Become my patron to help our Gentle Protest work

24 Jan Become my patron to help our Gentle Protest work

Love what we’re doing? Be a part of it…

Hello craftivists!

Thank you for wanting to support me (Sarah Corbett) and the Craftivist Collective. Join a global group of lovely people who are patrons for £10 a month or with an annual donation of £120.  

 Leonard Cohen said, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Our gentle protest approach to craftivism is part of that light, and it is getting in.

“Supporting Sarah to be the courageous presence she is in the world, gives me deep sense of connection, rightness and delight. The fact that our economic system fails to support the pioneers committed to shaping more beautiful world, only emphasises how broken it is. If we want new kinds of leaders we need new kinds of support – and Sarah’s pioneering adoption programme is exactly that. No one can do the kind of work Sarah does over any length of time without basic financial security. Sponsoring Sarah is one small and vital way I help ensure a living wage for the living hearts who are committed to a living planet.”  – Craftivist Adopter Sophie Howarth  

 

There’s still so much more to be done. In these times of increasing uncertainty, more and more people are turning to the Craftivist Collective and myself for help. My passion is to keep supporting, inspiring and empowering people to protest gently and more strategically to help make our world even more awesome than it is! If only passion and positive impact paid the bills…

The reality is that I also need to make the books balance at the end of every month. There’s no big organisation paying a monthly wage here. I focus on creating high quality products, services and support which costs more in ethical resources and time but is worth the investment. The Craftivist Collective ethical kits are made by me at my humble rented studio apartment (that I love). I pack and deliver every order to my local Post Office with love and excitement dreaming of what that craftivist will be able to do with our kits and tools. I give lots of talks and workshops, consultancy and collaborations as well as daily strategic advice to new and experienced craftivists online to help them be as effective and loving as possible in their actions. And as you can see on social media – it’s all having wonderful positive ripple effects and people are really open to my questions, comments and constructive feedback. The worrying thing is – there isn’t enough time in each day to keep doing this and take on a full or part time job to pay my small living expenses to keep me living without chronic financial stress.

I’m keen to stay independent and stick to my principles when it comes to my work like keeping this website ad-free and turning down offers of paid work that don’t fit with the principles of the collective. But that means I need your help. If you’ve been inspired by the work we do in any way, I’d be so grateful if you’d consider supporting it to continue and grow. By becoming my patron for £10 a month you will help ensure that the Craftivist Collective survives (this can be paid monthly or one lump sum) and thrives.

This isn’t a new concept for activists – campaigners throughout history, from Martin Luther King and Gandhi to Peter Tatchell and Jack Monroe, have relied on the kindness of strangers and friends to be patrons. Now I’m appealing to that same kindness to help keep the Craftivist Collective flourishing in our fragile world.

Looking back over the last few years, I’m blown away by how far the Craftivist Collective has come. Together we have achieved so much…

• We’ve helped 50,000 staff in one organisation go from minimum wage to the Living Wage. Watch the TEDx talk on how here
• We’ve influenced campaigners and charities around the globe to incorporate slower, kinder and more beautiful elements of activism into their toolkits. See how WWF succeeded in one campaign using our work here
• We’ve seen many universities across the world include our work in their curriculums and more students writing about our work as part of their degree, Masters and even PhD papers.
• We’ve helped galleries and museums bring activism to their audiences in a gentle and creative way.
• We’ve gone from receiving hostility and ridicule for our approach to activism to gaining worldwide credibility, praise and even an award from the charity sector for our way of campaigning!
• We’ve gathered over 40,000 followers on social media keen to learn more, be inspired and empowered to be better global citizens in our world.

Find out more in our new book How To Be A Craftivist: the art of gentle protest 

(chapter 18 in particular)

“We all know that the work Sarah does is powerful, inspiring and deeply timely. But for me, just as inspiring is the brave way she has chosen to support her work, with her Adopt a Craftivist approach. I know from my experience that it takes more than a year to really find your feet as a changemaker, and every day I am deeply impressed by Sarah’s work and what she is achieving.  Supporting an inspiring changemaker is one of the most impactful things you can do.  Please keep supporting Sarah, she’s amazing!

