True Loaf: Untold Stories Fund

The Real Bread Campaign has launched The Untold Stories Fund to pay writers of articles for True Loaf (the Campaign supporters’ magazine) and the Campaign website, which reaches a wider audience. 

Make a doughnation to the fund

Ways you can support the Campaign’s charitable work in general.

The dough we want to raise

The Campaign aims to raise at least £500 in the first year and £1000 or more in subsequent years.

Sustain (the food and farming charity that runs the Campaign) has agreed to match-fund up to £1000 of doughnations in the fund’s first year. This will enable the Campaign to pay for one double-page article in each of four quarterly issues of True Loaf, if the target is met.

Increasing visibility and inclusion

The Campaign continues to welcome the invaluable contributions that volunteers make to its charitable work but also recognises that this excludes many people from being involved, seen and heard. 

As part of the Campaign’s ongoing efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in its work, The Untold Stories Fund will initially pay for articles by and about people historically underrepresented in its network, activities and publications. 

Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young said: “We’re privileged to have a platform and work to share this privilege with others, but we need the dough to do it.” He continued: “There are stories that are going untold, voices left unheard, and people unable to benefit from participating in our work. Chipping into this fund will benefit not only the people we’ll be able to pay, but also everyone who’s missing out on that untapped knowledge, experience and inspiration.”

The fund will pay for articles that are by and/or about a person or people whose identity incorporates elements such as:

• Black, Asian or other person of colour.
• Minority/marginalised ethnicity.
• LGBTQI+
• Jewish, Muslim or other marginalised faith.
• Neurodiversity.
• Physical or mental disability.
• Experience of living in poverty.

…or another aspect of identity or lived experience that is not well represented through the Campaign's work.

Ultimately, our aim is to be able to pay everyone who asks to be for contributing their time, knowledge and skills, whether as writers, photographers or in other forms.

Rates

Informed by rates suggested by the Guild of Food Writers and National Union of Journalists for smaller magazines, the fund will allow the Campaign to pay £250 per article of up to 1000 words. 

We still welcome volunteer writers

The number of articles we publish by or about people from underrepresented demographic groups won't be limited to those paid for  by the fund.  We will also continue running articles written voluntarily by and about people from groups that are already well represented. 

How do I get commissioned?

YOUR words in print includes suggestions for article topics and guidance on how to pitch your own ideas.

If you want to write an article (either as a volunteer or paid for from the fund) or have any questions, please email Chris Young, who coordinates the Campaign and edits True Loaf.

FAQs

Is it okay that I’m not a professional writer?
Absolutely! The magazine’s editor has many years’ experience of helping people to polish their articles for publication.

Do I have to write about myself?
Not necessarily. If you’d like to write about someone/thing else bready, we’d be interested in your perspective on them/it. If you’re involved in the rise of Real Bread, and want to tell your story, we’d love to help you share it.

None of these is an element of who I am - will you pay me?
As the fund is about improving the diversity of people we represent, the subject of your article would need to be a person/people whose identity incorporates one or more of these aspects.

Why is the Campaign doing this?
Because it’s the right thing to do. Many people value being able to volunteer their time, knowledge and skills as in-kind contributions towards charities they support. In turn, we value their voluntary contributions and so will continue offering these opportunities. At the same time, we recognise and respect that other people want/need paying. 

The other reason is that, as noted above, there are people missing from the party, while there are extra barriers to some already in the room from being seen and heard. 

Why only pay some contributors?
In an ideal world, the Campaign would be in a position to offer to pay everyone who wants to be paid. The reality, however, is that we can’t afford to do so. 

The Campaign receives no sponsorship or external funding, instead relying almost totally on limited income from annual supporter subscriptions, publication sales, The Loaf Mark scheme, doughnations and contributions from gift sellers. This allows Sustain to run the Campaign on a breakeven budget...and currently it’s not even breaking even.

(By the way, if someone has five grand to spare and fancies sending it our way, we'll be able to pay for all 24 double-page True Loaf articles we run in the match-funded year…)

Shouldn't you be focussing on bread?
We are. As well as what we work on, however, we also pay attention to how we work on it and with whom. As we have long said, the Campaign isn't really about bread, it's about people: the farmers and millers who grow and grind the grains; the bakers who craft Real Bread; and the people who enjoy eating it.

This all make me feel excluded
We are truly sorry that our work to celebrate a wider range of people involved in the rise of Real Bread, and welcome everyone to our network, has had the opposite effect on you. Please feel free to email us about how we could make you feel welcome as well.

See also

• Real Bread Campaign statement on diversity, equity and inclusion
• Sustain: Who we are - diversity, equalities and inclusion
• Sustain’s commitment to tackling racial injustice in the food system
• Sustain’s diversity style guide