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You're listening to a stage talk titled Funding Open Source Research, with the news of USAID

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shutting down and a decline in monetary opportunities for grassroots movements, many are finding

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their funding sources cut.

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Mareike Vitt, fundraiser from the Bellingcat team, joined us on stage to shed a positive

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light on what researchers and journalists could do to find resources for their work.

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This talk was hosted by me, Charlotte Maher, on Thursday the 13th of February 2025 in the

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Bellingcat Discord server.

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Hello all, welcome to another stage talk.

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This week I'm here with my colleague, senior fundraiser, Mareike Vitt.

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With new administrations coming in in 2024 and a struggling economic climate in many

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areas of the world, sourcing sustainable funding for open source research and journalism efforts

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has become more and more difficult, unfortunately.

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But funding that independent and transparent research is now more important than ever.

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Mareike's been keeping Bellingcat's lights on for a long time.

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She's the reason I have a salary.

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Today, she's going to run us through basic funding models and share how Bellingcat

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has stayed afloat.

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We're also going to speak about ways that you might start up your own Bellingcat's

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or, as the previous stage talk speaker suggested, Mike Yambo, fund open source research skillsets

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within your established newsroom.

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There'll be plenty of time to ask your own questions to Mareike.

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As we talk, please put your questions in the chat and I'll make sure to ask them as we

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move into the Q&A section.

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Okay, Mareike, the floor is yours.

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I'm going to mute myself and please put your questions in the chat as she talks.

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Thank you, Charley.

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You can hear me alright, right?

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Okay.

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Hello everyone and why quite nice to see so many of you.

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I mean, I see many icons.

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This is my first stage talk, but I'm excited.

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Yeah, I'd love to talk to you guys about fundraising and first of all, thanking you guys for being

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part of the Bellingcat community and taking the time to sit with me here tonight or this

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morning wherever you're joining from.

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And yeah, tune in a bit about fundraising.

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I'd love to share this with you a little bit in general about what fundraising is and also

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fundraising of journalism or public interest information, you know, that kind of area,

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how it looked like and how we did that a little bit at Bellingcat.

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There is no Holy Grail.

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I can already tell you that and it's a lot about, you know, meeting the right people,

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bringing the right people together like you guys are part of the community.

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So I think I can only present you some insights and hope, yeah, the whole landscape, which

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is currently changing a lot will change to a good direction again.

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In any case, yeah, feel free to ask questions.

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There's a sort of like Q&A at the end, but I'm also happy to interrupt if there's like

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some sort of understanding questions in between.

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What is fundraising?

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So fundraising, I would say how I was explained it is marketing for the good cause.

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So if you imagine a company who is of course doing marketing and doing loads of things

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to try to sell their product, it's essentially the same thing what you do in an NGO so that

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you try to sell the work your NGO is doing.

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So in this case, Bellingcat.

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But I know many of you are maybe interested to try to find funds for yourself or for your

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own work or for your own company or organization.

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So that's essentially what you will do.

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You have to sell what you're doing and sonic means, I mean, what you would like to achieve

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with your work.

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So you're not selling a product or service in that case, but you're selling Impact, which

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is of course, you know, something you want to change in society or, you know, a policy

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change or any kind of work that you're trying to do to make an impact somewhere in the world.

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And I think that's essentially what you're trying to understand, what you have to make

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people understand and to come across.

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Yeah, because what people need to know is that people are in general averse to losing.

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So they don't like to give money away.

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And at best, of course, they get a product or service in return.

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In this case, they don't get anything.

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I mean, you give money away and then you trust the organization that they do the work they

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tell you what they will do.

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So this is exactly it.

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And that's what you have to keep in mind.

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What you need to keep in mind for fundraising.

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There are two things that are most important.

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You have to build trust and you have to build trust upfront, meaning when you talk to somebody,

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for example, a donor or a funder, you have to build trust in advance.

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So you tell them what you want to do.

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And then they have to trust you when giving money that you actually will do what you tell

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you do and that you will achieve what you want to achieve.

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And of course, you have to tell them the impact what you want to do.

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So for people who don't see the slides right now, those are the two things.

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And under trust, for example, one of the most important things is transparency.

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That means you have to let them know who you are and show them various areas, for example,

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of your organization, of your work, when they have questions and that you're ready to answer

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these questions.

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Authenticity is the most important thing because, as you can imagine, being many, many

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good investigators here, I think, at some point, people will find out anyways if you

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lied or if you twisted the reality a little bit, let's say.

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So authenticity is important that you have a good idea of what you can promise you would

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like to achieve and what you actually can't.

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Something else is important that not only people have to rely on what you say, but also

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that maybe you have neutral voices who talk about your work or you have so-called testimonials.

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That means if you, for example, if you're working in a university, maybe you have a professor

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who is talking about your work and says, hey, this guy really knows the stuff and he has

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a good idea.

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Or if you're an organization that you have, for example, other funders who talk about

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your work or other organizations in the similar field and say, hey, that link has an awesome

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job and if you want, they support them, right?

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So that other people who also have a standing are actually, you know, supporting you and

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say, look, I think you should support this work.

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Public acknowledgement in general, so of course media or any kind of other public spaces that

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are acknowledging your achievements at some point can only help you make your case.

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Accountability is something that you can create already upfront.

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That means you can show if you're already in business maybe as an organization for one

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or two years, you can show how you spent the money that has been entrusted in trusting

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you.

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Or you can, you know, create impact reports, some sort of KPI, so-called key performance

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indicators.

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So that means that what you set about to do maybe one or two years ago and what you've

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achieved that you can show, for example, in numbers or in any kind of impact story what

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you've achieved.

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This only helps you make your case again.

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And of course acknowledgement of donors and engagement of their trust.

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That means that you're very fast in thanking them.

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So if somebody has given you some money, you should actually, you know, pick up the phone

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or send an email saying, hey, I've seen this, it's awesome.

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And if you have questions, please always reach out to us.

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So that's all of this is building trust.

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The other part is impact.

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So what I said in terms of accountability is that you need to be able to somehow measure

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your work and the impact it makes.

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There can be any kind of targets that you set up front in terms of I want to train, I

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don't know, 10 people or 20 or 30 or I would like to have two collaborations about an

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investigation in this field.

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I would like to publish 10 articles this year, something like that.

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And then of course that you measure if you've achieved these targets.

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And if not, that you actually explain and have a good reason why this wasn't possible.

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Because of course you can only plan, you know, to this extent and you know, reality sometimes

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comes in between.

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Something that is often asked is the sort of theory of change.

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So a vision of your impact, that means that you have an idea about the society of the

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part of society or the problem that you actually want to solve or at least that you would like

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to help solving and how you want to go about it.

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So that's really some sort of text that is very concise in terms of, okay, that's the

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problem, that's my solution.

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And I think that's how I want to go about it and how I want to evaluate how this happens.

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And then you have to report your achievements.

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Either you publish on social media, you create a report, for example, merely here, our social

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media editor next to Charley has made a nice video about our achievements last year.

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So you also think about the audience you want to target and the funder requirements or donors

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and think about, hey, I think probably they're more interested in a video, so let's make

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a video or I have to write report because those are the requirements that have been

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written in the contract that I have established with a funder.

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So all of this you need to be deep in mind and of course keep the deadlines when people

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ask you to do so.