– Rob Hopkins, Founder of Transition Towns 

Working with Sarah made a massive difference to our Making For Change Craftivism programme this year. Her talk was a succinct, visual and well delivered insight into her approach to gentle activism which gave the young participants an excellent understanding of the impact craftivism can have.  Through the one to one surgeries Sarah gently tested, stretched and challenged the young people’s ideas helping them to create campaigns that were more relevant  and refined.  

– Deirdre Buckley, CraftSpace (Birmingham)

“Congratulations on publication of your book. We received our copy and are inspired by your thoughtful writing. I imagine using it as a reference again and again to spark new ideas”.

– F. Archer, Writer / Strategist at Massive Change Network (Canada, worldwide working)

“Sarah spent the day with 110 of our Year 9 girls …At the end of the day, I saw many of the girls continuing quietly with their crafting – a testament to the atmosphere and energy created by Sarah during the day.”

– Teacher Ms Fuller, Surbiton High

“Excited to have read your new book Sarah – – and reread it too. I’ll be sharing the concept of craftivism along with a friend who runs our local Amnesty Int’l group, to a women’s group  next week – – sharing the idea of kind gentle activism. Thanks!!”

– M. Kindrachuk 

I love what you are doing with craftivism, the activism burnout is real for me at the moment so your workshop came at the perfect time.

– L. Harrison via Facebook Page 

“I read the first chapter of your book aloud last week [to our community group] and we agreed to read to read the book and begin to think about what is most important to us and what we should do. Much discussion with homeless people, asylum seekers and those in the mental health and welfare systems….” 

– A. James 

“Loving your latest book #HowToBeACraftivist, the craftivist’s manifesto and great to feel part of a group.’

@annemurraymakes (Instagram) 

“Just a quick note to say how much we enjoyed your talk at Greenbelt this year. You were so inspiring and the idea of thoughtful, intelligent, informed and creative activism was captivating. We have since signed up as adopters and are also thinking how we can use your approach and methods for the campaigns we support”

– K. Valdes

You can donate as a direct debit each month via Paypal here:

All my love, respect and gratitude as always

Sarah xxx

PS Monthly giving helps me budget, but I understand that for some people that isn’t possible. If you prefer to give a one off donation, that would be most welcome too. I’m ideally looking for £120 (to cover the £10 a month I am trying to reach to be on the Living Wage) but of course I understand if you cannot reach that goal. Every little helps x

FAQs

Isn’t there another way of getting funding?
Being pretty niche in what we do and focusing on transformation rather than transactions means we do not tick many funding boxes. I could apply for funding that fits the funders objectives but that would dilute or compromise our work. It’s much more sustainable to have individuals cover our core costs.

Why not get a part time job?
In this line of work I would have to say no to most opportunities that are on offer to deliver creative activism events, projects or teaching since they are all sporadic and could be any day, evening or weekend. It would be incredibly difficult to find a part time job with such flexible hours and have the energy to do both.

Is this a thing, you know paying for an activist? Throughout history and still now, individual campaigners and campaign organisations often rely on supporter donations to give them the time and flexibility to focus on creating what they judge to be the impactful work- Pankhurst, Biko, Gandhi were just at one end of a long line of passionate, generous, canny people who saw a cause they felt needed to be fought for and they backed it. Now I’m not promising I will be able to deliver change quite on that scale, but I will promise you that I will fight for change through those most radical of things – creativity, beauty, organisation, love, and truckload of hard graft.

Can I GiftAid my payments?
The Craftivist Collective cannot be a charity because we are politically active as an activism organisation. Therefore we cannot offer GiftAid sadly.

Why not use patreon.com?
It’s an American website that takes a percentage of the donation and after looking through the pros and cons this seemed like a better use of time and resources.

Can my company sponsor you?
Yes and I can send you an invoice if that helps. However as a sponsor you will not have control over content or have your name visible unless all supporters are listed as well.

Become a patron  and receive our exclusive yearbook and each subsequent year only available to patrons 🙂 x