Bertha
Foundation
in 2024
January to April
Over the past five years, the work of Bertha Foundation has shifted significantly.
Where in the past our primary work was once focused on grant making, the bulk of our budget, human resources and energy is now spent on developing, nurturing and running Bertha Fellowship and Spaces programs, and activating our network through convenings and funds. While, at heart, we remain a global program deeply committed to rooting out injustice and creating healthy systems of power, our tools for doing this have shifted. It is important for the Bertha board to understand this reframe, and so we are sharing some of our internal branding and communications guidelines to emphasize this shift.
As this shift has manifested, we have found a need to report differently on our impact. While previous reports focused on telling our stories of working with and enabling grantees, we are now hoping to showcase to the board the significant work that is being undertaken to run spaces, run fellowship programs and implement creative and enabling criteria for our internal funds and our gatherings. We look forward to sharing updates on our ongoing impact goals alongside our work to build serious and effective programs while having fun doing so.
This year we want to
Achieve Financial Sustainability and
Meet our Revenue Targets
The biggest priority for Bertha Spaces SA this year is to develop and implement a business plan to put Bertha’s Flagship Spaces, Bertha Retreat and Bertha House, on a course towards financial sustainability.
The Bertha Spaces team is growing their client base – targeting groups that are able and willing to pay for the space and are aligned with the Bertha Spaces vision and mission. This revenue will enable the program to continue providing access to space at greatly reduced rates to activist and community groups who need it, and help to cover operational expenses.
Over the past two months the team has focused on increasing the Bertha Spaces client base by reaching out to philanthropic groups, well-resourced non-profit groups, academic institutions, socially conscious destination management companies, social enterprises and cultural institutions.
(1) Open Ownership, Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, Heinrich Böll Foundation, African Centre for Cities (UCT), Global Citizen Year, Centre for Film and Media Studies (UCT), International Budget Partnership, Executive Concierge (destination management company), Volunteer Adventure Corps, Atlantic Fellows, South South North, Be The Earth (Bertha Partner), Curiocity (Purposes Spaces partner), Brundyn Gallery (Purpose Spaces partner)
With the knowledge that sites are best experienced in person, the Bertha Spaces team has introduced Open Days
The first Open Day was held in March 2024 with fifteen participating organizations1. Two of the groups expressed interest in using the space this year and one INGO – Open Ownership – submitted a booking on the same day. Open Ownership selected the most expensive tier, which may not have happened had we not had the opportunity to explain our business model and approach. The next Open Day will take place on 7 May 2024.
Instead of competing with established and general purpose hospitality venues, Bertha Spaces is focusing on their unique offering: Bertha Spaces’ drive to make a social impact in the world, their Spaces and communities.
This work and Bertha Spaces’ wider objective of moving towards financial sustainability has been broadly communicated and emphasized as a priority to all staff. They have dedicated considerable resources to this work, the Bertha Spaces Program Director will spend most of his time driving this work in collaboration with the new Executive Director of Bertha Spaces South Africa, Megan Arendse, the Director of Marketing & Communication, Thembela Ntongana and the Flagship Spaces Directors.
Further steps the Bertha Spaces team is taking to build a wider client and revenue base include:
This year we want
Our sites to become more
Environmentally Responsible
Since opening its doors last year, the new Bertha Retreat site has taken shape and 34 groups were hosted between February 2023 and February 2024.
They started the year on a positive note, and with all the planning, 2024 promises to be a good year as the team plans to grow their offering.
The Retreat continues to work on themes of Spatial, Food and Narrative Justice and are fortunate to have this piece of land where they are able to grow their own food. In a country where land and food security is a constant battle and many of the people in the valley live below the breadline, making full use of the resources available is a priority.
Bertha Retreat started off the year with a food garden ready to be harvested from last year's planting. The vision is to grow seasonal crops and for everything harvested to be used to feed their guests. The excess harvest will be shared with staff, Friends and local schools in exchange for seeds, time in the garden or expertise and knowledge. Bertha Retreat growing its own food not only allows them to prepare delicious fresh and healthy meals for guests, reduce food waste and share their harvest more widely but with proper planning it will help to cut down on food costs, contributing towards Bertha Spaces’ financial sustainability.
THE BERTHA CHALLENGE
January to April 2024
In 2024 we're working to ensure our
Bertha Challenge Fellows are formidable speakers of truth to power.
We want to create an environment in which half of Fellows publicly identify specific actors responsible for disseminating disinformation about the climate crisis by the end of their Fellowship year.
