This paper presents a project proposal for using crowdfunding platforms — specifically Kickstarter — to finance the participation of service users in national and international social work and disability services conferences. The proposal addresses the gap between the stated commitment to service user involvement in social work and the practical reality of their exclusion from major professional conferences. It outlines the project's aims, theory of change, logic model framework, resource requirements, and an estimated pilot-year budget of £44,000. A monitoring and evaluation plan using both theory of change and logic model approaches is described, along with appendices detailing the project logic model and fundraising cost structure.
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Reporting on the Joint World Social Work Conference held in Melbourne, Australia, Peter Beresford wrote, "There are fears that policymakers have lost interest in ensuring the users of care services have their voices heard" (Beresford, 2014). Social workers established the involvement of service users and carers as a key priority in social service, pioneering efforts to advance user involvement on an international level (Beresford, 2014). As a profession, social work has led service user and carer engagement in education, policy, practice, and research (Beresford, 2014). The long-term impact goal of these efforts has been to equalize relationships between service providers and service users as a means of tapping into their experiential knowledge for the purposes of fostering authentic co-production and improving service provision (Beresford, 2014).
That interest in these goals appears to be waning was manifested by the attendance at the Joint World Social Work Conference in 2014, which is a key global event for the social work profession (Beresford, 2014). Academics were well represented at the conference, but very few service users and currently practicing face-to-face service providers were in attendance (Beresford, 2014). This pattern also held true at the global conference event held in Stockholm, Sweden, the year before (Beresford, 2014).
The Swedish organization PowerUs holds gap mending as a primary initiative. Gap mending is the name for inclusionary approaches that bring about more equal practice by including service users and making provision for their participation. Mutual learning situations foster gap mending, and PowerUs has developed a model in which social work students and students who come from service user organizations study together. Membership in the Social Work Action Network (SWAN) consists of social work practitioners, academics, students, and social welfare service users who are united in their concerns about social justice and the undermining of social work activity by marketization and managerialism, and the resultant stigmatization of service users. Shaping Our Lives is a user-controlled UK organization for people with disabilities that has published a report, Beyond the Usual Suspects, directed toward all people who wish to be more involved in — and have a say over — their lives and the services they depend on.
The policy and practice problem is that service user representation at social service national and international conferences does not align with the professed visions and rhetoric about increased, effective, and meaningful involvement of service users. Often, when service users do manage to find a place in conferences — either as presenters or members of panels — they have done so on their own initiative and funded their own way.
This project would help to fund participation in service-related national conferences by service users as representatives of their population group. The purpose is to ensure authentic and meaningful representation, giving a voice to service users, which is integral to the conference mission and process. A project coordinator and an assistant videographer would facilitate the process of obtaining funds to support service user participation by utilizing online Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing web-based platforms.
The purpose is both to obtain the funds for representation of service users and to legitimize service user participation by ensuring that conference sponsor or host organizations pursue funding, rather than placing that burden on service users, who are generally economically constrained. The project will be organized under IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit status in order to receive in-kind contributions and funding from public and private sources.
The project is intended to serve as both a pilot and a demonstration model for facilitating the participation of service users in the educational conferences and outreach of organizations and member associations in the disability service area, and eventually in other types of service areas. The focus of the demonstration project is disability services, as that is the area in which the proposed project coordinator works.
The theory of change process serves as an expectation management tool for implementation and as a guide to establishing indicators for evaluation (Harris, 2015). The project will employ both the theory of change process and a logic model framework (Harris, 2015). This section describes how the theory of change process is used to determine the strategic direction of the project within the external community context where outcomes and impact must occur. Details about the articulation between the theory of change process and the logic model are provided below in the section on Monitoring and Evaluation.
A theory of change (TOC) is used to guide comprehensive critical thinking about the early-term and intermediate-term changes needed in order to achieve long-term goals (Anderson, 2005; Harris, 2015). The TOC process enables stakeholders to examine the assumptions about expected and desirable change processes in order to establish the most effective planning for program implementation and evaluation (Anderson, 2005; Harris, 2015). A key strength of the TOC process is that it provides an opportunity for clear-eyed assessment of the dynamics of influence and impact — that is, stakeholders identify factors they are able to realistically influence and what impact they are likely to have given the constraints they face (Anderson, 2005; Harris, 2015). Through the TOC process, stakeholders can identify resource availability, needed resources, and establish a feasible timeline for reaching their goals (Anderson, 2005; Harris, 2015).
A backward mapping process similar to that used in the evaluation of policy implementation serves to clarify the preconditions, interventions, and indicators needed for TOC process development (Harris, 2015). The TOC process begins with the identification of a long-term goal and then identifies the preconditions that must be established in order to accomplish that goal. The goal of this project is to increase the participation of service users in educational conference processes by providing funding for travel and attendance expenses of service user candidates. The next step in the TOC process is the identification of interventions — or activities, in the language of logic models — that must be carried out to establish the necessary preconditions. The primary project intervention is the use of Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing web-based platforms to obtain funding for travel and conference expenses for service users. The indicators of the precondition for service user participant funding include practical matters such as the amount of funding obtained, availability and selection of service user candidates for participation according to inclusion criteria, and receptivity by conference sponsors and hosts to the inclusion of service users in the proceedings.
The project is geared toward service user representation at four international conferences over the course of one fiscal year. It is designed to support the representation of at least two service users at each conference. Because the actual project takes place in cyberspace — utilizing Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing website platforms — the concept of geographic area does not truly apply. The outcomes of the project will be realized at the conferences where service user representation is procured, which means that one could ostensibly apply the concept of geographic reach to the cities in which the conferences are held, but that would be beside the point. Indeed, an adjunct outcome of the project is to provide normalized opportunity to individual service users, which essentially means that the benefits follow the individuals rather than being circumscribed by unrelated geographic parameters.
