Narrative of Change: Chapter 2
Summary: The Maintainers network has transformed from an in-person conference series to a virtual space, convening practitioners and academics. This blog post is the second of its kind (Chapter 1 one can be found here). This chapter lays out the future directions of The Maintainers, the resourcing that is needed to implement them, and the funding strategies we are seeking our network’s help with.
Dear Maintainers Community,
We are very grateful for the kindness and support we’ve received since the release of our “Narrative of Change: Chapter 1”, in which we chronicled our journey from an academic conference to a virtual network, showcased the many programs and initiatives we’ve developed to celebrate maintenance, repair, and care along the way. For more detail on our history, scope, and current programs, we recommend you review Chapter 1.
Today, we are sharing Chapter 2 which outlines our plans to continue efforts that support and uplift the work of Maintainers. This narrative makes direct requests to our community for support that will enable us to sustain the slow change towards a better maintained and cared for world.
Since 2015, The Maintainers has provided convening spaces and opportunity for collaboration in order to further the discourse on maintenance, repair, and care advancement. Our community includes interdisciplinary change-makers, researchers, practitioners, and every-day people that are pushing for repair and care initiatives in their localities and professional fields, and seeking to partner and foster collaboration with like-minded people. We have cultivated a body of research, multimedia content, and essays from a diverse network of experts to amplify the work of practitioners from around the world. Our work resonates with a global audience across various fields, united by a shared vision of shifting focus from fleeting innovation and “shiny object syndrome”, to the enduring value of maintaining and caring for existing resources.
The Maintainers has operated fully on grant funding since 2019 thanks to the generosity of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Siegel Family Endowment, allowing us to organize events, foster collaborations with partners, and host the Maintainers Fellowships and alumni network. Over the past two years, we’ve made consistent efforts to attempt to secure grant proposals with other aligned foundations, but have yet to secure further support beyond next spring of 2025. While we are deeply grateful for the contributions we have received, we are now focusing on developing a more diverse funding model to ensure the sustainability of The Maintainers in the future.
In addition to the need to diversify our revenue streams, The Maintainers also requires a more robust and distributed leadership team to enhance our decision-making processes, ensure the sustainability of our programs, and leverage diverse expertise from our community. This leadership will entail a more horizontal decision-making structure via our steering committee, with greater definition of the labor streams necessary to sustain our programs, research, public communications and content. Our end-goal is to have multiple individuals lead and contribute to these work streams through our governance, decision-making, virtual events, original content, the maintenance of our digital infrastructure, and fellowship awards to leverage the diverse expertise, backgrounds, and geographical perspectives within our unique Maintainers community.
First and foremost, our priority is to secure the necessary funds to sustain and advance The Maintainers movement for maintenance thinking and action. We remain optimistic about the future of The Maintainers, and are dedicated to pursuing all available opportunities for financial support that present.
We also recognize the possibility that if additional funding is not secured, we may need to consider sunsetting operations in 2025. Should this occur, we are committed to a thoughtful and deliberate wind-down process. We believe in maintaining transparency with all stakeholders by outlining this contingency plan, even as we aim for the extension of our work.
In the following paragraphs, we outline the future directions of The Maintainers, the funding necessary to implement it, alongside funding strategies we’re open to putting into practice at this time. Your input and support at this juncture for The Maintainers is critical. If you are knowledgeable of resourcing opportunities, want to collaborate on joint projects, know of mission-aligned funders, or can personally contribute to sponsoring our work, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Below, you will learn more about our future directions that further funding would enable.
Future directions: a vibrant network of maintainers
We have identified three categories essential to supporting The Maintainers network’s vision for a more cared-for and well-maintained society:
- Distributed Leadership & Operations
- Fellowships & Community Events
- Strategic Partnerships
Below, we provide an outline of the objectives for each category, along with projected funding requirements over a two-year period. This time frame reflects our expectation for a realistic transition and implementation of these initiatives, and we are more than happy to provide further details.
Distributed Leadership & Operations:
Support the implementation of a distributed leadership model, empowering our network to take on new roles and responsibilities to guarantee a wider representation of backgrounds, expertises, and localities where maintenance knowledge can be shared. This includes the maintenance expenses of our digital platforms, educational and public awareness content creation, Fellowship facilitation, redistributing work streams and project development to community members, partners, and steering committee.
- Strategic Leadership Contractor Support: $100k – $205k
- Scope: Support for contractors to perform The Maintainers’ operations, network communications, organizational development, and fundraising duties for up to 2 years.
- Maintainers Steering Committee: $18,000
- Scope: $1,000 per advisor for labor and leadership contributions throughout 2025 and 2026.
- Digital Platforms: $3,000
- Scope: Two years of support for digital platforms, including website maintenance, Zoom, GSuite, etc.
Fellowships & Community Events:
We are seeking support to fund fellowships, virtual events, meet ups, and maintenance accountability sessions. The Maintainers Fellowship has become a core program – nurturing interdisciplinary cross-pollination and international collaboration, contributing to the growing body of work for maintenance thinking and action. Our community events and initiatives are crucial for professional development and network engagement, propelling the work of on-the-ground practitioners, and raising awareness on maintenance knowledge through outputs including blog posts, social media content, original research, and virtual convenings. The connections that come from our virtual community events provide space for further knowledge-sharing and camaraderie with maintenance, repair and care practitioners across the globe.