The 2024 Challenge Opening Convening took place at The Retreat from 4 - 9 February. Eleven Fellows from nine different countries spent the week together workshopping their projects for the year.
One of the main objectives for the opening convening was to guide Fellows to be much more precise about who they are investigating, who their communities are and how their work will serve these communities than they are in their initial application.
In a year-long Fellowship it is important that Fellows take the time to define exactly who they will be investigating and how they will do that from the start. All Fellows have to submit a Project Fund proposal, outlining how they will use their USD 10,000 Fellowship Project Fund. In previous years, the Bertha Challenge team has spent a significant amount of time helping Fellows to refine their proposal narrative and budget in order to make their project plan as precise as possible. This year, we used the convening as an opportunity to do more of that work collectively and in-person with Fellows.
The Challenge team made a number of additions in the planning and facilitation of the program to encourage Fellows to do away with ‘fuzzy thinking’ when it comes to identifying who they will be investigating and how their work will be organized in a way that best serves their communities.
New Presentation Guidance
Rather than Fellows doing one half hour long presentation covering all aspects of their work, this year we asked Fellows to prepare three 10 min presentations, responding to the following briefs:
- Disinformation and the climate crisis in your project - Name the climate disinformation you are addressing, investigating and exposing. Explain how this disinformation is having an impact on the climate crisis.
- Connecting with your communities & audiences - Who are the people, communities and groups that your work will serve?
- The politics and profits of your work - Explain the interrelationship between governments, corporate interests and local communities as it pertains to your work. Who will you be investigating and exposing and how will you go about doing this.
The first and third presentations in particular required Fellows to think deeply about the specific actors that their investigations pertain to and how they succinctly communicate this before arriving at the convening.
Additional mentorship for activists
This year we roped in experienced Cape Town activist, Nkosikhona Swartbooi. He interrogated how activist Fellows will be working with and for their identified communities, including how they will work with communities to identify specific sources of disinformation and communicate this. Nkosikhona continues to support activist Fellows by taking part in our activist Progress Update calls and offering one-to-one mentoring online. He will also be visiting selected mentees where more intensive input would be beneficial.
‘Clinic’ session
We added in a structured ‘clinic’ time where Fellows could talk through ideas and challenges with Pearlie and Nkosikhona. This was a popular addition to the program, with Fellows using this time to workshop their proposals.
Poster showcase
We created a poster gallery of work done by the 2023 cohort of Fellows which were on the walls around our work space for the duration of the convening. One of the intentions behind this was that new Fellows would be inspired to consider imaginative ways that they can connect with their communities through their project.
Salim Abu Jabal, an activist Fellow based in the Golan Heights, was inspired by the work of 2023 Fellow, Ana Flota. Influenced by her use of murals to engage public interest in corporate takeovers of food systems, he is now planning workshops with local artists to paint murals on huge abandoned water tanks about climate disinformation disseminated by the Israeli government and state energy company.
Following these changes, the Project Fund proposal process has been smoother, and the proposals submitted have been more comprehensive.
At the time of writing, we have received 71% of proposals, compared to 29% this time last year; we have signed off on 43% of proposals, compared to 14% last year. The time between receiving a Fellow’s proposal and signing it off has also reduced from an average of 14 days last year to 9 days this year. We believe this is indicative of the work that Fellows did alongside the Bertha Challenge team while at the convening before submitting their proposals, meaning that there has been less additional discussion required after the proposal submission.
The feedback that we received from Fellows suggests that the group appreciated the extra support to develop and articulate their projects. All of our feedback survey respondents agreed that the convening had 1) helped them to refine their Project Fund proposal, and 2) make meaningful connections with other Fellows.
THE BERTHA
ARTIVISM AWARDS
January to April 2024
Our 2024 Bertha Artivists
As you know, this year we have a new 2024 Cohort of Bertha Artvists. Twelve Artivists from 6 countries across the globe were selected, with projects covering a diverse range of art forms – from the production of a collaborative musical album, to documentary photography and transmedia projects to participatory remembrance performances – this years Artivists are employing a variety of tools to empower and mobilize audiences to bring change in their communities.
Following the departure of Bertha’s Creative Director, engagement with the 2024 cohort of Artivists has been relatively limited due to staff capacity issues, focusing mainly on grant administration and email introductions among the cohort. As of February 2024, Bertha House’s Narrative Justice Coordinator – Luvo Mnyobe – has been brought on to support the program and worked alongside Bertha’s Grants Manager to organize the opening convening on 26 March, which brought all 12 Artivists together.
