Maybe Kalliopeia grant? I feel like being mainly grant funded has a lot of downsides though and that crowd funding would be the more ideal way to go. I think a paid subscription would be great and I would love longer video versions of your Instagram posts! I am very wary of the tourism avenue but feel you are already approaching it with integrity and the goal of having it be non-extractive which is great... and I would love to do a trial run of a pastoralism educational tour- sign me up!
Yeah, I have had others give me the similar warnings about the grant option, if I could raise enough with crowdfunding It would be nice. It’s a work in progress, which is beneficial, to allow things to shift and adapt.
I concur with Lora who already commented - I've always felt that National Geographic might be a natural fit. Perhaps there's a grant available through them, or the organizations she mentions. Additionally, Weston A. Price Foundation is another organization that might have funding available to support your work - the raw milk connection is undeniable, and your work shines a light on their own research. And by the way, it IS work - it's extremely important work that you are doing. The crowd funding idea is also another great idea (perhaps this in conjunction with a grant?). FoodTank is a thought - I know only what I've read in their annual reports and emailed articles. There is the Conservation Fund, and The CS Fund (this one might only be able to guide you to the right place, rather than be a direct grantor). And in a totally radical thought, what about World Central Kitchen? Even touching base with an individual at these organizations could connect you with the right fit for funding. What you do is so unique, special and important. We will support as best we can!
I will look into these, thanks for the suggestions, and kind words! I think the more I talk about it and ask for help, the more I will learn and find the assistance.
Personal donations are a great idea! Also, it seems there should be other organizations that would support your work. Slow Food? National Geographic? American Cheese Society? A grant would be a great way to have a clear chunk of money to do this, if someone, one of your followers, knows of a family foundation. You might need a fiscal sponsor. They may want to see a plan/ timeline, a budget and outcomes.
Thanks for the suggestions, I think I should reach out to some of these organizations. I just need to learn how the process works and what the protocol is for packaging this type of proposal. I am pretty clueless, but am learning as I go!
You need someone to find the money for you! Or start a go fund me page for individual donations.
First lay it out so someone can read / see and understand what your vision is and a budget. My internet wouldn't load your proposal video quickly it was really choppy start and stop so hard to follow.
The budget could be a minimum and A dream big with all the ideas you mentioned.
You could do the proposal with visuals like power point or written. Is it a project that has multiple steps? Is it one country at a time? What is your preferred style of documenting? Photos and videos and short content or longer pieces.
Do you like traveling light? If so extra people might change your interactions.
1. Enough funds to keep you on the journey of discovery and documenting like you are doing now. Maybe you want to take a little more time to research, write, document while you are there. How much does that cost? ( accommodations, meals, car expenses.
2. This could include hiring an interpreter. $
Right now you are researching content.
3. Do you need better equipment? Camera? Editing equipment?
4. Hey you are probably way smarter then me and already know all this! I really love what you are doing and seeing and sharing. If I was wealthy I would fund this. And I will donate but our farm success has Been more about doing what we love not making a lot of money.
If you pulled together a short video From places and people you have already visited and a flyer with what your needs are. I would ask our slow food group for a donation. It wouldn't be a lot of money. Maybe dollar amounts, support one day at ?$$, a week $$??
Okay to time for me to go out and milk. Do you have zelle or venmo? I will send you a little seed money. Enough to buy a few samples of cheese and share what they are and how they taste and why they ate unique.
Thank you so much for the in depth response. I will start working on putting together a current and hypothetical budget. I think gofundme will be good for specific things, like purchasing more equipment. It’s sounding like I need to develop a presence on multiple platforms, and put together concise material that can be widely shared.
I do have both Venmo and Zelle, and I truly appreciate your extension of a helping hand. I am @trevor-warmedahl on Venmo.
I would be very happy to pay a monthly prescriptions for longer form content. Diving into the finer details of practical transhumance and cheese making.
I would also be interested in paying for a tour, or even a 'travel-agent' service to put us in touch with cheesemakers willing to have a family stay with them for a while.
Your content is very valuable, don't be afraid of charging for it!
By longer form, do you mean Substack posts, or more in depth, cheese making specific info, possibly online courses or how to videos? I’m considering doing something like that, through Patreon.
Personally I’m interested in more detailed videos/explanations on how modern day transhumance communities are managing their herds. From feed and health to milking and making cheese. Looking to learn from more ‘traditional’ communities.
I am new to substack and like you have debated a lot about the role of the ethnographer and the avenues for making a living that are not extractive, recognize my own privilege, and are not transactional. Unfortunately, many of the old forms of knowledge production (grad school, patron funding, institutional grants) have been used in the past to create expertize and detach it from the people who have maintained the knowledge alive. The new forms of knowledge production and dissemination (social media, paid newsletters, and magazine/book writing) are not only extractive of the original knowledge holders, but also of the content producers (like you). There is no way to make a living and maintain savings being a "freelancer". However, I increasingly think there needs to be more done to amplify the voices of the original knowledge holders. For this reason, I would recommend that you try to integrate the voices of those you visit and allow them to also share in the knowledge production. Ask to share their contact details and open the space so that others can reach out to them directly. Hopefully, at some point those looking to support, learn, or even buy products from the original knowledge holders will be able to contact them directly. Allowing knowledge holders to maintain their agency goes in my opinion a long way into opening up the system that has allowed so many other to be extractive. You are doing good work.