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Traceability is something that of course shows the impact that, because impact is a very difficult

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sometimes to trace.

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Sometimes it only happens in a couple of years or you don't even know if something changed.

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So it's difficult to measure even, but if you have stories or if you have examples of

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what your work has achieved, you should always mention it and then offer links or various

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possibilities for the donor to actually look for themselves.

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Effectivity and efficiency is often asked from donors or funders.

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So they want to know what you can achieve with a couple of bucks that they give to you.

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Or even larger amounts because it's all about some sort of economic understanding, hey,

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if I give you 100,000, what can you do with it compared to maybe another organization

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in the field who would give me another impact story.

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But it's essentially very often some sort of productivity check that they do upfront

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with you.

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But not everyone, but be aware that these questions might be asked.

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And now we're coming to big trends in the fundraising landscape.

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And I think all of you know what is going on in the US.

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And it's essentially changing, I would say the entire sector.

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So you really have to be aware that US aid currently changes, of course, many possibilities

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to be funded.

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It has a secondary effect on basically all of the organizations because the organizations

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who've received US aid, of course, need to go for other sources to fill the gaps.

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And that means other foundations, other institutions that have been funding are going to be overrun

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or probably are already with applications.

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But also you and me, anybody is going to be asked probably more and more in terms of,

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hey, do you want to chip in with a couple of bucks because we have a big gap?

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My message basically is be aware that the competition is going to be fierce the next

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probably month and years to come, whatever is happening with this current situation.

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But in general, what we've seen of a Bellingcat is a declining in cooperation or support.

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Co-operational support means that people or institutions like foundations, for example,

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give you money and essentially trust you to spend it in the best way you think is best

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for your impactive religion.

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It's a huge trust and it's very good for us, for example, as Bandicoot, because we then

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can plan and change our strategy according to market conditions and we don't have to

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check in with the funder all the time.

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That's of course the other part is your model project funding.

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That's the other way around.

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So you basically tell them upfront, do you want to do?

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How you want to spend the money?

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And this is written essentially in a contract or an agreement, so you have to stick to this

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one.

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And if you are diverting with, for example, the project you're planning or if you're

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changing any kind of spending budgets, then you have to check in with the funder if they're

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okay with it.

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Very often they are, but you have truly probably should have a good reason why you're changing

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it.

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In general, I think you all know as well as I do, there is a crisis in local media and

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it's only got to be worse with USA developments.

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As I said, there are many, many organizations going for the same funds.

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And especially we've seen in the last years a decline in journalism funding.

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It's very often going in the direction of democracy, strengthening activities or human

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rights.

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I mean, those are causes who are now no less important.

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But if you're, for example, in the journalism area, it's going to be more difficult to find

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funds for your work.

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And there is in general fund funders, of course, a more focus on impact on impact tracking

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and a strategic deployment of funds.

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That means what I just said before on the slide, before is you need to have a good idea

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of what you want to do, how you track it, how you measure it, and how you got to be reporting

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about it to your funders.

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You can't make too many big promises, but at least you should have a good idea and then

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be able to follow up to the funder, which again, builds trust.

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If you say what you're going to report on, they will only continue to support you.

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And there's of course a good request to have a strong government and professional structures.

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That means, for example, brass root organizations or initiatives as maybe some of you are, it's

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difficult to find funds because they want to see a step just track records.

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That's how it's called.

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What have you been doing in the lab?

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Yes.

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And what have you achieved?

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And at some point you got to start.

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So people have to trust you that you got to start and that you're going to do what you

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say you did.

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But the problem is it's building the trust upfront.

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So I think in general, especially currently, not an easy moment to start, maybe your own

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organization or your own outlet, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check it out.

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Because all of you for sure will do and have been doing a good work.

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What I also wanted to show you in terms of target groups.

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So fundraising in general can be categorized in these four target groups.

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That means individual giving, which is one of the biggest.

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And I'm pretty sure all of you have maybe already donated a couple of bucks to add some

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calls, right?

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Maybe some children's village or some environmental cause.

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So essentially, you've already been a donor then.

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That means maybe an organization has contacted you or you have found an organization yourself

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and you gave a couple of bucks.

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That's a so-called one-off donation.

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For example, via an online form.

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What you also can do is a so-called recurring donation.

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So you say, I'm going to give you maybe five bucks every month or maybe 10 bucks a year.

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And it's a sort of commitment you give to the organization.

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It's not a contract.

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You can always stop it.

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You just have to, for example, send an email and say, hey guys, my financial situation changed.

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I need to stop it.

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It's not a contract.

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So you can always stop it because it's voluntarily.

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But if you do, then the organization has some sort of better possibility to plan ahead.

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So if you know, oh, we have, I don't know, 100 donors who give us or committed to maybe

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give us five donors a month, that's quite some money that you can plan with.

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And the likelihood that all of them will stop it is not that high.

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So it's a bit more of a sustainable planning that you can do as an organization.

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Then you have the possibility of crowdfunding.

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So of course, there are many platforms or pages which you can create and where you can,

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for example, ask for your course and say, hey guys, I would, for example, like to build

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a tool for open source research.

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And I think it will cost me, I don't know, X amount because I need to spend this amount

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of hours or I need to buy a subscription.

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So it's especially for crowdfunding is good to have a very clear idea of the cost you

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have so that you can tell people with, I don't know, 5000 euros, I can do loads of work.

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So help me to fund this.

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Then there's something called peer-to-peer, which is, for example, if you, oh, let's say,

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let's go for half a marathon.

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So I want to run half a marathon and I would like to raise some funds with it so you can

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create your own small subpage and say with every kilometer that I run, I'm going to ask

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my friend, family or whoever posted on social media, do you want to chip in for all of the

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kilometers that I run?

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That's peer-to-peer.

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You have email campaigns.

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This is something for people to do with MailChimp so you can send around if you have the so-called

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mailing list.

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You can send around the email and say, hey, guys, we're planning this project.

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Do you want to chip in?

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Important here is that you need to have the consent of people so you cannot just, you

267
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know, troll and spam people.

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You need to have the consent that it's okay that you send them this message.

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Then there are so-called direct mail campaigns that's more for organizations because they

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are quite expensive.

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So you have, for example, small flyers or a small package that you brigade and that

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you send to the list of addresses that you have, which are sometimes already donors or

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potential donors, organizations sometimes buy addresses for this.

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So this is something you can do.

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The same or very expensive possibility is also door-to-door or face-to-face, which is,

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for example, if you're in a city and sometimes they're like the small booths of an organization

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and people are coming towards you and say, hey, have you known from, you know, X organization,

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do you want to chip in with a couple of bucks?

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That's door-to-door or face-to-face.

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Very expensive because you need to pay these promoters.

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Then you have major gifts in cash that means people who have a bit more of possibilities

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in terms of resources sometimes decide to give you maybe a thousand euros or more or

283
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,600
they even give you a commitment and say, hey, look, I'm going to support you for two or

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three years with a hundred thousand per year.

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I mean, this is a lot of trust that it's a lot of money you can get.

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But for this, you also need to check who is this person?

287
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What do they want to influence their work, for example?

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So at Bellingcat, we have a so-called diligence process where we check these questions upfront

289
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and if we think it's okay, then we accept the money.

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We have donor advice funds that's very typical for the US.

