Raising awareness

For inner-led change to flourish we need to find ways of raising awareness of the vital role it plays in the effectiveness of our social and ecological change efforts - and in the cultural transformation demanded by our increasingly testing times.

Why inner-led change?

Lack of support around inner-led change has stripped us of the requisite capacities to navigate the fear and other uncomfortable feelings and emotions that arise in the face of uncertainty - and the increasingly turbulent times we are facing.

It is lack of support and resourcedness around inner-led change that has lead to polarisation, projection, 'othering', blame, oppression, conflict, unhealthy power and group dynamics, burnout and our escalating mental health crises more generally.

We believe that accessing support around inner-led change is therefore just as important as food, shelter and education. It therefore feels vital to find ways of making support around inner-led change widely available to all - and especially those who are most marginalised.

Financing inner-led change

Our work in the UK and beyond has highlighted just how challenging it is to finance inner-led change work. Demand for support around this is growing rapidly and yet groups and organisations lack the funds to resource it, and institutions lack the understanding to prioritise it.

As is the case for so many of the things most needed for us to transition to sustainable ways of living, our consumption-based 'market economy' does not support inner-led change to flourish. This means we need to get creative and find ways to make finance more abundantly available so that more and more people, groups and organsisations can receive the support they need around inner-led change.

We are therefore currently focusing our attentions on raising awareness with the funder community so as to make significantly more funding available for inner-led change work - and particularly the work of marginalised communities and perpsectives. We are seeking to do this by:

* Building relationships with funders to get a better understanding of their relationship with inner-led change. Inquiring into the needs, tensions and opportunities to increase the recognition, understanding and relevance of the role of inner-led change within the funder community. 
* Seeking support from funders already awake to inner-led change by encouraging them to become allies in raising awareness with other funders.
* Highlighting the risks and costs incurred when inner-led change is not funded, and the opportunities for radical cultural transformation by funding inner-led change.
*Amplifying stories of inner-led change and the essential role it plays in manifesting the depth and scale of societal transformations needed in these times.  
*Maintaining and expanding a credible evidence-base of the effectiveness of inner-led change and inquiring into what measurement from an inner persepctive looks and feels like.

If you are a funder or an individual interested in investing funds into inner-led change we would love to hear from you. Please email clairemilne[@]starterculture.net