Solar Associates

Last week, with our fundraising visors on, we helped to lead some presentations and practical exercises during a 2-day workshop convened by PRADSA. 20 delegates, each with an interest in Technology and Social Action projects,  assembled at Anglia Ruskin University to explore how to engage with, and influence, the fundraising opportunities and funding systems that relate to their ambitions. 

We offered some insights into where the money is and where it's going; how to apply research tools and filters; and, crucially, how to think - and talk – with the emphasis placed strongly on funders' objectives, and the needs that each project aims to address. It can be tough to translate the complex concepts around collaborative technologies and grass-roots social development into confident, accessibly worded, resource-raising propositions. But we made some good progress, and not without a good laugh en route. By the afternoon of day 2, image theatre techniques were in the mix, and - in recognition of strong pitching skills – Solar Associates donated a tenner to the World Film Collective - we look forward to our credit ;).

Through this lens, there's an intriguing degree of crossover between the tech + social action world, and the arts and cultural sector. We've long felt that the UK's arts sector needs to 'get viral' to replenish itself and - with many new ways of raising resources and achieving sustainability being hothoused and championed over the past few years - it's an exciting moment for us to be in the thick of these conversations, looking for links.

PRADSA aims to develop and extend the capability of social action organisations to creatively design new practices, by appropriating and adapting ICTs. Visit its website here.