Thank you for your words Carlos. The ethical delicacy around the work I am doing is something I have thought a lot about. Especially now that I am receiving money, and therefore profiting off what is being shared with me freely. It does feel extractive, and I am considering various ways of giving back. I think you are right about sharing the contact details of those who wish to have them shared. I tell people all the time that plenty of people would pay to come experience these things. Many seem to not want to go the tourism route, but just be left to do their work. One idea I have to generate content (photo,video, building gofundme) that I could give to the producers, and the organizations that are working to promote, protect, or revitalize the dairy and cheese focused foodways.
Really enjoying your work, Trevor. Considered grad school? Anthropology or Rural Sociology? Could be a good conduit for funding and it would lend the work more mainstream legitimacy, if that’s a priority. Let me know if I can help connect you with those departments at Univ of Wisconsin, even just as a starting point for surveying the wider field.
I like the idea of donating money because I support your work. I don't want to "pay" you and put you in the position of you owing me. I think that will compromise the work you are doing. Does that make sense?
Hæ Trevor, I like the idea with crowd funding, because this project so much is “for crowd=us all” in the literal meaning, and obviously not meant for profit.
Also you could give a thought to volunteer donations, it might in the end bring more money than a fee. Many people stop following when it comes to paying (or clicking), but a returning reminder of the cultural contribution that needs costs covered might open more purses than having to pay.
Good luck with your projects, I like following them. Bless, Dagmar
Thanks for your thoughts. What you mean is to open up a channel where people could make one time donations, correct? That’s a good idea, and I could probably avoid the percentage taken by substack or Gofundme. I could just ask people to send through Venmo?
I don’t know about payment channels and how to accept money from abroad without alerting the taxman, but i.e. here in Iceland the news outlet Kjarninn (high quality journalism) is run only on donations. You can chose between 6 sums per month or chose your own sum, and change anytime. The lowest donation fee is 1300 krónur which currently is 9 euros, or two cups of café latte in downtown Reykjavík 😉 So even students could afford. But you can also donate 10.000 krónur (70 euros), for the same content. Obviously this works somehow, because the page only runs little ads.
Maybe Kalliopeia grant? I feel like being mainly grant funded has a lot of downsides though and that crowd funding would be the more ideal way to go. I think a paid subscription would be great and I would love longer video versions of your Instagram posts! I am very wary of the tourism avenue but feel you are already approaching it with integrity and the goal of having it be non-extractive which is great... and I would love to do a trial run of a pastoralism educational tour- sign me up!
Yeah, I have had others give me the similar warnings about the grant option, if I could raise enough with crowdfunding It would be nice. It’s a work in progress, which is beneficial, to allow things to shift and adapt.
Also- Patreon!
I concur with Lora who already commented - I've always felt that National Geographic might be a natural fit. Perhaps there's a grant available through them, or the organizations she mentions. Additionally, Weston A. Price Foundation is another organization that might have funding available to support your work - the raw milk connection is undeniable, and your work shines a light on their own research. And by the way, it IS work - it's extremely important work that you are doing. The crowd funding idea is also another great idea (perhaps this in conjunction with a grant?). FoodTank is a thought - I know only what I've read in their annual reports and emailed articles. There is the Conservation Fund, and The CS Fund (this one might only be able to guide you to the right place, rather than be a direct grantor). And in a totally radical thought, what about World Central Kitchen? Even touching base with an individual at these organizations could connect you with the right fit for funding. What you do is so unique, special and important. We will support as best we can!
I will look into these, thanks for the suggestions, and kind words! I think the more I talk about it and ask for help, the more I will learn and find the assistance.
Personal donations are a great idea! Also, it seems there should be other organizations that would support your work. Slow Food? National Geographic? American Cheese Society? A grant would be a great way to have a clear chunk of money to do this, if someone, one of your followers, knows of a family foundation. You might need a fiscal sponsor. They may want to see a plan/ timeline, a budget and outcomes.
Someone mentioned venmo for money transfer.
Thanks for the suggestions, I think I should reach out to some of these organizations. I just need to learn how the process works and what the protocol is for packaging this type of proposal. I am pretty clueless, but am learning as I go!
You need someone to find the money for you! Or start a go fund me page for individual donations.
First lay it out so someone can read / see and understand what your vision is and a budget. My internet wouldn't load your proposal video quickly it was really choppy start and stop so hard to follow.
The budget could be a minimum and A dream big with all the ideas you mentioned.
You could do the proposal with visuals like power point or written. Is it a project that has multiple steps? Is it one country at a time? What is your preferred style of documenting? Photos and videos and short content or longer pieces.
Do you like traveling light? If so extra people might change your interactions.
