Crisis
We made it in for the end of the Opening Plenary (did I mention trains?) “Cultural Fundraising Declares a Climate Emergency” which was a brilliant way to start. Chris Till at Greenpeace highlighted just how unacceptable it is that cultural organisations continue to invest in fossil fuel companies and accept money from them. There was a great fossil pun there too. Backed up by the incredible Sufina Ahmed from the John Ellerman Foundation who said funders would and should be willing to support increased costs for sustainable overheads (eg, recycled paper, plant based inks, ethical caterers etc).
3. Fundraising as a Career
This is a bit of a weird observation as the “Development” person at Rising, but there was a lot of talk all day about fundraisers and development teams (obviously) and I realised I’ve never been in a group just of fundraisers. At Rising fundraising isn’t solely down to one person, so to hear the frustrations around buy-in from other parts of the organisations to the minimal numbers of fundraisers in senior management was eye opening.
4. Not one-size-fits-all
Since I started we’ve spoken a lot about the possibility of some kind of membership scheme to invite more people into Rising, but also financially support the work we do (working title: put your money where the youth is. Just kidding.). So it was great to go to the session on membership and hear from Kiln Theatre. They decided that since their mission was open and inclusive - providing privilege tiers based on how much money people gave - just didn’t sit with their ethos. You know when someone puts into words the hidden thing you didn’t know was there? Yeah. It was also great to see this alongside a presentation from the Birmingham Royal Ballet for who membership very much did work. This was reflected again in a digital session later in the day and I’ve come back with a lot of thought around what’s right for us rather than the ‘classic’ fundraising tropes that are out there.
5. Our message is powerful
Finally to our talk. Right at the end of the day, everyone’s lagging a little, they just want to get to the drinks. But we’re Rising, so our talk on “Young People, Money and Activism” was there to re energize people about not just how to fundraise but who to fundraise with. A recent gear shift in how we co-create bids and talk in them is what led to funding of our BE IT programme, the largest amount of money we’ve ever won. We know that other places struggle to engage with their core users and the language of “beneficiaries” and blurred lines around stewardship vs transaction. So we put it back on them, to think about who they’re talking about and how they talk to and about them rather than with them.
The feedback after our talk and on Twitter has been immense and I’m always so proud to see Rising’s message spreading. It was lovely to meet a young woman from the National Trust and someone from Battersea Arts Centre as well as everyone else who was seriously impressed with Eli’s hosting skills (is she a wizard?). We’ll keep putting young people and activism on the agenda where they’re missing. At least until they’re not.
Want to know more about what fundraising or development is? Chat to me jess@rising.org.uk