Talk:Grants and fundraising/Fundraising

What kind of fundraising for what?

I feel like I have to ask here: "what kind of fundraising for what?". I used to work in the fundraising department for an international humanitarian charity - where the methods were around getting stories from the projects 'on the ground', translating that into messages for public consumption, and sending out mailings (via post, email, and SMS) asking people to donate money, or to upgrade their donations to a standing order/direct debit. This page, however, seems to be about getting grants. So, will we focus on any specific types of fundraising here - or will we study them all? And will we specify different types of organisations - here, or on separate pages - to link up with different fundraising methods? These seem to me to be the first questions that we should ask. Then we can start doing something interesting - like putting all this into practice. :-) Cormaggio ^beep 21:15, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm. My thoughts were grant-type of funding when I started this, with an eye to action research. I don't think we should exclude "end user" funding, where you are collecting a few dollars from individuals, but I'd like to focus (for now) on larger single grants.

As for approach, I'd like to study both fundraising (funding/grant allocation) from the "consumer" and "producer" side. This helps put the money flow into perspective. In the course of doing this, we should hopefully learn a bit about the funding process, and be able to help others or even apply ourselves for funding.

It's the ultimate in action research ... study something to help, and be able to do it. :) Historybuff 03:50, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Ok, I think I should ask you about what kind of action research this would be - ie how is it action research and why - before I make any more suggestions. I'd also say that - in my understanding - action research isn't simply about learning about something with an eye to practical action (though that can be a part of it), but rather learning about something through acting on it. I think this project is a great idea - but I think we should clarify what the goals of this learning project are - and possibly rename the page if it really is this specific. Cormaggio ^beep 10:45, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, long term, I think the goal should be to get a project funded of some sort. We have to find out what is available, and from whom, what the conditions are (and if we satisfy them) and what the requisite application dates are. Shorter term, I think we can develop some resources for knowing what types of projects have gotten funded and in what areas. I'm a newbie to "action research", so maybe I'm not hitting the mark here. Comments? Historybuff 17:19, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I really shouldn't be prescribing what action research is, as it is a very broad field, and of course I am still learning about it myself. I'm currently undertaking a course on action research run by Bob Dick, who describes it as "a family of methods which pursue the dual outcomes of action and research" [1]. And, of course, all action research is about learning. So, it's an obvious path to learn about action research through doing it - just as we're proposing to learn about fundraising through doing it, and just as we're supposedly learning by doing generally. :-) I think the outline you've set out there is good - it starts by investigating the theme, and leads into a joint activity with a very practical goal (even if we don't actually get funded). I think it's fair to say that it's not exclusively an action research project yet - but that it may well become one - so I don't think there's much problem with the general name for this page, which was actually my main concern - except for possibly the grants/fundraising dichotomy. What say you? Cormaggio ^beep 00:09, 2 March 2007 (UTC)