by The Norwich Radical Editorial Team
It’s a new year, and we are excited to be launching a new project here at The Norwich Radical – our new supporter scheme! Starting today, those who want to can support us financially with a regular monthly or annual donation via our page on the Steady platform.
Check out all the details on our Steady page here
This is a new phase for the publication, but for the most part the way we do things is not changing – most importantly, all the writing and artwork we publish will still be available for free on our site, like it always has been. This is not a paywall or a subscription fee. It’s a way for those who want to help us out financially to do so more easily than they could before, and to participate more directly in our radical community.
For over seven years, the Norwich Radical has operated as a volunteer-run non-profit – there’s been very little money involved! It’s a core part of our ethos that we remain a not-for-profit organisation, and this was one of the things we enshrined legally when we registered as a workers’ co-operative in 2020. Running on a shoestring budget has freed us from the ethical concerns of participating in advertising, or having our journalism impacted by funder interests, but it has its difficulties.
In the past we’ve mostly covered our costs through one-off fundraising drives or events, and we’re very grateful to everyone who contributed to those – even if you only gave a couple quid, you really helped us keep this thing going! But at times members of our team have unfortunately had to dip into their own pockets to get things done, or we just haven’t been able to achieve things we’d have loved to do due to budget constraints. That’s the first thing we hope this new supporter scheme can help us achieve: covering our existing costs, and allowing us to pay for some improvements we’ve not been able to make in the past, on a sustainable basis.
Our long term goal is to pay all contributors to the Norwich Radical a good wage for their work
Over the years, this publication has achieved some pretty impressive things, all through the work of dozens of volunteers. Some only wrote one article, others have been helping out for years, but every person who participated in this radical little project helped make the Norwich Radical what it is today. However, as a team we feel less and less comfortable with asking creatives to work for free. It’s a core principle for us that creative work should be valued as highly as any other form of work, and that it should be remunerated appropriately. Our long term goal is to pay all contributors to the Norwich Radical a good wage for their work. The sustainable income source that your support will provide gives us a great foundation to make some real progress towards that goal. Not to mention, it will reduce our reliance on the unpaid work of musicians, poets and artists at fundraising events.
We’re proud of everything the Radical has been able to do since its foundation in 2014 – including publishing nearly 2000 articles and artworks on the site, and running four iterations of War of Words, the progressive media conference. If you’ve enjoyed or learned from anything we’ve produced, we would be really grateful if you chose to support us with a regular donation. And of course, if you’re not able to do that at this time, we understand – perhaps you could share this with someone else who might be interested.
The start of 2022 marks the start of a new phase for us here at the Radical. With your support, we’re laying the financial foundations for many more years of fierce, creative, disruptive, progressive and independent work. Thanks for being with us. Solidarity, and stay radical!
The Norwich Radical is non-profit and run by volunteers. You can help us continue our work by becoming a supporter. All funds raised help cover the maintenance costs of our website, as well as contributing towards future projects and events.
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