Looking back, looking ahead: a peek inside Catalyst’s transition

After 5 years of research and experimentation Catalyst is pivoting. We're taking our learnings about digital capacity building, networked working and collective decision making forward into a new phase. 

Here we'll explore some of what we’ve learnt and how it feels right now. And what excitement and challenges might lie ahead.

The transition: TLDR

After 5 years of incubation by CAST, Catalyst is becoming a CIC.

Catalyst has a refreshed vision: 

Shaping liberatory technology for just and regenerative futures.

We will do this by:

Centring community needs in design, digital and data decision making through building collective power.

This is the outcome of an intensive review and research process, conducted collectively by our steering group, researchers, network members and producers across two years.

It brings an end to:

• A relationship with CAST as an incubating organisation - the core team are transferring to the new CIC
• Funding for 11 initiatives from September 2024 (6 initiatives will continue to be funded)
• Our steering group - who will be superseded by a new collective governance circle and accompanying structures yet to be designed

It also coincides with the conclusion of our funding from The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

So, there are lots of endings, but lots of new beginnings too!

Celebrating the past, and the future

We’ve just held a in person network event to mark the transition and the closing of this phase. We did this to celebrate everyone's efforts so far and to share highlights, and to welcome in this new phase of Catalyst. 

It felt good. A blend of partners, funders, initiative leads, steering group members, CAST staff and freelance supporters attended. Some people had been working with Catalyst since the beginning and delivered essential support during the pandemic. 

There was lots of good feedback on what Catalyst has achieved and resonance with the new vision. And a sense of achievement - both for the work delivered and appreciation for the 2 years of slow but steady sowing of seeds to get Catalyst to the point where it could make this step as a collective. And it feels right that as we mark the spring equinox this month, we're entering a phase where the seeds we've sown can finally start to bloom.

It’s been an emotional process

The last 6 months have been emotionally challenging. Gearing up for change has meant making some difficult decisions about where to direct funding under the new vision. 11 initiatives will no longer be funded by Catalyst. Some people’s direct journey with Catalyst is ending. It’s not easy to hold the emotions around this process collectively.

Regardless of this, initiative leads have continually shown up and got involved even when there have been consequences for their funding. And there is now some relief for everyone. Decisions have been made and we all know where we stand.

These doors closing often bring feelings of grief and sadness. But they also often open new doors simultaneously. We're grateful to have built the community that we have and we know that we'll stay connected. The one constant in life is change, and it's how we respond to it that counts. We've learned a lot about navigating change through this process.

We’ve learnt about power, collaboration and sharing information

We’ve learnt a lot, particularly over the last 2 years. That includes:

Holding power and privilege within a collective network

How do you acknowledge your power and privilege? How do you use it responsibly? How do you make yourself accountable when you’ve wielded it unnecessarily? Lots of the learning is internalised within the Producer team at the moment but we will write about it and share openly soon. Nearly every challenge we've faced has been around power and privilege ultimately, it's a deeply personal journey and we all have our own learnings to share.

Working collaboratively takes longer

We knew this before we started, but it's still a challenge. Different stakeholders have different needs, and no two spaces are the same. And their level of interest or commitment varies depending on time, circumstance and other priorities. Nothing is fixed. Bringing everyone on the journey always takes more resource, effort and time than you think.

Sharing the right amount of information in a network is difficult

This was a regular challenge with so many different stakeholders. We aimed for lots of transparency but didn’t always get it right for everyone. We had feedback from people who felt overwhelmed with too much information and others who felt frustrated with not enough information.  We’re still asking ‘what does good like?’ 'which format works for the majority?' and ‘how do we work openly?’ There have been limitations with the digital tools we have been using, for instance financial reporting mechanisms were limited.

We’re going to learn more about collective governance

It may not sound interesting, but if we want to create an equitable organisation then we need to learn more about collective governance. Which is why we've invested in this topic and commissioned research into governance.

We’re now asking 2 questions. 

1. How do we internally organise under this new legal structure?

This is about creating a 'minimum viable structure' which is required legally as a CIC, and looking at where we might be able to innovate beyond that - such as in our culture and approach to how we make decisions. It is all up for grabs, but we've done a lot of ground work in creating the cultural conditions which will enable us to thrive whilst we've been incubated by CAST, including committing to working in a values-led way.

2. How do we continue to externally organise?

This includes defining what the core team's role is in relation to the network, and intentionally shifting power towards the network where we can. 

Enabling this means creating the cultural conditions and lightweight structures that enable:

• information and resources to flow through the network
• everyone to participate equally according to their capacity
• collective decision making
• movement towards a shared vision and mission

We’ve learnt lots about this, have more to learn, and have no fixed outcomes in mind. We're entering an exciting co-design phase with some remaining members and will be inviting new members to join soon.

We’re going to learn even more

Right now we’re interested in 2 things more than the many others:

1. The funder forum. We’re working with 20 funders. We’ve explored strategic alignment and together are pivoting the forum to align with the new vision. This could include research into collaboratively modelled funding for digital projects, co-creating funding standards and running more shared experiments. We'd like this forum to be more integrated into the network at large.
2. Building a new organisation and network collectively, from scratch. In 6 months we will have learnt lots about doing this. We’ve lots of important decisions to make while at the same time building trust with the new collective governance circle where new and existing members will meet.

We feel nervous about…

It's true, and normal. We are worried about some things! This includes:

• How we fund our work from April 2025, when our largest grant ends. The funding landscape has changed a lot in the last 2 years with most major funders undertaking strategic reviews. We don’t know who will invest in Catalyst’s vision yet.
• Mobilising a new organisation. A new structure and some new people will create challenges around ways of working and decision making. We will learn a lot. 

What’s happening next

In the next month we are looking forward to:

• Our first governance circle meeting
• Setting up processes and structures to enable 'We The Catalysts CIC' to operate.
• Continuing work with 6 initiatives who are part of the new vision
• Supporting the 11 initiatives which aren't continuing by providing ‘next steps’ funding, as they transition over the next 6 months.
• Event: How to assess and evaluate digital products and services: for funders and grant makers on April 19th 
• CAST’s AI in grantmaking peer group meeting

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Photo by ni san.