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So that means, for example, a bank very often has a department who is taking care of people

292
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who have a bit more money, but not always that much money.

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And they say, okay, I don't want to do all of this administration work.

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Here you have, I don't know, 10,000 euros per year.

295
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,920
Please spend it to these organizations.

296
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:11,560
And then the donor advice fund actually transfers the money to us as an organization and also

297
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does the entire communication around it so that the donor essentially is face uncontacted.

298
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Then you have major gifts, non-cash.

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Then, for example, that a person decides, I'm going to give you maybe or I'm going to

300
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:38,200
make you the beneficiary of my life insurance or I have stocks that I'm going to transfer

301
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over to you.

302
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:46,240
All of this I think requires a bit more of financial knowledge and how you want to create

303
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:50,680
the relationship with your donor, but I think it doesn't mean that you shouldn't go about

304
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:51,680
it.

305
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,600
It's just a bit more carefulness that you shouldn't.

306
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And then I think that's the highest possibility of an individual is a legacy giver, so a person

307
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:05,560
who is including you or the organization in the will.

308
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So when the person dies, that for example the house or a special amount of funds will

309
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get transferred to you because the person when he or she is gone cannot check if you

310
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spend the money correctly.

311
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So that's really, really a high trust that the person gives to you.

312
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,840
Then you have the next target group, which is organizations.

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Those can be private foundations or family offices, but that's very often a bit more

314
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of a richer family, for example, who has a foundation or family office who is administering

315
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:46,720
their funds and they are basically deciding where the funds should go.

316
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Then you have charitable foundations.

317
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:55,400
So those can be, for example, from a company or it can be any kind of funder who has set

318
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:57,800
up this foundation, but maybe already died.

319
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And the foundation is still keeping on working for the good cause that has been decided to

320
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support.

321
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:14,040
And those of course, they very often have open calls or they look around for organizations

322
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:19,080
or individuals they would like to support and they give you a grant, which is essentially

323
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:25,000
an agreement, or they give you a fellowship that's very often for individuals and say,

324
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,600
we're going to accompany you for a couple of months, you get a salary or a specific

325
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:31,840
amount of money for your work.

326
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And at the end, we would like to see what you've been achieving with it.

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Then you have public foundations or political foundations that can be, for example, an institution

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that has been funded by governments or they are basically transferring or administering

329
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government funds, or for example, from a political party.

330
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You have to pay attention, for example, with these because sometimes there are of course

331
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political agendas behind it.

332
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:08,520
So you need to check if you want to be associated with that.

333
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,600
Then there are charitable associations and so-called service clubs.

334
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Those are, for example, many of you might know, for example, Lions Club.

335
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:23,200
So those are basically clubs or associations of people who are coming together for a joint

336
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:29,400
cause they would like to support either with donating themselves or maybe organizing events

337
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,320
where they raise funds for the good cause.

338
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For example, baking cakes or any kind of social event where you can raise funds.

339
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So all of this, of course, a target group in terms of, hey, if they decide to support

340
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:48,880
you, it's very nice because they also raise awareness for your work at the same time.

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The next target group are companies.

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00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:57,080
So they, of course, can also donate to you either as the company itself or via their

343
00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:01,160
employees, which is very often done with so-called payroll giving.

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That means that you as an employee can set up a payroll plan to say, hey, I give this

345
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:14,600
amount of my salary per month or, I don't know, how many cents per month to an organization

346
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:20,960
and the company deducts it immediately from your salary and transfers it to you, the organization

347
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:24,800
you would like to support.

348
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:29,080
Very often organizations also do so-called matching gift campaigns.

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That means then they chose you as an organization and they're going to do, for example, social

350
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:36,560
media campaign.

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Very often it's around Christmas and they say, hey, we're going to raise funds for

352
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:46,120
Bellingat and we would like to match every dollar that has been donated.

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00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:52,400
So if you then as a normal person donate, I don't know, $10, the company matches $10

354
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,080
to it so that the organization gets $20.

355
00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:02,760
It's of course a very nice awareness raising and also advertising possibility for the company

356
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:04,680
themselves.

357
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:08,520
The company can also give you in-kind donations.

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That means, for example, if you need a subscription for your work, they can say, hey, you know

359
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:17,000
what, you don't have to pay, we give it to you for free or we give you a loose discount

360
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,920
or they can offer you a service that you might need.

361
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:25,920
For example, if you need a legal advice on an article that you're writing, which can

362
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:32,200
be very expensive, they can say, you know what, either you only have to pay a very small

363
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,640
amount or we give it to you for free because we like your work.

364
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:40,920
That is essentially a donation, even though there's no cash flowing, but they can get

365
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,640
a certificate for that as well.

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And the last part is a corporation or sponsoring and this is something you have to pay attention

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to.

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It's not a donation.

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00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:56,240
So for example, it's not hex deductible, neither for the organization nor for the company.

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00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:00,040
So if for example, somebody says, I'm going to sponsor you.

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00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:05,880
For example, a typical sponsor case is when a company has the logo on the T-shirt from

372
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:07,640
the soccer team, right?

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That's sponsoring.

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00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:14,000
So they get basically public awareness because the people are running around with the T-shirt

375
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and the logo on it and they're paying money for this.

376
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,080
So it's sort of exchange of service and not a real donation.

377
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,440
So if you go for sponsoring, you have to pay attention that it's a bit different in terms

378
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,800
of taxes than a normal donation.

379
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:35,800
And the last target group are public institutions, which can be for example, national governments.

380
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:43,160
So they very often have ministries or government agencies who are basically transferring money

381
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:50,240
to organizations who are doing work that they think are important for their agendas or for

382
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:55,360
any kind of societal change they are targeting.

383
00:27:55,360 --> 00:28:00,840
And yeah, and those are most of the time, of course, very big amounts, but they also

384
00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:09,720
have quite large or very, very specific conditions that you have to meet or many long page applications

385
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,000
that you have to fill in.

386
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:20,200
And if you get it, it's quite a safety, I would say for you, but it's also quite the

387
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,400
work in terms of reporting.

388
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:27,800
The same goes for supergovernmental support, for example, from the European Union or European

389
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:28,800
Commission.

390
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:35,040
They often have open calls that you can apply for, but if you will get the application forms,

391
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,600
they are also quite some work that you have to do.

392
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,800
If you get it, you're quite lucky.

393
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,000
Yeah, those are the different target groups.

394
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:50,200
And maybe to end with the general part, I've included some links here for you guys and

395
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,600
I'm relatively sure maybe Charley will share them afterwards.

396
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:59,600
There are two big specific sites, for example, that I can recommend for you to check out.

397
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:07,200
One is called Funds for NGOs, where basically this platform most of the time summarizes

398
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:13,440
loads of different calls in the field, not only for journalism, but for any kind of

399
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:18,040
social cause that you might want to support or that you will work in.

400
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,320
And they also have a newsletter that you cannot subscribe to.

401
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,160
They have an overview of different calls for individuals.

402
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:29,440
They have a specific area for funds for the US right now and I'm pretty sure that's a

403
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:33,240
quite frequently used website right now.

404
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:37,320
And they also have sample proposals that you can have a look at, that you have an idea

405
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:42,280
if I need to actually write a proposal to an organization or a foundation that I hope

406
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,840
will support me.

