Camp #1 Funding Proposal and Budget

Jeff: Urgency is less now. If we had had the proposal earlier it would have been a cinch to have received the grant. Now we need to explain about the naysayers on our own facebook site. But still the budget is needed.

@johndennisliu We can make things ourselves, but what about the team that is there to make things? We need to have enough of everything to get them started, right? We can't just push them out onto a barren landscape. Even if we buys yurts, it will take a few days to build platforms and set them up. We need lodging for 10, that is probably 3 yurts. We need 10 beds. We need to figure out something for sanitation and food service. in advance.

This is why I think we have to break this down into two parts. 1) Planning for the Camp Builders, which will require we buy some things. 2) Planning for the compete build out of the camp, which will mean building supplies.

Jeff posted a list of stuff above that we probably need for the Camp Builder site. Does this approach make sense to you?

Thanks John for your clarification. It's not great news to hear your doubts about the certiantly of the Commonland grant, but my understanding is that we should continue with cautious optimism that the grant will still be available if we get things right and can demonstrate that the cooperative is maturing and unifying in its sense of purpose. Hopefully the worst of the "naysaying" was just birthing pains and now or at least very soon we'll be moving forward with a much clearer sense of common purpose.

I porpose that we continue with a focus on drafting the budget proposal, but this should be informed by concrete and roughly costed design options. We can relax a bit the sense of urgency, but I think we do need a clear time frame to keep us focussed on a goal. Perhaps we should also think of it as a more generic budget, removing the specific focus on Commonland and the idea that it "should" be 100,000 EUR.

Instead, it should be a budget that covers all the areas necessary for a functioning camp for 50 people, minimising all costs where possible through self-building instead of buying pre-made structures, while designing for the highest reasonable standard of comfort and appearance, which John describes as a critical success factor to "serve as the benchmark for other camps to come." The budget total will be whatever it needs to be.

Kevin, yes, we may to break this down into to parts 1) Planning for the Camp Builders, 2) Planning for the compete build out of the camp.

We can prioritise (1), aiming to come to some provisional decisions about design and a shopping list and reaching a budget for this first phase. Knowing that the "urgency" around Commonland is somewhat relaxed now, can we make a provisonal target date for when we want to have a draft plan and budget for (1) agreed amongst ourselves, before presenting that to the wider coop for approval?

I'd suggest to make a traget for this around 10 days from now (e.g. by end of Sunday 4 Feb), to give us time to fully discuss the options and hopefully for most of the others in this group to have plenty of time for input to.

Meanwhile that shouldn't stop us from discussing and refining options for (2). A plan and budget for (2) should come fairly hot on the heels of that for (1), as the purpose of (1) is entirely to serve the manifestation of (2). We can partly use the budget of (1) as a template for (2), simply scaling up accomodation etc. from 10 people to 50, with reductions in costs resulting from self-building instead of buying, then adding the costs of additonal functions not present in (1) but that will be needed for (2).

John's background is not in fund raising. Just because the Commonland folks have cooled, that does not mean it is dead (unless John or someone else says it s dead). Right now, there is nothing there for them to be excited about, soon it will all look different. It does mean there is less pressure on us. That said, I think it would be wise for us to put something together for them to put in front of Commonland in the next few weeks. Everything is going to look a LOT different in a few weeks. I think we would be remiss if we didn't at least take a shot at it. Since it is just a proposal, since there is going to be a ton of savings building our own stuff, the Commonland Budget can be very rough. .......... waiting on feedback from @johndennisliu on this approach.

Are you saying that the grant is now not available? :(

RE Raw / SawnTimber supply (for constructing accommodation/other structures for 50-60 persons):

Regina posted a list of timber suppliers in the Murcia area. This is now in Google Docs folder here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14Ywzavcr_RrWZ-Tt4yxj1-Jl0W2bIvAnnO_V5CbMTQo/edit

Can a Spanish speaker contact these guys for sawn timber prices per cubic meter/foot?
They may ask for a cutting list, but at present we do not have this information, until concensus is reached regarding the shelter design. We can still request the cubic meterage/footage price for comparison.

I have two contacts for timber supply, one in UK (Sustainable Woodland Services) and one in Germany (Bright Forestry). I have contacted for sawn timber prices per cubic meter/cubic foot delivered to Murcia area.

I made a concept video using Sketchup, based upon the site, 3200 sq M within the larger 5 Ha field, to accommodate 50-60 persons with communal and working space.

I hope this video gives people an idea of the size of 3200 sq M, and potentially the number of structures we are looking to create.

I didn't place any plants in the model and the layout is only conceptual - to communicate visually the area of 3200 sq M set within the 5 Ha allotted ERC space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3EpfeEt_FM

This is the map we received from @danielhalsey00 designating 3200m2 for the camp site

@johndennisliu Is there a chance that we can go back to the Commonland folks? I can understand that they were frightened away by the cacophony on the Social Media channels. There is a lot of pent up energy there ready to be released. Everything is going to look a lot different in a few weeks. Unless you think the opportunity with Commonland is absolutely dead, I think we should put a Plan with a Budget in front of them and make our case. I think in a few weeks, they will be thrilled with what they see.