Sunday, October 18, 2009 Icarus Community Call Notes

Present On Call

Erika- Lexington, MA
Amy- Buffalo, NY
Sandpiper- WNC  (notes)
Inel- Asheville, NC
Will- in the Upper Realms with the Bear Spirit! :)
Erin- Arizona
MadFeminist- NYC

Background Information about the Conference Call


Introductions


Based on introductions an agenda was set to address

1 Personal Support Needs
2 Icarus Zine Project Needs
3 Heart Storm Fundraising


Personal Support Needs

Brainstormed and discussed some personal support needs one of the icaristas on the call has right now involving paying someone to help with cooking and dishes and other house help needs. Decided it might be better to hire someone who is not a friend to help with this kind of work because it can be hard to keep boundaries between work and friendship.


Icarus Zine Project

Update on Zine Project: The Icarus Zine has a Zine Project Working Group (https://site.icarusprojectarchive.org/icaruszineproject) with 14 members. Articles and artwork submitted for the zine can be found in the Zine Wiki under "Zine Submissions". Chiaroscuro and Sandpiper are heading up the effort. Chiaroscuro is doing the layout and design for the zine. The idea is to make the zine downloadable from the icarus website. (Steven's original intent was to get the zine into the hands of those stuck in the mental health system who would not have access to the internet and/or this alternative mental health information.)


Now that the organic group is set up, we are trying to figure out what needs to happen next. Need help figuring that out. Group brainstormed some ideas:


1) Figure out the tasks that need to be done and break them down into manageable pieces.
2) Have people buddy up on tasks to make it easier to get tasks done.
3) Schedule a Zine Project Call on the Wonkavator to break down tasks, find out who is interested in doing what, and assign tasks.
4) Get in touch with Ashley who is coordinating the upcoming trauma reader/zine. Ashley could be a helpful resource and have helpful ideas.


An idea came up for the media publications working group to create alternative brochures for doctor's offices using our own language to describe our experiences of what "bipolar disorder" is... what "OCD" is ... etcetera. We've already got a lot of information written on the sight. All we would have to do is condense what we have for a brochure...

This idea was exciting to everyone. People said a lot of neat stuff and gave some cool examples of ideas for a brochure.

Fundraising

The Icarus Project is running out of money. A fundraising campaign will be kicked off in the next few days. Two of the working group coordinator positions are being eliminated (administration and distro coordinator & support network coordinator) Icarus Project has been relying on large donations from wealthy foundations and supporters. We need to diversify funding. We need a more sustainable model. The idea is to shift to grassroots support and smaller donations.

How are people involved in Icarus?

1 For some, Icarus is a "web community" and the website acts as a local group for those without local groups in their area.

2 For others, the Icarus Project has inspired a local group, although the local group members do not participate in the web community.

3 And then other people find Icarus through our zines and publications.


Many people are not aware of Icarus' funding needs or what goes on behind the scenes to keep icarus running.

It takes money to pay for the website and keep it running. It takes money to make and distribute publications and to do education and outreach on college campuses and in the greater community and to provide support for local groups.


Will is the Media and Publications Coordinator for Icarus and is soliciting testimonials asking icaristas to describe what is great about Icarus and how Icarus supports you. Here is the thread for that... https://site.icarusprojectarchive.org/fo.....highlight=This is for the fundraising effort.

Erika has already posted a lovely testimonial!


Erin is interested in how to fundraise for Icarus. Curious as to how Active Minds was able to fund themselves before big pharma stepped in to fund them.

Fundraising Ideas were heartstormed:

1) Have a Raffle for a Skydiving Trip (part serious/part joke)

2) Ebay Auction: Auction off random art pieces... Inel has a pair of 4 foot wings!

3) T-Shirts with Icarista Artwork. Local groups could screen shirts and sell them.

4) Have a house party to discuss radical mental health and share a yummy meal... Invite 10 people and ask for $10 donation from each of them. Even if you don't raise money doing this, it could be a great way to seed a local group or discuss mental health issues in your community.

We talked about mimi's 24 hour bike ride to raise money for the catalyst project. Mimi made $1,000 for the catalyst project by getting people to sponsor her to ride around NYC for 24 hour bike ride https://site.icarusprojectarchive.org/fo.....st+project

wow! could we come up with other simple and creative ways to fundraise for icarus?

Icarus is like a "community radio station effort". This is our place. HOw do we value access to information and each other? We need to support ourselves and each other!

CHECK OUTS

Amy was thankful for the advice. Worked in editing and is interested in helping with trauma reader.

Erika was interested to hear what was going on and grateful to meet other icaristas in voice. Values website and the calls, but wants to find people/icaristas locally in eastern Massachusetts to connect with. Interested in talking to someone about how she can share her computer skills and help with website.

Inel suggested that she connect with the Boston icarus group and/or seed the community with Icarus postcards which would lead people to our website and help Erika find others interested in meeting locally. TO get ICARUS postcards PM "inel" or email support@icarusproject.net

Madfeminist is interested in NYC fundraising and starting an Icarus Group at HUNTER. Also working on better self care!

Erin was glad she made it to the call. Interested in helping with fundraising. Works for a nonprofit that does a lot of fundraising. Loves icarus because it is "humanistic" and has been her "rock". Wants to get the message out to others that "you don't have to take a pill to fix your moods". Very interested in Icarus Zine too.

(Erin is one of our moderators and we gave a shout out to her and all moderators: "Moderators ROCK!" Other compliments and moderator love and appreciation but I didn't get to jot down it all down)

Will said it was good to hear people's voices and testimonials! Bear spirit is powerful and wants to help!

Sandpiper grateful for the suggestions and support around the zine. Really happy to hear new voices. and old voices!

Inel felt good about the call and inspired by the energy.


GREAT CALL Y'ALL!