Speculative Budgeting: Resource Management for Our Futures
This workshop will be offered on two dates:
3/9, 10am-12pm PST/1-3PM EST
3/20, 3-5pm PST/6-8pm EST
How do we fund our movements without knowing the resources needed to achieve our wildest & most deserving dreams? Can budgets be maps of liberatory possibility? Join Alex Fischer of A Bookkeeping Cooperative and Autumn Brown of AORTA in a creative experiment in bringing seemingly disparate organizing practices together: the creative elements of envisioning change (speculative fiction) and the skill of mapping resource allocation (budgeting). Through participatory and joy-based activities, we will explore the Venn Diagram of Speculative Fiction & Budgeting.
In this workshop, we will be broadening the understanding of budgeting as a way to manage resources to meet the needs of our visions and dreams, as a magical practice of breathing the world we want into existence through intention and planning, and as a constant experiment in what-ifs and failing gracefully. While we will touch on the nitty-gritty of budgeting processes and financial management, this session is focused on creating a joyful experience for participants to re-think their relationship to budgeting, which has historically been an oppressive, top-down and limiting process.
We will collectively create the story of our movements' future and then map out the resources necessary to bring that future into reality. One part creative collective story-telling, one part financial spreadsheet, this workshop is for participants who want to re-shape their relationship to budgeting and financial planning. Participants will leave with lots of laughter, questions and an expanded sense of how budgeting can support the futures we are bringing into existence.
Access information:
Zoom: We will be meeting via Zoom. If you have access to a computer or laptop, we encourage you to join the event by computer to make navigating the materials more easeful.
Captions: We will be offering live CART Captioning during the training.
We will be providing ASL interpretation during the workshop.
Chat: This event includes use of the chat function in Zoom. Participants will be asked to enter responses in the chat throughout the event.
Tech and access support: A tech and access support person will be present throughout the event to attend to any emergent participant needs regarding Zoom, the slide deck, and access.
During the event, we will be screen-sharing for portions of the time.
We may be recording the session for internal use only.
Facilitator Bios
Autumn Brown
Autumn Brown is a mother, artist, and facilitator. The youngest child of an interracial marriage, rooted in the complex lineages of counter-culturalism and the military industrial complex, Autumn is a queer, mixed-race Black woman who identifies closely with her African and European lineages, and a gifted facilitator who grounds her work in healing from the trauma of oppression.
Alex Fischer
Alex Fischer is a queer Sicilian-Jew who brings a social justice perspective to financial management. They believe that understanding finances is important to collectively managing resources at the individual, organizational and systemic levels. They bring games, laughter, bad jokes and an innovative liberatory approach to financial management & education. Alex lives rurally with their all-trans family & is deeply invested in small-town organizing.
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How to choose your rate:
We are offering this workshop at different rates depending on your individual and organizational access to money and wealth. Our sliding scale is an intentional effort to distribute resources equitably between organizations and organizers we work with.
Please reflect on the self assessment linked below to help you consider what rate to pay to attend this event.
https://aorta.coop/public-program-rates
Rates for Individuals (cost is per person):
These rates are for you if you are paying for the event without financial support from an organization.
Solidarity: $60
Sustain: $90
Full Cost: $120
Redistribution: $180
Rates for individuals supported by organizations (cost is per person):
These rates are for you if you are a member of an organization that is paying for your participation in the event.
Solidarity: $300
Sustain: $450
Full Cost: $600
Redistribution: $900
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Image description: A stylized watercolor cosmic background in shades of purple speckled with golden stars and dots of varying sizes form the background. A vertical venn diagram formed by two golden circles encircles the text: “A Virtual Workshop presented by A Bookkeeping Cooperative and AORTA,” “Speculative Budgeting Resource Management for Our Futures,” “When: 3/9, 10am-12pm PST/1-3PM EST, 3/20, 3-5pm PST/6-8pm EST”