407
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,800
And those maybe give you some guidance how you have to go about it.

408
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:53,480
The other website is a bit more specific to media development, Journalism, Funding, Public

409
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,720
Interest Information, which is called Global Foreign for Media Development.

410
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,920
They also have an overview of current funding opportunities, but they also have, and this

411
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:05,240
is something I can recommend, a really, really extensive fundraising guide.

412
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:12,520
So you can see many different parts of fundraising, how you engage donors, how you write a proposal.

413
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:16,720
Yeah, loads of different resources that you can use.

414
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:23,640
And in general, what I would suggest is that you know how to do a so-called infamous elevate

415
00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:24,640
bit.

416
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:30,560
So if you have an opportunity to meet a donor or a funder that you are able to quickly present

417
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:35,040
and summarize what you would like to do if you are supported, the impact you want to

418
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:40,280
achieve, and that it's a bit of sticky information that people can think about it afterwards and

419
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,640
will contact you maybe again.

420
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:47,440
Yeah, and there are different other resources, for example, how to write a grant.

421
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:52,520
There are different classes you can participate in, summer for free.

422
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:57,120
And for sure, I would always do this desk research of your environment.

423
00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:02,440
So if you, for example, want to start an organization or if you were looking for funds for your

424
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,960
work, you should know a little bit your peers.

425
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,440
Are there maybe other people doing the same work or something similar?

426
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,240
And compared to them, what would be your unique selling proposition?

427
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:18,000
That's a marketing term that means what is very unique about you and why should people

428
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,200
support you rather than the others?

429
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,400
Yeah, and that's basically, that was the general part.

430
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:28,600
And how do we do it at Bellingcat?

431
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:35,200
Basically, Bellingcat has also been a grassroots initiative 10 years ago.

432
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,080
And I think it still is somehow with you as a community, right?

433
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:43,840
I mean, so many people are helping do the work that I do every day.

434
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:48,480
But how it was funded was really also at the beginning that Eliot Higgins, our founder,

435
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:55,320
was able to convince quite some people in terms of, first of all, a crowdfunding campaign,

436
00:31:55,320 --> 00:32:00,200
but also some other foundations who said, okay, we think your theory of change that

437
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:06,200
he wrote at that time is convincing and we're going to trust that you were able to implement

438
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:07,200
this.

439
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:15,680
So, Bellingcat also went from grassroots or crowdfunding campaigns to over to other grants

440
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:20,880
who were luckily actually multi-year grants from foundations.

441
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:22,240
Many of them are actually core funding.

442
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:26,880
So that means, especially for an organization who is still sort of shaping up and has to

443
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,920
organize itself and try to find their way.

444
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:36,720
Core funding is of course gold because that's how you can, yeah, that you know you can use

445
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,280
the money the way you seem fit.

446
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:43,120
And then it went over to project funding more and more.

447
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:48,640
So that means we also as Bellingcat have to see how to structure our work and how to plan

448
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:54,840
our work, which is of course, you cannot plan an instigation, but we can plan maybe which

449
00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,840
kind of topics who would like to cover it in the upcoming years.

450
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:02,520
So for example, we now have a human rights team or we have an online ideologies team

451
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:08,520
and we say, okay, those are topics or topic areas we commit to for the upcoming years.

452
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,760
So that a funder has a better idea in terms of where you want to go and what you want

453
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:13,760
to achieve.

454
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:17,920
And that's basically what, yeah, what you agree on.

455
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,760
And the outlook, what I would like to do and that's also why I wanted to do the state

456
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:28,920
job for many, many months already is I think Bellingcat is a community organization and

457
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:33,280
it should also be funded more and more from the community because we still have a big

458
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:38,360
part of rents which is covering our work, which of course is nice and it's important.

459
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:47,520
But I think you as a community and many others worldwide, you're also able to support us,

460
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:53,680
for example, in this way and you also have an idea of what Bellingcat is, what you want

461
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:54,680
to do with it.

462
00:33:54,680 --> 00:34:01,440
And so essentially it should be from the community with the community for the community.

463
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:06,840
So that's a little bit the outlook on fundraising.

464
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:11,760
What I wanted to share with you is in general a little bit how Bellingcat is currently funded.

465
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,440
This is the figures from 2023.

466
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:18,680
The figures from 2024 will be published in May.

467
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:24,800
So we really have around 50% of our entire budget is funded from non-profit organizations.

468
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:32,160
That can be, for example, foundations like private foundations or public foundations.

469
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:39,240
One or two are, for example, secret housing trust in the UK or Wellspring, which is unfortunately

470
00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:42,360
winding down in the US very soon.

471
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:47,160
Those are basically funds or foundations that have been set up at some point, for example,

472
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,560
by some trustees with a specific cause in mind.

473
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:55,040
And they have so-called grant managers who are, for example, opening calls or who are

474
00:34:55,040 --> 00:35:00,640
choosing organizations they think are contributing to the cause that has been established for

475
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,640
this foundation.

476
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:07,000
Then we generate our own income with trainings.

477
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:13,040
Maybe some of you have been part of these trainings where, for example, a week long our

478
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:19,600
trainers show you different tools and methodologies from open source research and you pay for that.

479
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:24,720
So that is part of our income and it actually is a good and stable income, which helps us

480
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,320
to plan ahead as well.

481
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:32,080
We have two lotteries, the Dutch Postcode Lottery and the Swedish Postcode Lottery, who have

482
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:38,320
chosen us as well for a couple of years to support us.

483
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:41,920
We have 30% from individuals, meaning that can be anyone.

484
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:47,840
It can be a major donor, but it can be loads of small donors or people like you and me who

485
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,480
give a couple of bucks worldwide.

486
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:56,960
So we have loads of people worldwide who give a couple of cents, dollars, whatever they

487
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:58,840
can afford.

488
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:04,520
And that is a part that I would like to make bigger in total because I think you're all

489
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,760
part of the community and that's essential.

490
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:14,240
We have some companies in 2023, it was 9% of the total budget.

491
00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:17,320
That also includes in-kind donations.

492
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,920
We only get 1% from governments.

493
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:24,640
We don't take money from national governments, so this is only from the EU that you can see

494
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,000
here.

495
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:33,080
Because as you know, Bellingcat has investigated governments before and we will in the future.

496
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:37,800
So it's better not to take money from one specific but from a conglomerate of governments,

497
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:39,680
for example, like the EU.

498
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:47,320
And we actually had 1% from legacy, so from people who entrusted us with the funds or the

499
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:53,160
estate that they created in life and when they died, it was entrusted to us.

500
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:56,280
So that's really nice.

501
00:36:56,280 --> 00:37:00,440
A couple of years ago, we actually did a market survey which was launched.

502
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:06,280
It was sent to thousands of people, viewed as a community and many, many others.

503
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,720
We asked you what do you think where we should get money from?

504
00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:15,680
And it's a very nice mirror of how we are funded and where we want to go also in the

505
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:16,680
future.

506
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:21,400
So a big part is actually crowdsourced by many individuals, so like the community for

507
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:22,400
the community.

508
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,200
It's 25% from the survey.

509
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:31,560
At the second part, a major individual donations, so that can be any kind of major gifts, cash

510
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,360
or non-cash.

511
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:40,080
So I think essentially individuals should be a big part of our donors.

