Katie is the latest contributor to our spring blog relay - catch up on entries from other Greenpeace staff.
Greenpeace is beholden to no government or corporation. Individual people are our only source of financial support. (Beholden - adjective. Obligated; indebted)
It occurred to me recently that the concept of being ‘beholden', or rather the absence of it, underpins the reason for my job at Greenpeace. But first, why is not being ‘beholden' so important to us?
I suppose, because it would be awkward, to say the least, to accept sponsorship from a company like Unilever, and then have to broach the small matter of their involvement in the destruction of the Indonesian rainforest last year. And imagine if we took just a small hand-out from the British government? It would then be rather embarrassing to have to mention that we really wished they wouldn't expand Heathrow airport and risk catastrophic climate change.
So although it would probably be very easy to accept huge sums of money from a big corporation, it would make it difficult to (even politely) then ask them to stop wrecking the environment.
Therefore Greenpeace relies entirely on lots of individuals, who all have different lives, opinions and loyalties, but who generously give us their money to run our campaigns. And because we're not beholden to any government or company we can say whatever needs to be said. And it's my job to raise money for Greenpeace, so we can keep running all our campaigns.
As a fundraiser, I have to react to whatever the campaign teams do. Sometimes I have no idea what's coming up, as many of our campaigns are top secret before they go ‘live' (at Greenpeace we often benefit from the element of surprise).
I came into work one morning a few weeks ago and discovered Greenpeace bought a plot of land slap bang in the middle of the proposed site for the third runway at Heathrow. Running a campaign to stop the most controversial airport expansion in the country doesn't come cheap, and we needed extra funds. So we decided to mail 20,000 supporters, and ask if they would give a gift to fund the campaign. An emergency appeal, sent out within 24 hours.
Now, something like this would normally take much longer to put together. I'd thoroughly research the campaign, put together an informative letter, organise printing (recycled paper of course!) and mobilise Royal Mail. So the prospect of doing it in one day made me want to hide under my desk. Such is the life of a fundraiser at an organisation as unpredictable as Greenpeace. But after the busiest day I have ever had, we did it, and the response from our supporters was overwhelming - the appeal raised nearly £70,000.
So even though it would be much easier just to ask for a handout from the government, or a company, I'm glad we don't. Because I'm proud of all the different people that believe in Greenpeace, and give us their money to work for the environment. And because the independence that affords us means we can't be silenced. We will never be beholden.
