Animal Behaviour Collective 2023 Recap
Published on February 2, 2024 by Kirsty Graham
Dear all,
As we reflect on the past year, we are filled with gratitude for the incredible support and dedication from individuals like you who have been an integral part of Animal Behaviour Collective's journey. Your commitment has allowed us to achieve significant milestones and make a positive impact on the active support of animal behaviour students who require economic support. Here's a summary of our accomplishments in 2023 and news for the year ahead:
As we write this, the Animal Behaviour Collective has distributed a total of £18,830 GBP and in 2023 we have approved 32 microgrant applications from animal behaviour students around the world, for a total of £5,889.20 donations!
We now have £340 in recurring monthly contributions, which is an incredible amount considering how new we are, but that has slightly decreased this year. We know demands on your finances have likely increased. We also know that some of you have been increasingly asked to confirm your payment details, partly due to regulatory requirements, but also decisions by our funding platform. Unfortunately, the introduction of payment confirmations resulted in a significant drop in donations.
For those who are still able and want to support this community project of ours, please confirm your direct debit details when prompted 💖
Your support means the world to us each month! We're also always happy to welcome back past backers if your finances allow! Monthly contributions make these microgrants sustainable, and we would appreciate it if you could share our cause with friends and colleagues who might like to support us. We also accept contributions from institutions and organisations, if you are in a position to recommend us to them! If you’re not already, click here to become a monthly contributor.
At the beginning of 2023, we launched a fundraising campaign – “23 for 2023!” in response to the increase in the cost of living due to inflation worldwide, which led to decreased contributions and an increased need for student financial aid. For all of you who donated and shared this initiative on your social media, your contributions have directly supported 7 animal behaviour students' microgrants! During this year, some fantastic ABC team members created an updated list of grants for undergraduate and postgraduate students in animal behaviour! Currently, everyone can help A.B.C. keep this list updated with relevant scholarships, research, travel, subsistence, outreach, conference, and other grants that animal behaviour students are eligible for, by simply filling out a form.
During 2023, A.B.C was present in the poster session of some community events, thanks to some of our members who participated in joint meetings of the “International Primatological Society (IPS)” and the “Malaysian Primatological Society (MPS)” in Malaysia, in August 2023, as well, the “ASAB Conference”, in Wales UK, March 2023 and at the “Behaviour 2023 Conference” in Bielefeld, Germany.
Our mentorship organisation has made an incredible effort this year to keep up with the amount of mentorship requests. In 2024 we’re making some changes to our mentorship matching program! We will be hosting three mentorship matching rounds throughout the year.
Here's how the new process will work: Before each round, we'll reach our mentees and mentors to see who is available. They will then be invited to an online event on Gather (https://www.gather.town/). This will give all available mentees and mentors a great opportunity to connect in a friendly and relaxed environment. Hopefully, you'll find someone you click with, and that could mark the beginning of a great mentorship journey! For those who don't lock in a mentorship match during the online event, no worries! There will be a quick questionnaire at the end of the event. Based on your responses, we'll do our best to pair you up with a suitable mentor from our list. We’ve had limited capacity this last year so his new system will allow us to get back to matching animal behaviour students with mentors!
Also, in 2024, the microgrants scheme is switching over to a quarterly funding round, and we will be running funding rounds in May, September, and January. More details about how will this work will be shared soon!
With your continued support, in 2024 we aim to endure the mission of undercutting the academic walls built to exclude minorities and working-class students, by increasing the number of students receiving microgrants and by growing the mentorship matchings.
Lastly, we would like to thank all of the dedicated A.B.C volunteers who have gone above and beyond to make a difference and all of you who donate and share our mission. Thanks again for being part of the Animal Behaviour Collective!
We are wishing you a joyous and fulfilling year ahead! 🙌
From all of us at the Animal Behaviour Collective
Email: [email protected]
X: @ABCmicrogrants
Instagram: abcmicrogrants
Bluesky: @abcmicrogrants.bsky.social
TikTok: @animal.behaviour