Honesty & Transparency Report: 2021
A image of plants in a park on a sunny day.
Introductions:
The aim of this report is to provide transparency and honesty about Expert By Experience to the communities that we serve. This report is written by Taimour Ahmed, the founder of Expert By Experience. The intention of this report is to provide complete transparency for the following key areas:
Funding
Operations
Future Plans
Community is at the heart of what we do, as such, we felt it was important to provide an update to you all on how 2021 went for us. Equally, we also wanted to provide an update on our hopes for 2022, inshallah.
Funding:
Since the inception of EBE in 2019, I’ve (Taimour) personally been financing the project. This means paying for guest writers, platform costs (i.e. Canva) and funding projects such as South Asian Heritage Month. Fortunately, in 2021 we received our first-ever funding (yay!). The funding was provided by the amazing folks at NSUN as part of the Side by Side Fund. The reason we were provided with the funding was due to our online peer support spaces. The amount provided as part of the funding was £500 and we used it for the following areas:
Zoom Annual Payment
Canva Annual Payment
Video Creation Asset (for our online community spaces)
The funding went a long way as it meant that we were able to secure the usage of essential tools like Zoom and Canva for one calendar year not just for the online community spaces but also for other programs. We are deeply grateful to NSUN for actively funding grassroots organisations like us and our work.
Community Funds:
In the summer of 2021, we launched a community fundraiser to pay guest contributors on the website. During this fundraiser, we generated £220, for which we are eternally grateful. Using these funds we’ve published a variety of pieces and articles on our website. These pieces so far include:
To see a detailed breakdown of the community funds, please see our allocated sheet here.
Operations:
Our operations expanded significantly in 2021. It’s safe to say it was in 2021 that we came into our own. In 2021 we launched our online community spaces, trauma-informed yoga program & research on South Asian women’s experiences of finances. Equally, in 2021 our operations also developed due to co-production with other incredible organisations such as Spark & Co, Taraki, South Asian Sisters Speak & Voices of Colour.
As part of this development in our operations, Ananya, our Creative Director came on as a facilitator for our Online Community Spaces for South Asian Women. Equally, Arooj, our Social Commentator continued her wonderful efforts in delivering beautiful and poignant podcasts discussing world events and their impact on racialised communities.
Lastly, Kapil, our In-house Therapist, served as a great support in delivering space & content for South Asian men specific to navigating the pandemic.
Plans For 2022:
Our plans for 2022 are quite simple. Instead of expanding our services, our aim is to ensure that we are providing the highest quality of standard in our existing key services, these are:
online community spaces
research
trauma-informed yoga program
publishing (written & audio)
We are really excited to see how 2022 pans out, despite all the challenges the pandemic may bring. Our aim this year is to provide consistent and stable services that are sustainable with a long-term view.
I’m a firm believer in having solid foundations before expanding or experimentation, as such, I feel that in 2022 I would really like to meet a high and consistent standard for our current services and then we can re-evaluate.
In the meantime, I want to re-iterate gratefulness for the work we do, the folks we work with and the communities that we serve, it’s all for you.