1. Enough funds to keep you on the journey of discovery and documenting like you are doing now. Maybe you want to take a little more time to research, write, document while you are there. How much does that cost? ( accommodations, meals, car expenses.
2. This could include hiring an interpreter. $
Right now you are researching content.
3. Do you need better equipment? Camera? Editing equipment?
4. Hey you are probably way smarter then me and already know all this! I really love what you are doing and seeing and sharing. If I was wealthy I would fund this. And I will donate but our farm success has Been more about doing what we love not making a lot of money.
If you pulled together a short video From places and people you have already visited and a flyer with what your needs are. I would ask our slow food group for a donation. It wouldn't be a lot of money. Maybe dollar amounts, support one day at ?$$, a week $$??
Okay to time for me to go out and milk. Do you have zelle or venmo? I will send you a little seed money. Enough to buy a few samples of cheese and share what they are and how they taste and why they ate unique.
Thank you so much for the in depth response. I will start working on putting together a current and hypothetical budget. I think gofundme will be good for specific things, like purchasing more equipment. It’s sounding like I need to develop a presence on multiple platforms, and put together concise material that can be widely shared.
I do have both Venmo and Zelle, and I truly appreciate your extension of a helping hand. I am @trevor-warmedahl on Venmo.
I would be very happy to pay a monthly prescriptions for longer form content. Diving into the finer details of practical transhumance and cheese making.
I would also be interested in paying for a tour, or even a 'travel-agent' service to put us in touch with cheesemakers willing to have a family stay with them for a while.
Your content is very valuable, don't be afraid of charging for it!
Thanks Saul!
By longer form, do you mean Substack posts, or more in depth, cheese making specific info, possibly online courses or how to videos? I’m considering doing something like that, through Patreon.
Personally I’m interested in more detailed videos/explanations on how modern day transhumance communities are managing their herds. From feed and health to milking and making cheese. Looking to learn from more ‘traditional’ communities.
I am new to substack and like you have debated a lot about the role of the ethnographer and the avenues for making a living that are not extractive, recognize my own privilege, and are not transactional. Unfortunately, many of the old forms of knowledge production (grad school, patron funding, institutional grants) have been used in the past to create expertize and detach it from the people who have maintained the knowledge alive. The new forms of knowledge production and dissemination (social media, paid newsletters, and magazine/book writing) are not only extractive of the original knowledge holders, but also of the content producers (like you). There is no way to make a living and maintain savings being a "freelancer". However, I increasingly think there needs to be more done to amplify the voices of the original knowledge holders. For this reason, I would recommend that you try to integrate the voices of those you visit and allow them to also share in the knowledge production. Ask to share their contact details and open the space so that others can reach out to them directly. Hopefully, at some point those looking to support, learn, or even buy products from the original knowledge holders will be able to contact them directly. Allowing knowledge holders to maintain their agency goes in my opinion a long way into opening up the system that has allowed so many other to be extractive. You are doing good work.
Thank you for your words Carlos. The ethical delicacy around the work I am doing is something I have thought a lot about. Especially now that I am receiving money, and therefore profiting off what is being shared with me freely. It does feel extractive, and I am considering various ways of giving back. I think you are right about sharing the contact details of those who wish to have them shared. I tell people all the time that plenty of people would pay to come experience these things. Many seem to not want to go the tourism route, but just be left to do their work. One idea I have to generate content (photo,video, building gofundme) that I could give to the producers, and the organizations that are working to promote, protect, or revitalize the dairy and cheese focused foodways.
Really enjoying your work, Trevor. Considered grad school? Anthropology or Rural Sociology? Could be a good conduit for funding and it would lend the work more mainstream legitimacy, if that’s a priority. Let me know if I can help connect you with those departments at Univ of Wisconsin, even just as a starting point for surveying the wider field.
Andy at Uplands Cheese
I like the idea of donating money because I support your work. I don't want to "pay" you and put you in the position of you owing me. I think that will compromise the work you are doing. Does that make sense?
Absolutely, after put these questions out there, I’m leaning more towards opening channels for donation and keeping the content available to all.
Hæ Trevor, I like the idea with crowd funding, because this project so much is “for crowd=us all” in the literal meaning, and obviously not meant for profit.
Also you could give a thought to volunteer donations, it might in the end bring more money than a fee. Many people stop following when it comes to paying (or clicking), but a returning reminder of the cultural contribution that needs costs covered might open more purses than having to pay.
Good luck with your projects, I like following them. Bless, Dagmar
Thanks for your thoughts. What you mean is to open up a channel where people could make one time donations, correct? That’s a good idea, and I could probably avoid the percentage taken by substack or Gofundme. I could just ask people to send through Venmo?
I don’t know about payment channels and how to accept money from abroad without alerting the taxman, but i.e. here in Iceland the news outlet Kjarninn (high quality journalism) is run only on donations. You can chose between 6 sums per month or chose your own sum, and change anytime. The lowest donation fee is 1300 krónur which currently is 9 euros, or two cups of café latte in downtown Reykjavík 😉 So even students could afford. But you can also donate 10.000 krónur (70 euros), for the same content. Obviously this works somehow, because the page only runs little ads.