- Fellowships: $40,000 – $60,000
- Scope: Fellowship awards range based on duration and deliverable expectations. We host cohorts with a minimum of three and a maximum of six fellows per year.
- Community Member Coordination: $25,000
- Scope: Compensation for community coordination, event facilitation, and original content creation. We want to honor the labor necessary to run events, write and publish content by offering honoraria to community leaders to support the production of our network engagement tactics. Investment in marketing through storytelling is crucial for amplifying our message about maintenance, repair, and care practitioners worldwide. By working with dedicated conveners and storytellers, we enhance our capacity to promote events, publish engaging blog posts, and run impactful social media campaigns.
Strategic Partnerships:
Establish and nurture partnerships and sponsorships to develop joint projects and programs with other global maintenance, repair, and care initiatives. These partnerships will enhance the sustainability of our initiatives and create opportunities for collaborative efforts.
- Strategic Partnership Cost: None
- Scope: Support lies in relationship and capacity building, leveraging the value of connections and shared resources. We have partnered and have been involved with like-minded groups and events including Repair Cafe Bangalore, Culture of Repair, Festival of Maintenance, VR (Ex) Change, Caring Futures Conference and many more. We’d love to cross-promote one another’s maintenance, repair and care related efforts; consider applying for or contributing toward joint projects; and bridge connections and provide opportunities to those in your networks through our strategic partnership.
A call for support: how do we get there?
Below is an overview of the possible streams of support and collaboration we’re currently welcoming. If you, your organization, or foundation have any questions or want to discuss any of these options further, please do not hesitate to reach out to us so we can have a more detailed discussion about how you may be able to support The Maintainers!
Connect with foundations and other grant-making institutions:
Up to this point, The Maintainers has been exclusively funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Siegel Family Endowment. As these grant cycles come to an end, we are actively seeking alternate sources for project-based and operational funding. We want to team up with other foundations that share our dedication to promoting maintenance, repair, and care and welcome your support in helping us to bridge these connections.
Individual contributions:
Consider making a one-time, or ongoing contribution to The Maintainers. Funds received via our Substack newsletter would be used exclusively for our digital infrastructure to support no-cost public Maintainers programming like network convenings. Larger contributions would be facilitated through our Fiscal Sponsor, Educopia Institute and would support our overall fundraising goals for all scenarios outlined above.
Sponsorships from industry partners:
The Maintainer’s vision has resonated greatly across multiple industries, including in urban planning, energy, engineering, technology, public health, construction, waste management, and the information sciences to name a few. We are very interested in connecting with industry partners that would like to sponsor our fellowships, public programs, and general operations to show support and continue bringing a maintenance mindset to your specific field. If you would like to inquire about details on our sponsorship process, please reach out to us! We welcome support for each of these streams, and are happy to provide more detail for how the funds would be utilized.
Provide guidance on resourcing and financial sustainability strategy:
It is only through a sustainable funding model that we can continue to compensate staff members, contributors, Fellows and others that dedicate their time and labor in advancing the Maintainers network. We are eager to meet with network members that may have knowledge in this to work on financial sustainability planning with us!
A note on contingency planning:
The Maintainers have always valued the approach to which we attend to the labor necessary to sustain all efforts – including that of itself as a project sustained by a dedicated team. In the event that we do not secure sufficient funding to sustain our programs, we are committed to a thoughtful and intentional approach to organizational closure. We will ensure that all of our work is archived and collaborate with community members and partners to preserve The Maintainers’ contributions for the benefit of future maintenance, repair, and care practitioners and researchers. We recognize the care and intention that has been established over the years at The Maintainers, assure you should it become necessary to wind down the project entirely, we will maintain full transparency regarding the management and allocation of any remaining funds prior to the project’s conclusion in true Maintainers fashion.
Moving toward maintenance: let’s talk soon
As we reflect on our journey from conferences to virtual spaces and look toward the future, we are deeply inspired by the traction The Maintainers network has achieved. This success is a testament to the dedication and passion of countless individuals who have elevated the importance of everyday maintenance amongst a range of spheres from everyday life to policy change. By supporting The Maintainers, you are investing in the deepening of our collective knowledge and the strengthening of a crucial network dedicated to maintenance, repair and care. Your continued support – whether financial or relational – will enable us to expand these initiatives, explore new approaches, and drive meaningful societal change toward a maintenance mindset. We are continually motivated by the talent, enthusiasm, and commitment our network members demonstrate in advancing maintenance, repair, and care.
If you have been part of effective fundraising campaigns or helped implement business models that supported distributed, international teams – share with us how you did it! We welcome your guidance, input and reflection on what may be most supportive to this project (and all maintenance, repair and care centered projects) at this juncture. To schedule a Zoom call with The Maintainers team to discuss any and all scenarios, bridge connections, explore joint funding opportunities, or connection to grantmaking foundations, please reach out to laurendf@themaintainers.org and liliana@themaintainers.org via email, and indicate:
- The stream of support you wish to connect on
- A handful of meeting times you’re available
Thank you for being an integral part of our community and history, and for your ongoing support. We eagerly anticipate the next iteration of The Maintainers and look forward to staying connected with all of you.
