Inside Catalyst — 25 November: getting more ethical and losing things
Weekly reflections from the Catalyst team on how we choose partners, how our tech stack frustrates and finding love in our processes.
This week we’re happy because of getting ethical about choosing funders and comms progress
(Griffith-Gray) (Co-Executive Director): Earlier this week the Catalyst Executive Directors (Sheeza, Ellie and Megan) had the second of two workshops to develop a decision making framework to decide whether a funder aligns with Catalyst’s values and ethics.
In the first workshop we:
- defined the scope of the work. For example, we’re starting with philanthropic funders, but would like to extend the framework to all partnerships over time…
- worked out who to involve in this phase of the work.
- discussed how our values of bravery, equity and interdependence should show up in this work, as well as integrity.
- mapped out the dimensions for consideration when exploring partnering with a funder. We drew on some excellent examples from Outlandish (thanks for sharing these). We also drew on our own work in creating a framework for considering the ethics of tech tools. And we got some AI help summarising research from the UK that looks at what ethical dimensions are important to communities, particularly racially and otherwise marginalised and minoritised groups, when considering the provenance of funding sources and philanthropy.
In the second workshop we had a deep discussion about ‘red lines’ — what would lead us to exclude an opportunity at the first step of the process. This was a fascinating and rich conversation during which we learned a lot more about what each of us would or would not feel comfortable with. We agreed that, although we have different views, it was important to each of us that we all feel able to work in alignment with our values and beliefs, meaning that a red line for one of us is a red line for Catalyst.
We plan to write more about why and how we developed this framework once we’ve finished. Thanks to for guiding us through the work.
(comms supporter): We are revealing a clear and comprehensive positioning for Catalyst’s communications and marketing. Since Passion4Social started this challenge in 2022, it is the first time we have full clarity where we are going. It is like all voices are in unison!
Challenges ahoy: finding stuff and bringing all the stuff together
Graham Spacey — evaluation and learning lead — has been having several challenges:
- I am covering Angela’s role while she is away and I find it takes a long time to get responses or to find anything I need.
- I am getting used to having to use Notion and Slack as these tools are not ones I have used on a regular basis before. I’m not sure what I have access to and what I don’t but others assume I have seen things or know about things. Often I have had sight of something (e.g. reciprocity fund) but cannot find it (e.g. I appear to have access to the old handbook but not the new one).
To fix this I am:
- Attempting to get access to the handbook already and I have now downloaded the Slack app to my phone as my desktop app does not like me.
- Also to try and ensure that I am logged in using my work email address as they seem to always revert to my hotmail account (grrr)
Thiago: Transforming all the amazing thoughts and backgrounds from different people into one focused and practical view for communications. I think we are getting there. To do this I have been supporting the directors to find the path that will resonate with the network and everyone involved.
Finding love in our interactions
Thiago is also thinking about 2 things:
- Giving opportunity to my team to grow as professionals and people by engaging with such in-depth concepts like Tech Justice.
- Finding love in the interactions we have, despite the (personal and professional) challenges.
