Friends,
As there were a number of questions in PMs by those of you who wanted to know more precisely what we proposed to do with the
BBM Foundation - If You Can't Stand It You Gotta Fix It, we thought we would give you an update of our discussions so far and the ideas that have been put forward. We are thinking of launching a website. For the time being, more information can be found on
http://bbmfoundation.org/forum/Why? does the foundation needs to exist?There are already many organizations and charities working in the field of human rights and anti-gay discrimination. Our identity should be clearly defined and unique. We would see ourselves as filling a gap rather than covering the same ground as others. When there is overlap, we may want to consider supporting others by joining forces, rather than mounting our own intiatives, especially at the beginning.
What is this foundation going to be about? We are at an exploratory stage and nothing has been ‘decided’ so far apart perhaps from the fact that we would like to concentrate on BBM-related themes to include rural gay issues and that the Foundation would, over time, work on an international basis. It was also said that although gay issues would be very important, other relevant issues could be tackled as well. I this regard, there is an ongoing discussion on what the Spirit of BBM is, and much was said about the embracing/accepting qualities embodied in Ma Twist.
Main ideas explored so far:Education/information to include: scholarships, grants for book-writing and for scholars, conferences & seminars, publication of study packs, promoting the story itself (book/film and its creators) and taking its message forward, continuation of book/dvd library donation.
Direct help for victims of rural homophobia. This could include, among others, youngsters and their families. Mention has been made of the needs of elderly gays and the feasibility or not to help them without outing them. Also, putting together a 'one-stop-shopping' website geared towards gay run-a-ways (putting together resouces in the kids state/country that they might be able to use to help their lives...thing like rehab that takes teens, counseling or half-way houses)
Being political or not? The majority seems against it as it could be divisive and make it difficult to obtain the 501 organisation status
Doing advocacy or not? This could include the pursuit of a campaign to get Nobel prize for Annie (already started some time ago by a small group of Brokies)
How narrow or wide a scope to cover? As we need to educate ourselves before we can help or educate others, an Information thread:
All them things that we don't know has been established. This is really helping us as none of us is a specialist, far from it
Where would the foundation work?Geography:We decided on an international scope.
Rural and small town communities could be the main setting. However, we bear in mind that BBM deals with a geographical setting that is highly relevant in the USA for being particularly neglected but whose relevance may vary according to the country or culture.
Constituencies/target groups:Depending on the scope adopted by the foundation, constituencies could be limited to victims of rural homophobia or to people we want to inform and educate (maybe particular groups like straight males, teenagers etc.), or both. We could also draw allies to our cause e.g. mothers (Ma Twist was suggested as our honorary patron/symbol).
Who will do the work?This will depend largely on the type of action(s) chosen. A preliminary discussion has just be launched
How will the foundation reach its goals? Be run? One of the hardest parts will obviously be finding funding. We have a Fund-raising thread:
“Money is a good point, Jack said. And Ennis had to agree”. But this thread is not very active yet
There is also the question of the type of organisation that will be set up: a foundation indeed, or another type of entity?
When wil the foundation do what?Again, discussions on strategies and timelines will start once we have a more precise idea of the role of the Foundation
Author