Following the convening Luvo will take the lead on engaging with and supporting the Artivists throughout the year – you can find more information on the Artivists and their projects here.
Our 2023 Bertha Artivists
The 2023 Bertha Artivism cohort completed their award year in December and 2024 began with the production of videos documenting the Artivists’ work. Each film is designed to highlight the Artivists' projects, what arts activism looks like in practice and how it can serve as a tool to empower and mobilize audiences. The films are in the final stages of editing and will be uploaded on Bertha’s website once completed. Below is a sneak peak of whats to come.
We Still Here/Nos Tenemos
As part of their Bertha Artivism Award, the team behind the documentary “We Still Here/Nos Tenemos” and the Cine Solar Rodante – a solar powered mobile theater – held 12 post film workshops after screenings of “We Still Here.” The workshops, held with local communities across the islands of Puerto Rico, were collaborative experiences intended to inspire and activate communities to tell their own stories and navigate climate disasters with creativity and self determination.
Nkoli: The Vogue Opera
With their Bertha Artivism Award, the team behind “NKOLI: The Vogue Opera” – which tells the remarkable story of Simon Nkoli, a gay anti-apartheid South African freedom fighter and HIV activist – ran a multimedia campaign across social media platforms to further amplify his story, enhance awareness and open up dialogue. The campaign draws on elements of the live vogue-opera about Simon’s life. Voguing, song, rap, lip-syncing and archival film and sound, are all used to celebrate Simon’s life and the fight for justice in South Africa. Take a look at their work on instagram, facebook, tiktok and X.
Additional Business
Grants and Data Management
Information & Communication Management:
Shifting Our Focus.
We want staff to understand and use data to inform program strategy development. Part of Bertha’s shift towards nurturing and running Bertha Fellowship and Spaces programs is introducing new tools to help the teams evaluate, monitor and share their work and achievements. Bertha collects data that can help us tell our story and at the same time inform our strategy and how to choose the best route forward.
Understanding how data can inform our programs and strategy is a big piece of work that will be carried out throughout 2024, one program at a time. This quarter, the Bertha Spaces program has been in focus. Sarah, Bertha’s Grants Manager, has worked closely with Sammy, a consultant, in supporting the development of a data strategy and associated reporting framework for Bertha Spaces. This will be used to utilize meaningful data and monitor progress towards financial sustainability, as well as the development of Bertha House and Bertha Retreat into hubs for community and activism.
The Grants Manager is also supporting the Bertha Spaces team with work on the recently launched sales drive and the development of data management processes to harness the power of Salesforce as a customer relationship management system that will support their aim to increase bookings at Bertha House and Bertha Retreat.
The Bertha Film Fund
In 2023, a total of USD 200,000 was awarded to nine films shot in 12 countries that challenge the dynamics of power and injustice. Some films supported include:
- Project M: A documentary about Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, a powerful and not uncontroversial activist who lives in the U.S. The documentary follows her activism as she's trying to build a global coalition against Iran’s ruling Mullahs whilst trying to escape their deadly wrath. It's an intimate, observational, cinéma vérité style documentary that also relies on footage obtained from inside Iran.
- The Untitled Scholars: Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori investigates the one billion dollar ‘fake essay industry’, gaining rare access to the educated Kenyans paid to write essays for privileged students in the USA and UK. When the world’s elite can pay for degrees they didn’t earn, what is the real value of education?
In 2024, the Bertha Challenge Director has taken on the responsibility of managing the Bertha Film Fund with support on administration from the Grants Manager.
The Bertha Justice Initiative
Following the approval of the Bertha Justice Fellowship Transition Fund at the end of 2023, the six supported organizations each submitted a two page proposal including an update on their operating context, their organization and outlining how they plan to use their award. Payments totalling USD 644,034 have been sent, although banking issues related to the current conflict in Palestine have delayed the payment to PCHR, Bertha’s Grants Manager continues to liaise with the grantee and Clermont Trust to resolve this.
The Bertha Impact Fund
In 2024 the redesigned Bertha Impact Fund, which consolidated all previous internal funds made 15 grants to organizations in eight countries for projects that offered time-sensitive opportunities for social justice impact. Total awards by the Bertha Impact Fund were USD 241,505. Examples of projects supported included:
- A Rational Fear: Bertha Challenge alumnx Dan Ilic organized a comedy show working with First nations comedians and activists, performing comedy about climate change and the Voice referendum in one of the most climate vulnerable areas of Australia - the Torres Strait.