512
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:48,880
Own income generated is 20%, so it's roughly the amount that we generate ourselves currently.

513
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:55,360
Grants from governments say 8%, so I think it's okay to take money, but we should keep

514
00:37:55,360 --> 00:38:00,320
it in a limited way and I think that's especially what we're going to do.

515
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:05,520
Grants and donations from foundations are 20% and I think that's more and more in the

516
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:10,720
direction where we would like to go rather than half of our entire budget.

517
00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:13,160
And corporate donations and in kind are 8%.

518
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:20,240
So that's a little bit of a very diverse funding pullers that the survey showed from representatives

519
00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:22,160
from the community.

520
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:30,280
And yeah, I think it's a good indicator of how many can or should be sell-up future.

521
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:33,960
That's one thing that I would like to share with you are our non-negotiables.

522
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:40,080
I've said it before, we're not taking funds from a government, but we also have other

523
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:44,880
principles that are guiding, especially my work every day, but also a general help and

524
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:46,400
a set-up.

525
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:50,240
So we don't take funds to commission an investigation.

526
00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:55,040
That means if there is a person who says, I think, I don't know, this government or

527
00:38:55,040 --> 00:39:00,240
this company does weird work, you should investigate them and I'm going to fund this for the company.

528
00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:06,720
We're not going to accept that because that would be essentially commissioning an investigation.

529
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:11,000
It's always a fine line when you apply for a grant.

530
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:16,240
That's why we always say, for example, we're going to commit to a topic area rather than

531
00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:17,720
a specific investigation.

532
00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:23,840
We give the funder an idea of potential parts that we're investigating, but we're not committing

533
00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:24,840
to it.

534
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:32,600
Just to give you an example, if we say to a funder, you can support our human rights

535
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,040
team.

536
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:38,720
We give examples of potential conflicts that we might look into or other kind of human

537
00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:45,120
rights violation areas, but we're not saying we're going to specifically investigate this

538
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:50,480
incident last week in a specific country.

539
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:56,400
Because first of all, we don't know if this investigation might come to a good publication,

540
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:59,480
but it also would be commissioning too much of an investigation.

541
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:06,520
It's a fine line that you also need to keep in mind in terms of independence, how you

542
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:10,520
are going about your work.

543
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:16,160
Then we don't accept funds that jeopardize our reputation and, as I said, our independence.

544
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:21,240
Our editor team needs to be independent in terms of what is published, when it's published,

545
00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:23,440
how it's published.

546
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:28,760
We also need to always pay attention to our reputation.

547
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:34,120
That means what I said that we have a due diligence team who is checking any kind of

548
00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:40,880
donation that is a potential donation that somebody who says, I want to give you 5,000

549
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:48,080
euros or the equivalent currency or who has just transferred it, miraculously 5,000 euros.

550
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:54,000
We're going to check this person, company, organization, if they are actually fitting

551
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:58,240
to our reputation and to our principles.

552
00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:01,640
We don't accept funds that try to influence or alter our work.

553
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:07,080
That means you cannot prevent being investigated with supporting our work.

554
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:13,880
That means if there's a company, for example, who says, I have maybe some shady business,

555
00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:16,120
I don't want to be investigated.

556
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,720
If I give Bellingcat the money, they will probably leave me alone.

557
00:41:18,720 --> 00:41:22,640
That strategy doesn't work.

558
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:28,920
Of course, if you have, for example, a suggestion what should be investigated, it can always

559
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:31,640
be brought to our attention.

560
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:38,880
Maybe it aligns with our strategy, but basically Bellingcat always chooses what we want to investigate.

561
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:40,920
As I said, it cannot be commissioned.

562
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:47,800
Very often, funders or, for example, foundations, they also are part of the market and the, for

563
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,000
example, public interest information area.

564
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,280
They are also very, very knowledgeable.

565
00:41:54,280 --> 00:42:01,760
Maybe they have seen trends in society or they have seen things that are interesting

566
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,720
to investigate and they can bring this to our attention.

567
00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:12,040
If we investigate this, we will, of course, always decide ourselves.

568
00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:13,760
We don't take anonymous donations.

569
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:18,120
That means we always know who is donating to us.

570
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:21,520
We don't always publish, for example, the names.

571
00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:25,520
As you can imagine, maybe a person who has a bit more of income.

572
00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:29,960
If the name is published on our website, then there are other organizations or people going

573
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:35,760
there and say, hey, you support my calls as well, which, of course, is a legit demand,

574
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:39,400
but the person sometimes have to protect themselves.

575
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:43,920
Due to privacy reasons, we don't publish private names.

576
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:49,320
We always publish if we can the organization or foundation who is supporting us.

577
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:56,200
We had the cases where, for example, a foundation prefers to remain basically private.

578
00:42:56,200 --> 00:43:03,560
They're always known to us, but not published on our website because we have, for example,

579
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:12,320
potential risks for people who are related to Russia as we investigated these areas before.

580
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:17,120
All of this is something we have to keep in mind to keep the donors safe, but of course,

581
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:22,840
to know we're supporting us and that we keep up our thanks to folks.

582
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:27,680
Our plans for the future are, as I said, we want to make it easier for any kind of person

583
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:28,680
to support us.

584
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:34,080
That means we're going to launch a new donation form in the coming weeks, which is a bit easier

585
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:40,000
and hopefully has not so many bucks because we have created it ourselves before, the one

586
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:45,240
that is currently on our website, which is, of course, important work that our colleagues

587
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:50,600
do, but it's also a lot of work to maintain a form so that it's working smoothly.

588
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,840
We're going to change this in the future.

589
00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:57,960
We're also planning to offer crowdfunding campaigns at some point and also peer-to-peer

590
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:03,000
campaigns, as I said before, that means if, for example, you decide you want to run a

591
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:09,040
marathon and you say, hey, I'm going to dedicate this marathon to Bellingcat, you can do that,

592
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:11,640
hopefully in the next within this year.

593
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:18,040
We're going to set up subpages where you can do this and you can run for the journalistic

594
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,120
cost.

595
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:25,880
That is basically everything from me and I called it the hot share, so please shoot

596
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:29,920
any constant that is an MP of interest to me.

597
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:30,920
Amazing.

598
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:37,200
First and foremost, can I just thank you for going through that for good 40 minutes there.

599
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:38,200
Thank you.

600
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:44,000
Who knew there were so many ways to fund an organisation and how much work you do behind

601
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:45,000
the scenes.

602
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:50,280
Everyone in the chat has been saying how hard you must work, so thank you so much.

603
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:55,440
I wanted to ask first and foremost, because I think this is quite an interesting question

604
00:44:55,440 --> 00:45:01,000
for quite a lot of people, is you mentioned that we have non-negotiables at Bellingcat

605
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:05,880
and that we try to remain transparent about who is donating to our efforts, but how, for

606
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:11,600
example, if you're another organisation or individual and you've set up donation platforms,

607
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,080
how do you ensure you know who has contributed to your project?

608
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:19,040
How do Bellingcat keep track of that?

609
00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:20,320
That's a very good question.

610
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:27,280
I mean, basically what we can, and those are the limits of knowing, supporting you.

