MASS Action (which stands for Migrant & Asylum Seeker Solidarity & Action) is a registered UK charity. We support grassroots projects with dignified and sustainable initiatives for migrants and asylum seekers, so they can worry less about fundraising and more on their work on the ground. We believe safe and legal freedom of movement should be for everyone, and through this belief we want to transform how people understand and react to the movement of people.
Mission
To support grassroots projects that provide dignified and sustainable initiatives for migrants and asylum seekers. To increase awareness of the social, economic, political and ecological factors which cause migration and thereby challenge negative public perceptions on the movement of people.
Values
Equal rights regardless of legal status, nationality, religion, gender, age, sexuality or any other identity marker.
Honest and dynamic engagement with the communities we work with
Breaking-down hierarchies that are not just around us but between us
Financial transparency and efficiency
Collective action to challenge and overcome violent migration policies and border regimes
History
MASS Action was set up by nine volunteers who all met whilst volunteering at Khora Community Centre in Athens. We felt frustrated by the lack of access to funding for small grassroots initiatives doing impressive work with very little resources. We saw how hard it is to juggle running amazing and impactful projects alongside applying for funding and running social media campaigns. Donors, whether they are individuals making small donations, or big trusts giving out grants, are usually attracted to large scale projects with quantitative results. While we respect this, we also felt there was a huge need to increase funding for projects that focus on social impact through building relationships and communities, where small donations have a big impact. We registered with the UK Charities Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2018 and since then have been working on scouting out and building relationships with three projects in Athens.
MASS Action organises fundraisers throughout Europe, both for restricted and unrestricted funds. We identify and work closely with grass-roots projects working with migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and displaced people, currently focusing on projects based in Athens, Greece. We establish understanding with the organisations we support financially to reduce reporting obligations on their part and to allow them to maintain agency and focus on their projects.
Experience MASS Action is run by a group of long term volunteers that have been, or still are, working on the ground with various migrant and asylum seeker solidarity projects. The experience we have working in this field underpins our values and is central to everything we do.
Visual content
The photos we use aim to represent the agency and power the people in them have, despite the context. All the visual content is used with permission from our partner projects and consent from whoever is in frame. You might notice that we don’t use photos that show children’s faces. Since children cannot give full consent we will not assume they want to be the face of a fundraising campaign. We want to move away from existing humanitarian tactics that fetishize migrants and asylum seekers, and we believe the use of children’s innocence and trauma has been a big part of this. We are happy to see that more and more charities are being called out for using visual content that (re)produces white saviorism and paternalism, but we can do more! We challenge the charity sectors irresponsible use of media by using content that doesn’t feed into these representational tropes and instead focuses on the agency of those in frame.
Hierarchy We want to dismantle the hierarchies so often present in humanitarianism. We collaborate with dynamic projects that recognise issues of hierarchy, and are responsive to different power structures in play. The projects we support break down the divide between service providers and service users and actively reflect on how hierarchy exists in different forms and act to overcome the imbalance in power.
We are aware there is also hierarchy in the work we do, for example, this can present itself in MASS Action’s relationship with partner projects as well as through decisions on who gets funding. We challenge ourselves to respond effectively to power structures, to give space for team members to have equal say in decision making (while still respecting regulations outlined in our constitution), and to call each other out when necessary.
Transparency We are continually let down by the enormous amounts of wasted funding pumped into aid organisations by the EU and other international bodies . We understand that we are accountable for the money we raise and must insure that it is used efficiently and effectively. Therefore we will be completely financially transparent about where our money comes from and where it goes. Our administrative costs are low and we plan to keep them that way!
