This is a CTP of initiative: Transition Bro Gwaun (UK)
This CTP reflects the registration of Transition Bro Gwaun (TBG) with Environment Wales (EW) as a grassroots environmental organization which led to the receipt of their first grant from EW and, subsequently, in an ongoing relationship.
This was a critical turning point because it was TBGs first experience of grant funding and enabled them to expand their activities and build on the work that they had undertaken to date.
The CTP involved a registration process that went through a number of stages, for example putting a number of policies in place – including, but not limited, to an equalities policy, a volunteering policy and safeguarding policies. The project got a level of help and advice, but they also had to prove that they understood the issues around environmental sustainability and that they would use their money wisely.
Once through the process, the project was assigned a development officer who provided ongoing advice on grants that were available and appropriate for TBG to apply for.
The first grant that TBG secured from EW was in 2010. They wanted to purchase some equipment that would help in boosting their public profile (e.g. for cooking demonstrations at the farmers market). They had been running the scheme for a few years and, according to the interviewee, it was now time to ‘up the stakes’.
The grant was also used to support some of the groups, small projects and activities: a sewing group, a bicycle group, willow weaving, a project to identify domestic renewables in the area and what they had learnt. The funding was also used to pay for expenses related to the hiring of halls for events, invited speakers and using the cinema to show films as part of their awareness raising.
Over time, they received further grants from EW as they broadened the size and scale of their activities.
The organizers built on pre-existing experiences and tacit knowledge of the group and on the various projects they had already achieved (e.g. allotments and shopping bag schemes). TBG didn't want to be dependent on (external) grant funding, but they did want to expand and develop their activities. In particular, they wanted to reach out to a wider group of people (outside of the green milieu / networks) and to make themselves more visible to the general public.
The core group of TBG already had some ideas about how they could develop their activities, but they opened up this conversation further following a public screening of the film 'In Transition' that detailed the growth of the Transition movement. After this, there was a discussion with attendees about their own ideas for further developing the group.
At the time of the grant application,TBG had a core group of 11 people, a further 30 supporters, and a mailing list of 250 other people.
Building on these initial ideas from the core group and the film showing, Chris Samraand Tom Latter worked on a first draft of the bid which was then circulated to the core group for feedback before being finalized and submitted to Environment Wales.
A number of partners were listed on the bid - thus demonstrating how networking was an important part of this CTP. These partners included:
The grant application followed on from their previous activities. The development of TBG felt like an organic,evolving process, rather than necessarily a set of critical turning points.As the interviewee indicatively asserts: 'One thing flowed into another'.
Before registering with EW, the group had begun the process of applying to the Big Lottery, but this proved very time consuming. Registering with EW manifested itself as a viable alternative through contact with their networks.This experience also informed a philosophy of avoiding larger grants which would create a burden and potentially constrain the group’s activities.
Following registration, and upon receipt of the first batch of grants, they were able to secure a number of further grants which expanded their activities. For example, EW supported a pilot of the surplus food project [CTP105] that then led onto securing a project development grant for the Transition Café.
This CTP meant that TBG became more visible:
Furthermore, this CTP implicated an important shift to being more practice-oriented. For the group moved on from focusing on ‘awareness raising’ to getting on with more practical activities.
There wasn’t any major disagreement. Whilst the group accepts that people have different ideas and choose to give at different levels, there was a minor tension between some people who like to talk about Transition and those who want to get on and actually get to do projects.
Getting registered with EW meant they were recognized as a credible group - giving them status and reputation/legitimacy as an early starter in Transition Wales.Inevitably, then, they felt that this was an important development.
This was something that they could foresee coming ahead. It was something that they wanted to achieve because they could see it would assist in their development and make them more credible with partners, e.g. the Town Council.
Simultaneously, though, they didn’t want to be reliant on one big grant, because they would be constrained by the funder’s agenda and alsobythe burden of monitoring and reporting.There was, thus, widespread anticipation that a series of small grants would allow for greater flexibility in piloting different activities and working out what works out inb practice.
The grant application had a number of goals which were aligned with the wider ambitions of TBG. These include:
This led to a range of practical things that they hoped to achieve:
It is difficult to quantify how far these goals were achieved, but TBG has undertaken a lot of activity around the local economy in recent years. Since this CTP, they have also engaged with a wider range of people - both through the café and, for example, through a recent community-led town regeneration event which had over 50 attendees including the mayor and councilors as well as ordinary people who were interested in the process.
Most importantly, this CTP informed new doing and new knowing. The surplus food project has led to more awareness of the issues around food waste. Furthermore, TBG has learned how difficult it is to engage with a wider constituency, even when you make a lot of effort to increase your profile.
Finally, this CTP enabled competence development: the development of further skills relating to writing funding bids (although they had done this before professionally for larger amounts). Furthermore, it enabled the development of further financial management skills (although they, once again, had some experience of this). Whilst in the early stages of the initiative they could only draw on pre-existing skills, through applying for and receiving grants, they have got better at forecasting income and working out if there is a shortfall, etc.
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