Real Bread Campaign

Real Bread logo

The future of the Real Bread Campaign

Real Bread is on the rise but we need support now to ensure we can continue our part in this beyond summer 2013.

Here is an outline of our plans, hopes and needs for the second proof of the rise of Real Bread Campaign.

See also

Introduction

The Real Bread Campaign was launched in November 2008. From July 2009 to June 2013 is is carrying our work funded by The Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food programme, Sheepdrove Trust, membership fees, publication sales and public donations.

This page is an overview of

  • new work we are eager to start
  • how people can help to secure the future of the Campaign

Together we rise

The key new project for which we are now seeking funding is:

Helping people facing social exclusion to take advantage of the employment, therapeutic, and social opportunities that making Real Bread by hand offers.

As well as giving people access to an all-natural and genuinely fresh, healthy staple food that represents true value for money, baking Real Bread can also offer opportunities for employment, therapy, social interaction and a sense of independence and self-worth.

For whom:

The inclusive nature of the Campaign means that the network and the legacy of materials we create will be suitable for a wide range of people. The intended main beneficiaries of our work, however, are people facing social exclusion.  As such, primarily we will be working with organisations that support people who are:

  • living with disability or mental health issues
  • recovering from serious injury
  • facing challenges arising from getting older
  • ex-services
  • affected by domestic violence
  • homeless
  • recently-arrived in Britain and experiencing difficulty integrating (perhaps due to language or cultural barriers)
  • prisoners and ex-offenders
  • otherwise needing help with rehabilitation into society
  • on very low incomes
  • recently single and learning to live alone (e.g. older widowers)

What we will do

What is missing, and we will offer, is training and guidance to help charities, not-for-profit groups, social enterprises and other organisations to include Real Bread making in their work with people facing social exclusion.

The Campaign will also facilitate a mutually-supportive national network to help bring together organisations that work with people facing social exclusion, their beneficiaries and bakers as a larger, national community.

We will collect examples of good practice and evidence of benefits from Real Bread making from our collaborators and promote this information to encourage more organisations to incorporate this activity into their work.

We will work:

  • with organisations that support people facing these challenges to incorporate Real Bread making into their work.
  • with Real Bread training providers (e.g. professional bakers and baking teachers) to encourage them to offer training opportunities specifically for people from target groups.
  • to help more Real Bread social enterprises support people facing these challenges.

Collaborators:

So far we have consulted people from the following organisations that use Real Bread making (or cooking or other crafts with which parallels can be drawn) in their own work with groups of people facing social exclusion:

All agreed that there is a need for our proposed work, and that it will be of use to them and their beneficiaries.  They are also keen to collaborate with us on this initiative.

Securing funding will allow also us to collaborate with a larger number of organisations that use Real Bread making in their work. 

We continue to seek more potential collaborators, for example NHS Trusts and occupational therapists. If your social enterprise or other organisation already helps people facing social exclusion to take advantage of the benefits of Real Bread making, or is planning to do so, please drop us a line: realbread [at] sustainweb.org

The Together We Rise Plan

You can download the PDF of the more detailed current plan for our proposed main work from July 2013-June 2016 here.

Help us to develop the Together We Rise plan

Do you run bread making sessions (either for the therapeutic value, opportunity for social interaction or employment skills offered by baking) with people facing any of the challenges listed above?

Alternatively, do you arrange other activities with which parallels with bread making can be drawn, such as other cooking and craft activities?

If so, would you be willing and able to help us ask the people you've helped through this work a few questions and collect their comments and suggestions?

The plan above is just a starting point and we need the involve the people who will benefit from our work to ensure that the project:

1) Responds to a genuine need
2) Meets a demand from the people and organisations with which we'd like to work
3) Will be of benefit the people we want to help

If you think you might be able to help, please email us: realbread [at] sustainweb.org

Continuing work

These are some key areas of our current work we would like to continue in order to build upon our successes to date. Again we are currently exploring funding opportunities and the work we are able to do will rely heavily upon the funding we are able to secure.

Bringing home the Real Bread

Supporting the rise Real Bread in our local communities.