The project requires two staff members who are each able to devote 0.15 FTE (full-time equivalent) to the effort. One staff member will function as the project coordinator, communicating with conference organizers and sponsors about opportunities for service user participation, serving as the face of the project in promotional activities, and working with the advisory board of directors to build community networks, awareness, and support. The project coordinator will approach the employer to determine whether the required FTE will be provided within the current salary and wages structure, or whether the FTE will need to be compensated by external funding with a corresponding adjustment. The second staff member will serve predominantly as a videographer, engaging in script writing for Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing videos and supporting all aspects of video production for fundraising and awareness.
Project operations will be conducted in facility space and with equipment offered as in-kind contributions. The project coordinator, in conjunction with members of the advisory board, will identify potential sources of facility space and equipment at the workplace.
The overall project is expected to cost £44,000 in the pilot year. The basis for this figure is as follows:
Estimated cost per conference (inclusive of travel, lodging, meals, and conference registration) = £5,000. Two service user participation candidates for each event = £10,000. Participation in four conferences = £40,000. Kickstarter fees at 5% of funding amount raised = £2,000. Payment processing fees for pledges at 3% (£0.20 per pledge) = £2,000 (estimated).
Project monitoring and evaluation will utilize both the theory of change process and a logic model framework (Harris, 2015). The theory of change process is used to capture and summarize planning at the strategic level, while the logic model illustrates and guides the tactical, program-level aspects of the change process (Harris, 2015). The two models work in tandem such that a logic model could be built for each outcome identified in the TOC map (Harris, 2015). The caveat is that an outcome — or precondition, in TOC terminology — must be identified before the logic model is used to demonstrate how the activities will lead to that outcome or precondition (Harris, 2015).
The project will use a logic model framework for establishing the processes for outcomes-oriented project monitoring and evaluation, and will use the TOC process to establish the larger strategic plan. The logic model identifies the inputs and outputs of the project and establishes a logical articulation between the mission, project objectives, operational attributes, and the inputs and outputs. A logic model is made up of the following components: resources, activities, outputs, short-term outcomes, long-term outcomes, and impact.
Resources are the supports needed to complete project activities. Activities serve as the operational core of the project and are represented by more specific tasks in the implementation plan. Outputs are the products, services, processes, or other evidence that implemented activities produce. Short-term and long-term outcomes are the results of implemented activities — and manifestations of the outputs — that can be observed and measured at one to three years, or at four to six years after implementation. Impact is what can be expected if the activities are accomplished, evidenced as changes at seven to ten years out. Both outcomes and impacts use the SMART goal format: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Timed (see Appendix A — Project Logic Model).
The project is designed to directly and indirectly address the policy and practice problem of poor inclusionary practices in the social services sector by funding travel and attendance at international and domestic conferences by service user candidates. The project will be evaluated through the use of theory of change and a logic model framework. The approximate estimated cost of the project is £44,000 in the pilot year. There is considerable reliance on in-kind contributions for operating costs and overhead, as the project budget is intended to go solely to the participating service users, minus any fundraising costs incurred on the Kickstarter platform.
As coordinator of this project, the author brings extensive experience working with individuals in the disability services sector. As this project will serve as a pilot and demonstration model designed to be applicable to other service areas, a primary objective is to develop a framework and processes that are not unique to disability services, yet are fully effective with disability service users.
Project Problem: Policymakers appear to have lost interest in ensuring that service users have their voices heard and participate equally in the social work arena.
Project Purpose: The project is intended to serve as both a pilot and a demonstration model for facilitating the participation of service users in the educational conferences and outreach of organizations and member associations in the disability service area, and eventually in other types of service areas.
Time-Frame and Scope: The project is geared toward service user representation at four international conferences over the course of one fiscal year, supporting the representation of at least two service users at each conference. Because the project takes place in cyberspace utilizing Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing website platforms, geographic area does not truly apply.
Project Costs: The overall project is expected to cost £44,000 in the pilot year, calculated as follows: estimated cost per conference (inclusive) = £5,000; two service user participation candidates for each event = £10,000; participation in four conferences = £40,000; Kickstarter fees at 5% of funding raised = £2,000; processing fees for pledges at 3% (£0.20 per pledge) = £2,000 (estimated).
"Four conferences, two users each, one year"
"Staffing, in-kind contributions, and £44,000 budget"
"Logic model and TOC for outcomes measurement"
PowerUs: The Social Work Learning Partnership. (2015). Retrieved from
Shaping Our Lives. Retrieved from http://www.shapingourlives.org.uk
The Social Work Action Network. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkfuture.org
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide. (2006, February 2). Retrieved from
Resources: Diverse, dedicated advisory board members; IRS 501(c)(3) status; in-kind contributions for operations.
Activities: Advisory board and staff conduct planning retreat; design and implement funding strategy; secure space and equipment for operations; design and implement PR campaign; establish participation criteria for service user candidates; research and contact conference sponsors; conduct outreach to service users.
Outputs: Concerned and well-connected interested parties provide advice and support; first year's funding secured; high-quality video camera to produce compelling video clips; memorandum of agreement for free (in-kind) office space and equipment; successful demonstration project for subsequent years' funding.
Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes: Project takes on a valued non-profit identity and serves as a resource for other agencies; operating budget established for subsequent years; legitimization of service user participation through sourced funding; strengthening of gap mending initiatives and widespread inclusionary practices.
Impact: A model demonstration project is established; incentives for others to replicate the model; project replication in other firms and agencies.
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