- Breaking the Silence: Legal and campaign support in relation to defamation lawsuits brought against Breaking the Silence by ultra-nationalist organization Ad Kan, part of a continued attack against free speech in Israel.
- EarthRights International: Community consultation and planning, led by Bertha Justice Alumnx Lindsay Bailey, for a test case against Barrick Gold Corp - a Canadian mining company accused of human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea.
Grants and Data Management
Information & Communication Management:
Shifting Our Focus.
We want staff to understand and use data to inform program strategy development. Part of Bertha’s shift towards nurturing and running Bertha Fellowship and Spaces programs is introducing new tools to help the teams evaluate, monitor and share their work and achievements. Bertha collects data that can help us tell our story and at the same time inform our strategy and how to choose the best route forward.
Understanding how data can inform our programs and strategy is a big piece of work that will be carried out throughout 2024, one program at a time. This quarter, the Bertha Spaces program has been in focus. Sarah, Bertha’s Grants Manager, has worked closely with Sammy, a consultant, in supporting the development of a data strategy and associated reporting framework for Bertha Spaces. This will be used to utilize meaningful data and monitor progress towards financial sustainability, as well as the development of Bertha House and Bertha Retreat into hubs for community and activism.
The Grants Manager is also supporting the Bertha Spaces team with work on the recently launched sales drive and the development of data management processes to harness the power of Salesforce as a customer relationship management system that will support their aim to increase bookings at Bertha House and Bertha Retreat.
The Bertha Justice Initiative
Following the approval of the Bertha Justice Fellowship Transition Fund at the end of 2023, the six supported organizations each submitted a two page proposal including an update on their operating context, their organization and outlining how they plan to use their award. Payments totalling USD 644,034 have been sent, although banking issues related to the current conflict in Palestine have delayed the payment to PCHR and Bertha’s Grants Manager continues to liaise with the grantee and Clermont Trust to resolve this.
The Bertha Film Fund
In 2023, a total of USD 200,000 was awarded to nine films shot in 12 countries that challenge the dynamics of power and injustice. Some films supported include:
- Project M: A documentary about Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, a powerful and not uncontroversial activist who lives in the U.S. The documentary follows her activism as she's trying to build a global coalition against Iran’s ruling Mullahs whilst trying to escape their deadly wrath. It's an intimate, observational, cinéma vérité style documentary that also relies on footage obtained from inside Iran.
- The Untitled Scholars: Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori investigates the one billion dollar ‘fake essay industry’, gaining rare access to the educated Kenyans paid to write essays for privileged students in the USA and UK. When the world’s elite can pay for degrees they didn’t earn, what is the real value of education?
In 2024, the Bertha Challenge Director has taken on the responsibility of managing the Bertha Film Fund with support on administration from the Grants Manager.
The Bertha Impact Fund
In 2024 the redesigned Bertha Impact Fund, which consolidated all previous internal funds made 15 grants to organizations in eight countries for projects that offered time-sensitive opportunities for social justice impact. Total awards by the Bertha Impact Fund were USD 241,505. Examples of projects supported included:
- A Rational Fear: Bertha Challenge alumnx Dan Ilic organized a comedy show working with First nations comedians and activists, performing comedy about climate change and the Voice referendum in one of the most climate vulnerable areas of Australia - the Torres Strait.
- Breaking the Silence: Legal and campaign support in relation to defamation lawsuits brought against Breaking the Silence by ultra-nationalist organization Ad Kan, part of a continued attack against free speech in Israel.
- EarthRights International: Community consultation and planning, led by Bertha Justice Alumnx Lindsay Bailey, for a test case against Barrick Gold Corp - a Canadian mining company accused of human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea.
It’s been a busy few months for us here at Bertha Earth as our Ambassador programme for this academic year has been in full swing - including the new Year 8 programme and teacher training pilots. For the Year 8s, this is a year solely focused on taking some form of pro-environmental action. The teacher training has been bringing teachers into our delivery team to co-facilitate the workshops with us.
At the time of writing, we have delivered 168 workshops in 2024 alone, an increase of nearly 50% on this time last year. This term, Ambassadors have explored what it means to tell impactful stories, they’ve been on an explorative nature walk in a local area, and they are now deep into the process of planning their own ‘Project Planet Love’. This will all culminate in the coming weeks as they invite teachers, family and friends to join them in special Celebration Events in each school. The last and largest of these will be in south London on 2nd May, and if anyone would like to come along you’d be more than welcome!