611
00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:32,080
As I said, we have the due diligence team and we do this for the bigger amounts for

612
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:37,560
sure, but, and this is the limits of it, we cannot trace everyone who gives us basically

613
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:44,040
one dollar, because it's just the amount of work that you have to put in to know who is

614
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:45,880
supporting you.

615
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:50,480
Yeah, basically investigating you all know probably how much work it is to investigate

616
00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:52,720
someone.

617
00:45:52,720 --> 00:45:55,960
It's very difficult to trace every dollar.

618
00:45:55,960 --> 00:46:01,480
So when I say these are the non-negotiables, having said that, it also means we know that

619
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:05,480
there is some part of funds where we don't know where it's coming from, essentially,

620
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:12,360
because you could go to our website, fill in our form and say, I'm not Charlie M, but

621
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:17,480
I'm Peter Smith, and you donate 10 euros.

622
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:22,080
And this is very difficult for me to find out, because you can use a different email

623
00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:24,600
address or a sockpuppet account or anything.

624
00:46:24,600 --> 00:46:29,920
I mean, you all know how to go about it when you, for example, want to investigate someone.

625
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:37,720
So that means, but we basically have system in place where we can match information together.

626
00:46:37,720 --> 00:46:43,720
And if we see, for example, there's one email address is summing up some funds, we're going

627
00:46:43,720 --> 00:46:46,400
to do this effort.

628
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:52,920
But yeah, that means we don't know every dollar exactly who is where it's coming from, but

629
00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:58,560
we have enough information that if we want to, we could investigate the person or the

630
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:00,760
organisation behind it.

631
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:05,440
But we do this effort for the, for the, for the, yeah, 5,000 more amounts just because

632
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:10,680
it's simply a lot of work you have to do if you, if you do this.

633
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:14,040
And 5,000 is often quite a small donation as well.

634
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:17,640
So we do it at quite small money.

635
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:22,760
In regards to, you mentioned that Elliot was quite good at beginning convincing people

636
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:24,560
to donate.

637
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:30,360
If you had any advice for anyone in the audience or listening at home, how do you kind of approach

638
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:34,960
those conversations with donors for the first time?

639
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:40,160
What are the convincing things you can say that lead to money in your pockets?

640
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:46,520
Yeah, that's a big question because I think everyone of you and everyone of us is unique,

641
00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:47,520
right?

642
00:47:47,520 --> 00:47:54,000
So you, you have to know what makes you unique as a person, as a researcher or whatever work

643
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:55,280
you're doing.

644
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:56,960
And you have to know how to sell yourself.

645
00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:00,240
I mean, it starts already with if you apply for a job, right?

646
00:48:00,240 --> 00:48:04,640
It's this weird moment where you have to sell yourself like, yeah, I'm able to do this and

647
00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:08,680
my capabilities are these.

648
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:12,920
But I think essentially, and that's what I mean with authenticity is when you talk about

649
00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:18,280
the work that you do, people need to feel that you burn for it.

650
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:20,800
So, and I think that's exactly what you're selling.

651
00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:26,880
So when I talk about Bellingcat, I think, I hope that the donors and funders see that

652
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:31,800
I'm really convinced of what I'm doing here and why am I as a fundraiser actually raising

653
00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:33,600
funds for this?

654
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:35,240
And you're basically your own fundraiser.

655
00:48:35,240 --> 00:48:40,240
So you would go to the person and say, look, I know it's asking a lot, it's a lot of money,

656
00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:43,080
but hey, I really think I can do an impact here.

657
00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:45,960
I can make a change here.

658
00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:54,280
And then have good arguments and facts really up your sleeve so that you can shoot this information

659
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:55,280
when it's needed.

660
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:59,600
But I think, I don't know, when they see this twinkle in your eye, and that's why I would

661
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:04,760
always recommend if possible to meet a person in person rather than online.

662
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:09,760
But nevertheless, online, you can also bring about your passion for this.

663
00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:13,200
That they see this twinkle in your eye and say, okay, this person is burning for it.

664
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:18,680
I think that's the first point, and then you have to underline it with good arguments.

665
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:19,680
Yeah.

666
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:23,360
Yeah, sell yourself, but don't oversell yourself, as you said earlier.

667
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:24,360
They'd also sell.

668
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:25,360
Exactly.

669
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:30,920
Because people will know when you're sort of shyly at brides, but it has to be authentic.

670
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:31,920
Yeah.

671
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:33,520
Yeah, you don't want to promise the world.

672
00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:38,480
Galen's asked, actually, over your career, what's been the most unusual donation that

673
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:42,680
you've seen or heard about that you can talk about, of course?

674
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:44,520
Ooh, that's a good question.

675
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:48,120
I've seen a lot.

676
00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:51,640
Because I've been a major gift officer for quite some time.

677
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:58,600
So you get the weirdest requests of what people can or should do with thousands of euros they

678
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:01,880
give to you.

679
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:07,840
I think the weirdest one was because I worked for an organization before which had children's

680
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:13,760
orphanages in Latin America, and there was a donor who actually came and said, I would

681
00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:22,120
like to create a pool for this village, which is a nice idea, maybe, for your environment.

682
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:25,040
But these kids almost didn't have anything to eat.

683
00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:29,240
The first thing they should get was education.

684
00:50:29,240 --> 00:50:32,760
And I think, you know, with this, because it was thousands of dollars you wanted to spend

685
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:38,440
for that, and I think this money can be spent in a much better way for the kids rather than

686
00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:44,080
having a pool, because the person only wanted to donate for the pool, not how to fill it

687
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:46,400
with water, constantly clean the water, et cetera.

688
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:48,400
So it's lots of follow-up costs.

689
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:53,000
Yeah, those would have been follow-up costs for the organization to raise other funds

690
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:54,640
for.

691
00:50:54,640 --> 00:51:02,200
So we respectfully declined that donation with the best interest for the kids and for

692
00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:03,200
the organization.

693
00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:04,200
Yeah.

694
00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:11,280
I'm sure if he told the kids a pool was coming, they would have got excited about it.

695
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:13,320
I guess they would have loved it.

696
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:18,600
And I mean, I think it's always done with the best intention from the donor, but if

697
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:24,520
you then look at the reality for the beneficiaries, then it's sometimes just a big change, and

698
00:51:24,520 --> 00:51:25,760
you have to.

699
00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:30,280
And that's also part of fundraising, I think, or the job that I have to do is donor education,

700
00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:38,840
that you have to get or transmit a good realistic picture of what the work is about, for example,

701
00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:44,080
in a conflict setting, how is open-source research actually done, and that they don't

702
00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:47,600
expect miracles from you, but what's actually possible.

703
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:52,200
So you really, yeah, you need to educate and paint a realistic picture of the work you

704
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:54,200
want to do.

705
00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:55,200
Yeah.

706
00:51:55,200 --> 00:51:59,680
And then you also, as Carol asked, Bell and Cat works on a global scale, is it more difficult

707
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:05,280
to attract funding for cross-border organizations compared to organizations with a local focus?

708
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,480
This will be something that's quite relevant to a lot of people listening.

709
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:11,760
You work across different countries.

710
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:12,760
It is, yeah.

711
00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:17,040
And I think it will be, when I was talking about the fundraising trends, it will be in

712
00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:20,200
the future more and more again.

