City Patron, a new non-profit organization in Toronto, seeks to introduce an innovative element to the work of independent activists by adding an ingredient so often lacking from their lives: money.
The prime example -- and City Patron test case -- is Dave Meslin, an activist who founded the
Toronto Public Space Committee, the
Toronto Cyclists Union,
Dandyhorse magazine,
City Idol and helped set up
Spacing magazine and most recently, the
Better Ballots Initiative, among other endeavors. Meslin, or "Mez," as he's known, has helped influence the city's political life for the past 10 years through his initiatives. Yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, he often has difficulty making ends meet.
City Patron argues that we need people like Meslin, and that we lack a way to fund their work. "Just as engines need spark plugs, cities need people who can turn good
ideas into action.The private sector knows this. The marketplace
celebrates innovators and entrepreneurs who dream up the next big idea
for a product or a company. But in the civic arena, it's a different
story," the org's website declares.
So City Patron is asking people to chip in. By committing to pay $20 or $30 per month (or any other voluntary amount), large groups of people will provide innovative social activists with a salary of $30,000-$40,000 per year. In exchange for their
micropatronage, donors will receive monthly updates on the activist's work. As it launched earlier this month, Dave Meslin was the initial "City Builder" seeking funding, but more candidates will be announced on the site this month.
Peter MacLeod, the founder of the project (who works to "reinvent public consultation" in his day job at
MASS LBP), says that in the first 10 days the project's website was live, $10,000 in donations were pledged, alongside multiple offers of partnerships from charitable organizations and hundreds of emails.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Peter MacLeod, founder, City Patron