For whom:

People planning and running Community Supported Bakeries, home-based microbakeries and other small, independent local Real Bread enterprises.

We will:

  • arrange Real Bread workshops, business mentoring and voluntary placements for these sort of bakers.
  • build our directory of Real Bread professional baking classes and courses, and a standards scheme to enable people to get a better idea of what each provider offers.
  • continue to develop and promote the Real Bread Finder and The Real Bread Loaf Mark scheme

Supporting activities

To help us to achieve all of our aims and objectives, old a new,  we will continue to:

  • Promote the benefits of eating and learning to make Real Bread.
  • Seek, find and share more ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet
  • Highlight the problems we see in the state of bread in Britain that demonstrates the ongoing need for our work
  • Challenge obstacles to the rise of Real Bread
  • Build our mutually-supportive membership network of people who care about the state of bread in Britain

Partners

The Campaign would like to hear from other organisations which share our values and would like to work with us on any of the initiatives outlined above. In particular, we would like to hear from:

  • Charities
  • Community Interest Companies
  • Co-operatives
  • Development trusts
  • Mutuals
  • Not for profit organisations
  • Public sector organisations
  • Social enterprises
  • Social firms

Successes to date

The Campaign has an excellent track record of meeting and exceeding its aims and objectives.

Here are just some of the highlights of what we’d achieved by July 2012, with notes on our progress towards reaching our July 2013 targets:

  • Helping around 5,000 children a day at 26 schools to have access to organic Real Bread with their meals – exceeding our target by more than 25%
  • Enabling almost 4000 children at 80 schools to bake Real Bread – 80% of our target
  • Leading the rise of Real Bread in local communities by distributing more than 1100 copies of Knead to Know - eleven times our target
  • Empowering more than 50 people with baking skills to enable them to make Real Bread available through at least 26 food access projects
  • Co-ordinating a mutually-supportive network of more than 6000 people, within which 1100 people have become paying members
  • Linking more than 460 bakers with countless people in their local communities with our Real Bread Finder map
  • Guiding children at more than 200 schools on the seed to sandwich Real Bread journey with our Bake Your Lawn grow it, mill it, bake it, eat it pack.

How will we be funded?

Charitable trusts
As with most Sustain projects, the Real Bread Campaign is mainly looking towards charitable trusts and foundations for funding.  If you know of a particular fund that is open to applications from projects with aims and beneficiaries in line with those above, please get in touch.

Membership, publications and donations
We continue to build our network of paying members, produce publications and seek donations with the ultimate aim of the Campaign being self-financing.

Other sources of income
We are always open to suggestions of other sources of income and offers of help to secure these.

NB In line with Sustain policy, the Campaign is careful not to take money from organisations that might compromise, or appear to compromise, our integrity and aims. As such,  we are unable to approach profit-making organisations in the food and agriculture industry (e.g. millers or other food manufacturers) for sponsorship or large donations. We are, however, able to accept money from individuals, trusts and commercial organisations outside the food and agriculture sectors.

How you can help us

Here are some of the things that will really help to ensure the future of the Real Bread Campaign: 

  • Members: Ideally, we’d like membership fees from enough people to make us self-sufficient. In addition to our exclusive forum and magazine, to help say ‘thank you’ to our members we continue to secure prizes and discounts. JOIN US NOW!
  • Donations: It’s not something we’ve pushed in the past, but like all charities we’re always extremely grateful for whatever you can spare, whether it's £5 or £5000. MAKE A DONATION
  • Fundraisers: Sustain staff are on the case but if you have experience of finding sources of funding and writing bids that you’d like to put to use for us, please get in touch. Please also contact us if you have experience as a successful fundraising dinner, gala or other event organiser.
  • Partners: Does your organisation use Real Bread making, cooking or other craft skills to help people in any of the ways outlined above? Would you share with us what you have learned?
  • Ideas: What might we have missed? Do you know of a source of funding for which our work might be appropriate, or another source if income we might not have considered?

If there's a way that you think you can help us to continue our work beyond June 2013, please drop us a line realbread [at] sustainweb.org