713
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:26,120
And it's a typical thing, right, that people donate, rather for something around the corner

714
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:31,120
or that they can maybe visit themselves or see the impact themselves or even feel the

715
00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:33,800
impact themselves because they're part of the society.

716
00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:41,520
They're supporting rather than globally, because I think with all the current developments,

717
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:47,400
you know, the horizon and the things people would like to support is limiting more and

718
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:51,120
more to your own home or to your environments.

719
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:53,640
And that is the same for, for example, foundations.

720
00:52:53,640 --> 00:53:00,760
So many of them will probably look more and more for the country they're in or the continent

721
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:03,400
even rather than globally.

722
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:06,400
So I think that's something to keep in mind.

723
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:13,240
For example, with US, I think many, many organizations will fund first and foremost US organizations

724
00:53:13,240 --> 00:53:17,960
work individuals rather than global on the global scale.

725
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:23,720
And then the EU, for example, also looks probably more in terms of, okay, what is other trends

726
00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:26,000
in our area rather than globally.

727
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:30,760
So I think especially global causes will be getting difficult.

728
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:36,840
But if you, for example, are part of an organization who is working in different countries, you

729
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:41,360
can nevertheless maybe try to narrow down the impact or the work you do in this specific

730
00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:46,720
country and then present this to the organization rather than a global scale.

731
00:53:46,720 --> 00:53:47,720
Yeah.

732
00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:54,240
I mean, even in this server, we've seen people talking about the USAID issue and some organizations

733
00:53:54,240 --> 00:54:01,480
from Ukraine already talking about difficulty with finding funding in that sense.

734
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:06,600
Let's say you find yourself in the dream situation and you are in front of a donor and you are

735
00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:07,600
talking to them.

736
00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:11,640
We've talked about how you sell yourself, but what kind of questions do you usually

737
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,320
have for funders when they express their interest in funding Bellingcat?

738
00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:16,320
Mm-hmm.

739
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:17,320
We're waiting.

740
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:22,040
That's a little bit different for individual and for organizations, for example.

741
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:29,920
But for an individual, let's say it's a major donor, I'm asking loads of questions about

742
00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:30,920
the background.

743
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:31,920
Where does the person coming from?

744
00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:34,560
Where is the motivation coming from to support us?

745
00:54:34,560 --> 00:54:37,360
How did they get to know Bellingcat?

746
00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:43,840
And what are basically or what is the intention he or his team has in supporting Bellingcat?

747
00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:47,040
Is it making a change?

748
00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:52,880
Is it public interest information or essentially some sort of specific area or maybe even investigation

749
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:55,240
they would like to see?

750
00:54:55,240 --> 00:55:01,080
That's a little bit how you touch upon these principles that I just presented to see if

751
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:04,600
there might be strings attached, so to speak.

752
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:10,120
If it's an organization, you of course ask the question in terms of do you research up

753
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:11,120
front?

754
00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:15,400
I mean, what they offer, for example, on the website, what are the causes they're supporting?

755
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:20,760
But you're going to ask a bit more how they're going about it, how they're going about choosing

756
00:55:20,760 --> 00:55:22,960
the organization they collaborate with.

757
00:55:22,960 --> 00:55:31,400
What do they expect from the collaboration for reporting standards so that you sort of

758
00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:36,840
figure out if this organization is a good partner or if you actually would overburden,

759
00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:40,960
for example, Bellingcat or colleagues with loads of reporting requirements that are either

760
00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:43,920
possible or very difficult to meet?

761
00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:47,280
Or what is their idea of impact?

762
00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:51,040
Meaning how would they like to see us tracing it or reporting about it?

763
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:55,800
Because again, we're not able to promise the will to them and we shouldn't.

764
00:55:55,800 --> 00:56:01,360
So we need to be able to narrow down, okay, what is the impact we can trace and we can

765
00:56:01,360 --> 00:56:07,400
not guarantee, but we think would happen and are they open of about changes?

766
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:12,440
And are they open how we trace and measure this impact or do they have another idea?

767
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:20,040
Because if this doesn't align, probably this would not be a satisfactory collaboration.

768
00:56:20,040 --> 00:56:24,560
You've got to have shared values and alliance.

769
00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:29,920
Ox Tank has asked, what would be the best way to go about getting funding when you have

770
00:56:29,920 --> 00:56:32,560
no official background or credibility?

771
00:56:32,560 --> 00:56:38,160
Let's say you're just starting out and you're trying to look for those beginning funders.

772
00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:43,080
What would be the best way to go about getting that kind of funding?

773
00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:48,440
The question is if you are an individual or if you are ready sort of built from sort of

774
00:56:48,440 --> 00:56:50,280
an organization.

775
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:56,640
I think it's from an individual perspective, but it would be interesting to hear both.

776
00:56:56,640 --> 00:57:02,800
But as you mentioned, Bellingcat to begin with, when we started to become a plet, if

777
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:07,960
we started in crowdfunding, is that the best route for individuals looking for help at

778
00:57:07,960 --> 00:57:08,960
the beginning?

779
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:13,000
I think it's depending on the work you want to do or what you want to achieve.

780
00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:18,480
So for example, I think for example, what Elliot did was a crowdfunding campaign to create

781
00:57:18,480 --> 00:57:20,320
our first website.

782
00:57:20,320 --> 00:57:27,560
So when I said crowdfunding, if you have a very specific idea of a project from A to

783
00:57:27,560 --> 00:57:33,880
Z, what you want to do and probably it's going to cost me, I don't know, 20,000 and

784
00:57:33,880 --> 00:57:38,120
it's a limited time frame, then I think a crowdfunding campaign is a very good idea

785
00:57:38,120 --> 00:57:44,120
because at the end of the crowdfunding campaign, when it's funded, at some point you need to

786
00:57:44,120 --> 00:57:45,280
show this, right?

787
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:49,240
You need to show, hey, we've created a website, you can visit it.

788
00:57:49,240 --> 00:57:51,960
Thank you for making this happen, right?

789
00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:58,320
But if it's difficult or you don't have anything to show afterwards, then it's a bit more difficult.

790
00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:05,600
But I think if you are, for example, aiming for an investigation or a sort of continuous

791
00:58:05,600 --> 00:58:11,680
work you want to do, or maybe writing a research paper, then I would rather go for a fellowship

792
00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:20,240
because that's sort of more, let's say, regular support that organizations give at that moment

793
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:26,760
and where you maybe are reporting in stages or they are also fine with you not reporting

794
00:58:26,760 --> 00:58:33,200
on a, for example, website that you've created, but you show you work continuously or they

795
00:58:33,200 --> 00:58:38,160
are supporting you as an individual because they think we would like to invest in you,

796
00:58:38,160 --> 00:58:43,320
for example, with training rather than something you want to create yourself.

797
00:58:43,320 --> 00:58:48,360
So I think it's really depending on what you need to be funded.

798
00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:52,600
And for example, if you are a conglomerate of different people together, right?

799
00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:56,560
And do you want to pay these people or will they all do it voluntarily?

800
00:58:56,560 --> 00:58:57,560
And do they commit to it?

801
00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:06,160
So it's all about sort of planning and visioning what will be the next month look like if you

802
00:59:06,160 --> 00:59:10,600
get this money and what can you show afterwards?

803
00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:11,600
Absolutely.