This term has also seen our partnership with Central Film School (CFS) begin to bear fruit with a new additional ‘Storytelling Day’ for the Ambassador programme. Four schools chose to take part in this extra pilot this year which has gone well and we have some great feedback to strengthen and grow this with CFS next year. CFS have also come into one of our Year 8 schools to help older Ambassadors document their journey as they begin to implement their own youth-led environmental project.
So what is there to look out for? Retreat season is upon us, young people are selected and staff will soon be trained. To avoid having to select 15 of our 30 Ambassadors we have been working hard with Tish and the Jamie’s Farm team to test taking larger groups of young people on retreat. We are gearing up to get ready for our largest annual partners retreat in July (8th-11th). This is made up of all of our partners, including teachers. Sadly we have outgrown 42 Acres, however, thanks to Amanda’s networking we’ve built up a good relationship with Bore Place, a large educational site with a working farm much closer to London. We are also freshening up our curriculum space so we can start to focus on how we strengthen our programme to be more impactful and easier for the Teachers and schools to pick up and run themselves.
We have had some movement within the team. We have wished James Lawbuary, our operations maestro, all the best as he’s gone to pursue his childhood dream of designing roller coasters, and welcomed Harry formally into the team supporting us both with social media and operations. Harry has been freelancing with us for the best part of a year already and has made a great contribution to the way we are able to share stories online. Since January we’ve made over 37,000 impressions on social media and have now broken the ceiling of 1,000 Instagram followers.
Most recently we have begun turning our attention to next academic year, and have launched a London-wide campaign to find more teachers ready to join our BE Schools programme. Some wonderful new assets have been put together by new team member Damien, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, specifically highlighting the testimonials we now have from teachers participating in this pilot year.
You can click here to see our new video with teachers from this year’s pilot talking about the BE Schools teacher training programme, and here’s a snapshot of what we are offering:
It’s been a busy few months for us here at Bertha Earth as our Ambassador programme for this academic year has been in full swing - including the new Year 8 programme and teacher training pilots. For the Year 8s, this is a year solely focused on taking some form of pro-environmental action. The teacher training has been bringing teachers into our delivery team to co-facilitate the workshops with us.
At the time of writing, we have delivered 168 workshops in 2024 alone, an increase of nearly 50% on this time last year. This term, Ambassadors have explored what it means to tell impactful stories, they’ve been on an explorative nature walk in a local area, and they are now deep into the process of planning their own ‘Project Planet Love’. This will all culminate in the coming weeks as they invite teachers, family and friends to join them in special Celebration Events in each school. The last and largest of these will be in south London on 2nd May, and if anyone would like to come along you’d be more than welcome!
This term has also seen our partnership with Central Film School (CFS) begin to bear fruit with a new additional ‘Storytelling Day’ for the Ambassador programme. Four schools chose to take part in this extra pilot this year which has gone well and we have some great feedback to strengthen and grow this with CFS next year. CFS have also come into one of our Year 8 schools to help older Ambassadors document their journey as they begin to implement their own youth-led environmental project.
We have had some movement within the team. We have wished James Lawbuary, our operations maestro, all the best as he’s gone to pursue his childhood dream of designing roller coasters, and welcomed Harry formally into the team supporting us both with social media and operations. Harry has been freelancing with us for the best part of a year already and has made a great contribution to the way we are able to share stories online. Since January we’ve made over 37,000 impressions on social media and have now broken the ceiling of 1,000 Instagram followers.
Most recently we have begun turning our attention to next academic year, and have launched a London-wide campaign to find more teachers ready to join our BE Schools programme. Some wonderful new assets have been put together by new team member Damien, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, specifically highlighting the testimonials we now have from teachers participating in this pilot year.
You can click here to see our new video with teachers from this year’s pilot talking about the BE Schools teacher training programme, and here’s a snapshot of what we are offering:
So what is there to look out for? Retreat season is upon us, young people are selected and staff will soon be trained. To avoid having to select 15 of our 30 Ambassadors we have been working hard with Tish and the Jamie’s Farm team to test taking larger groups of young people on retreat. We are gearing up to get ready for our largest annual partners retreat in July (8th-11th). This is made up of all of our partners, including teachers. Sadly we have outgrown 42 Acres, however, thanks to Amanda’s networking we’ve built up a good relationship with Bore Place, a large educational site with a working farm much closer to London. We are also freshening up our curriculum space so we can start to focus on how we strengthen our programme to be more impactful and easier for the Teachers and schools to pick up and run themselves.
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