A project by The Esteem Publication
Helping civic institutions create impact.
You are already doing the work. We find the thing that would carry it further, whatever that turns out to be, and then we make it.
The limit was never the idea.
Institutions doing this work are not short of things worth trying. They are short of ways to make them happen.
Every one of them cost more to arrange than the work itself.
So they stayed on the list. Not turned down, just never the thing there was money for that year.
02 / Why they stayed ideasMaking things got dramatically cheaper.
What used to take a team and a budget now takes a fraction of both.
That change mostly reached the people already well served.
We think it belongs here instead, so we keep our cost negligible and say so up front.
03 / Where the change wentA team, and a budget A fraction of both
Nobody gets the same answer twice.
We start from the work you are already doing, not from something we have already made.
The same parts, made into five different answers. Something built. One form where there were four. A different order of doing things. The same work, further out. Or almost nothing at all.
- It might be a way to reach the people your work cannot reach yet
- or a week that stops disappearing into the same four tasks
- or an arrangement nobody has tried before
- or a clearer view of what is actually happening on the ground
- or whatever you were told was too expensive
- or something that only makes sense for your work
The ones nobody has done before are the ones we most want to hear about.
Sometimes the answer is something built. Sometimes it is one form where there were four, or a different order of doing things. We do not decide which at the start.
You do not have to arrive with a plan.
The same four steps every time, whoever you are and whatever you bring to them.
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01
Tell us what goes wrong
Call, write, or send a voice note, in whatever language is easiest. Tell us which part of your week does not work. It does not have to be tidy.
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02
We work it out together
Often the thing you need is not the thing you first asked for. We find that out before anything gets made, not after.
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03
We make it
Sometimes that is a piece of software. Sometimes it is one form where there were four, or simply a different order of doing things. You see it early and tell us what is wrong while it is still cheap to change.
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04
What comes next
Who runs it, who changes it, what it grows into. We work that out with you rather than decide it in advance, because it is different for every institution.
Making it is not the expensive part.
We say the number before anything starts, so here is the whole of it on one page, including the half of it that is not money.
The bill, in full Nothing in here turns up later.
Payable to us
- The first conversation nothing
- Working out what you actually need nothing
- Finding out early that it is the wrong idea nothing
- Changing it while it is still wrong nothing
- Making the thing negligible, and named before it starts
Payable by you
- An hour, to begin with your time
- What actually goes wrong, said plainly your honesty
- Somebody on your side who will own it one person, named
- Telling us when we have got it wrong while it is still cheap
- Using it once it exists the entire point
The expensive part you
Which is the one line on it nobody can pay on your behalf.
We would rather say no than make the wrong thing.
It is much cheaper for both of us to find that out in the first conversation than in the eighth month.
A strong fit
- Work already happening on the ground that could reach further
- A problem you can describe, even if you cannot name the answer
- Someone on your side who will use it and tell us the truth
- Willingness to start small and change it as you go
Less suitable
- Something nobody on your side will own
- A job that needs to look impressive more than it needs to work
- A job an off-the-shelf product already does well
- A project with no one on the ground to talk to
Storytelling is a core part of this project’s mission.
Not a way of publicising the institutions we work with. For this project, light represents attention, understanding, and possibility — recognising work that happens outside the spotlight, and creating opportunities for those experiences to reach others.
The stories of everyday people.
The experiences, choices, and relationships of a volunteer, a community worker, a caregiver, a participant in a local initiative, or someone whose life offers insight into an experience that is rarely discussed. The value of a story does not depend on fame, professional standing, or a dramatic turning point.
08 / Whose storiesWorking with care
Consent and dignity. Sharing a story is voluntary. Contributors understand the intended audience, the proposed form of presentation, and what will become public. Sensitive experiences are approached with care, without pressure to disclose more than a person wishes to share.
Accuracy and context. A story preserves the meaning of a person’s experience. Institutional involvement is acknowledged where relevant, without turning an individual’s account into an endorsement.
Privacy and appropriate use. Information accessed while supporting an institution is not automatically material for publication. Public storytelling requires its own, separate permission.
Start here
Tell us what your work needs.
Not a proposal. Not a budget. Just the part of it that isn't working, in your own words, below.
No subject line. Whatever language is easiest.
Prefer your own mail app?
project.insolation@
We read everything that arrives