804
00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:17,520
I've actually just put in the chat, the original campaign for Bellingcat is still alive on

805
00:59:17,520 --> 00:59:23,240
Ground Moses and I'm currently supporting a group of journalists who've just been awarded

806
00:59:23,240 --> 00:59:33,480
IJ4U, EU funding, which is the international journalism for EU program, which is another

807
00:59:33,480 --> 00:59:34,680
one for freelancers.

808
00:59:34,680 --> 00:59:37,280
There's tons of those kinds of programs.

809
00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:40,800
It's for funding cross-border investigative journalism in Europe.

810
00:59:40,800 --> 00:59:48,960
There's lots and lots of those existing institutions and programs that individuals could go for

811
00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:52,960
if they have an idea for investigation, need funding.

812
00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:53,960
I think so.

813
00:59:53,960 --> 00:59:54,960
Really?

814
00:59:54,960 --> 00:59:55,960
Yes.

815
00:59:55,960 --> 01:00:00,080
That's for example also a good idea if you, for example, want to investigate something

816
01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:05,320
and you have a very good idea and you also know you can't do it alone or for example,

817
01:00:05,320 --> 01:00:11,640
you know a couple of fellow journalists and basically you form a conglomerate.

818
01:00:11,640 --> 01:00:15,720
That's also a very good argument for a funder because I mean, the more brilliant people

819
01:00:15,720 --> 01:00:20,640
coming to mind then they're like, hey, this looks very good, like success, right?

820
01:00:20,640 --> 01:00:24,760
For then that you can maybe apply it together about them alone.

821
01:00:24,760 --> 01:00:25,760
Yeah.

822
01:00:25,760 --> 01:00:32,080
And the Discord server is a great place to build that network, so please make use of

823
01:00:32,080 --> 01:00:33,080
the channels.

824
01:00:33,080 --> 01:00:37,360
And Mareike, I know we're about to go over time, but do you have time for one more question?

825
01:00:37,360 --> 01:00:38,920
Of course.

826
01:00:38,920 --> 01:00:42,880
You mentioned all of these different funding models and the temptation to start with is

827
01:00:42,880 --> 01:00:46,240
to pick one and kind of zero in on that.

828
01:00:46,240 --> 01:00:52,560
Is there any problems to picking one funding model and kind of depending on that?

829
01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:57,240
What would be your advice for people who are kind of looking at some of the models you

830
01:00:57,240 --> 01:01:05,240
presented today and how they might be able to proceed with one or two models?

831
01:01:05,240 --> 01:01:06,240
Yeah.

832
01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:10,800
I think, yeah, that's always the tough part when you start, right?

833
01:01:10,800 --> 01:01:16,600
Because if you only have one or two sources relying on, you are very dependent and then,

834
01:01:16,600 --> 01:01:21,040
you know, independence and all the principles that I showed to you are difficult.

835
01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:29,120
And honestly, I think conflict of interest and on the way to be independent is, of course,

836
01:01:29,120 --> 01:01:33,520
something nice to say when you have different funding sources, but if you're dependent

837
01:01:33,520 --> 01:01:40,960
on one, sometimes if you know, for example, the funder would be displeased with what you're

838
01:01:40,960 --> 01:01:45,200
doing, you think one more time about it, right, if you do it or not.

839
01:01:45,200 --> 01:01:51,560
So in general, I would always recommend to go for many different sources and also use,

840
01:01:51,560 --> 01:01:54,440
for example, one source to build something else.

841
01:01:54,440 --> 01:02:01,480
So that means if you say, I want to create a crowdfunding campaign for my own first website,

842
01:02:01,480 --> 01:02:07,480
I would include an option to, for the next other possibility to source funders, right,

843
01:02:07,480 --> 01:02:11,200
that you say I'm going to include some of the budget in this crowdfunding campaign to

844
01:02:11,200 --> 01:02:16,520
create a new donation form or subscribe to some sort of service where you can raise more

845
01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:17,520
funds.

846
01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:22,600
So that means that you're basically building already the next source or building up the

847
01:02:22,600 --> 01:02:28,320
next source or that, for example, we had core funding grants where we said, yes, we're

848
01:02:28,320 --> 01:02:33,760
going to pay some part of it for a fundraiser to actually look for other grants, right?

849
01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:39,200
So it's any kind of entrepreneur knows that you need to always have an idea of, okay,

850
01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:44,320
if I invest this amount of money, I want to get at least, I don't know, 10 times more

851
01:02:44,320 --> 01:02:45,320
of it.

852
01:02:45,320 --> 01:02:51,440
So it's sort of investment for the next step that you should already plan in your mind.

853
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:57,000
Having said that, if you know you're going to do one investigation and it's, you know,

854
01:02:57,000 --> 01:03:03,280
there's a limited timeframe and you have one opportunity that this entire thing is funded

855
01:03:03,280 --> 01:03:06,760
by one funder, perfect.

856
01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:07,760
Go about it, right?

857
01:03:07,760 --> 01:03:14,080
Be aware that maybe if the funder decides otherwise, it's also quite risky and it might

858
01:03:14,080 --> 01:03:18,200
crumble down because of, I don't know, various reasons.

859
01:03:18,200 --> 01:03:21,040
But that's the problem of funding, right?

860
01:03:21,040 --> 01:03:23,600
So that's especially when you're getting started.

861
01:03:23,600 --> 01:03:27,920
I mean, not many people know you, but I think that the beauty is, for example, with crowd

862
01:03:27,920 --> 01:03:32,080
funding that many different individuals are joining in and chipping in.

863
01:03:32,080 --> 01:03:34,840
And all of them don't have a specific influence on you, right?

864
01:03:34,840 --> 01:03:41,000
Rather than one big funder and if the person decides otherwise and withdraws the funds,

865
01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:43,600
you're basically done.

866
01:03:43,600 --> 01:03:50,120
But I think, yeah, those are the pros and cons for you to decide which opportunity you

867
01:03:50,120 --> 01:03:52,440
go about it.

868
01:03:52,440 --> 01:03:57,600
But be aware that of course, you know, even if there are no mentioned strings attached,

869
01:03:57,600 --> 01:04:02,560
there might be some behind the scenes.

870
01:04:02,560 --> 01:04:03,560
Yeah.

871
01:04:03,560 --> 01:04:13,800
Okay, thank you so much, Mareike, for this absolute knowledge-fest on funding models.

872
01:04:13,800 --> 01:04:15,960
And the conversation is still continuing in the chat.

873
01:04:15,960 --> 01:04:20,040
We've still got questions coming in if you want to have a look at that after the talk.

874
01:04:20,040 --> 01:04:24,480
But thank you to everyone who's attended as well.

875
01:04:24,480 --> 01:04:28,880
And yeah, thank you so much again, Marika, for your time and for being so transparent

876
01:04:28,880 --> 01:04:29,880
on all of this.

877
01:04:29,880 --> 01:04:33,280
Hopefully it helps a lot of people fund their work.

878
01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:37,000
Thank you for listening to the Stage Talk.

879
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:50,160
If you'd like to catch a Stage Talk live, where you can ask the guest questions, join

880
01:04:50,160 --> 01:04:58,560
the Bellingcat Discord server by visiting www.discord.gg slash Bellingcat.

881
01:04:58,560 --> 01:05:04,280
The music you've heard is titled Dawn by Newer Self and is courtesy of Artlist.