Stewarding Loss
A short blog from me to point people towards a few things.
This started out as an idea for a Farewell Fund, supported through an Ideas & Pioneers grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Then Covid-19 happened. And I started reflecting on how we might shift the focus of this work.
When I first conceived of the idea for a Farewell Fund, it was because there was so little conversation, let alone action when it comes to the idea of renewal in civil society. By renewal I mean the natural cycle of life and death — things fade in their relevance. What was once seen as vital can lose its place. The purpose or reason for something existing can shift as the wider context shifts too. Organisations sometimes need to die — to end.
As Covid-19 devastates civil society, we know that some organisations won’t survive. For that reason it felt inappropriate to continue with the Farewell Fund framing. The requisite for loss we’d been looking to confront through that work has been accelerated, and the decisions about which organisations will and won’t survive feels out of anyone’s control. We can, however, find ways to cope with this, and to support the sector, which is now the focus of this work.
We can still steward loss and look at how to end things well.
From mid-May we are starting a weekly Loss Circle. You can find out more and sign up here.
We’d love people to participate in our short survey about how organisations are facing the reality of loss at the moment. You can find the survey here, and please do pass it on.
As set out in the original plan, we still want to learn from other cultures and practices about grief, loss, death, dying and mourning. If you know someone we should interview or something that we should read, please get in touch with Iona — iona@ionaconsultancy.com
Lastly, we have a new website, where you can sign up for future events and follow our blog.
