We recently finished our crowdfunding campaign for the Rovira Regenerativa project! The overall total for contributions was a whopping 15,200€ – five times bigger than previous Boodaville campaigns!
A massive boost to the project has been the development of the GOTEO page, which right now, is the best place to read about what this project really is:
LEARN ALL ABOUT ROVIRA REGENERATIVA HERE
We raised 108% of our minimum, which allows us to continue with the hydrological design, put some euros aside towards the purchase of the vineyard.
One enormous take away from this whole experience is the advances we’ve made in DOING the different project activities. We now have:
- beautifully produced wine, a regenerative, light, natural red. After the campaign ended we spent a day bottling with Mike and have 459 bottles ready to label! (One bottle was immediately taken to our event in La Fatarella and shared with the local community!)
- We have an amazing “Choose Nature” design ready to share on Tote Bags, and we’ll be working on making a range of items available for winter 2026.
- We have even better regenerative weekends, and more photos and videos to show you all why you should join us!
- We’ve added days to learn about the Hidrological Design in the calendar – next one 25th September
- and much more!
We were almost overwhelmed with the success of the press releases we sent out; you can find us in Catalunya on 3 TV shows and a full page article in the paper! In Matarranya we were on local radio and in the regional newspaper.
This publicity is a great help for strengthening local networks, and making connections to accelerate ecosocial transition. Regenerative wine, combined with combating rural depopulation is a really strong message that locals are interested in. So far we have made that real by curating a gathering in the rural town of La Fatarella, bringing together young city people, with local residents from different fincas and backgrounds, and organisations that are looking to create more opportunities in the area. The young people enjoyed learning dry stone walling, exploring the area, practicing permaculture and on Sunday our meeting had the aims of sharing, planting seeds, and creating new connections. The next step from here is a larger, similar gathering in Caseres, on Friday 16th October! Before then I will be meeting again with Josep from Fundació el Solá and Nico and Gloria from Herenciés Altés to explore possible futures that weave together.
After the crowdfunding we are left with the sensation that we have opened MANY doors! And that the way we plan our communication from now on should be guided by Holistic Management framework.
How do we bring joy into communication? Let’s observe what worked for us, and find a balance between reaching people who then decide to join in the fun, learning and tasting, AND taking care of the souls of our team. We need to make decisions about which channels we use, create manageable patterns for the hard work, (the steps into what I call the “bullshit” world) and then focus on the communication that really worked – in real life is best, followed by one-to-one conversations. I’ve also decided that “People who watch videos, mostly skip, while people who read, actually read” But we are few and far between so it’s lucky I enjoy writing. Leave a comment if you agree with me! Jejee
Another incredibly fun part of the campaign which could well have been my favourite, (that generated, as far as I can see, ZERO, income!) was sharing it on to regional and international networks. I won’t go in to too much detail here, but I am now in email, or whatsapp, or linked in contact with several of my heros.. ok go on then.. Dennis Liu! Katherine Burke! Ed Gillespie! Sonia Teruel! Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts podcast! Liza at Transition Network! Rob Hopkins! and many more new and old contacts. And for those who didn’t respond.. it’s not over yet!
The question of what’s next then.. would you like the business plan dry version? Or my random rants to try and offer a window into the actual whilrwind we are in?
I’m working on the idea of doing less, and doing it better, while at the same time thinking about keeping everything ticking over, then weaving it all together to create synergies.
I’m wondering how we can create a tight structure with some clear roles for Robin, Angela and others, while working in a random way, pulling on threads, avoiding excels as much as possible. For now there are a few very clear objectives. It took me a MONTH since the end of the campaign to come up with this!! I hope the next pieces fall into place quicker.
Objective 1) Get to a point where the vineyard can be bought collectively.
Fundraising can and must continue for the whole of 2026 by following up with the right people at the right time.
- The most popular rewards were wine, and 100€ for a bag and to bring water to the valley. So let’s keep offering them! The ony difference now is that Boodaville can receive 100% of the donation! with no fees, and no forced urgency to create deadlines. It needs to be part of a pattern that we keep offering the chance to donate.
- Partnership building is important
- We really need a gestor de subvenciones!
Objective 2) Plan some hydrological design implementation for autumn, probably on our Youth Exchange. The tree-planting may have to wait until next year now. We are commited to these actions as an outcome of the campaign!
Objective 3) Develop a coherent, long-term, holistically designed communication strategy to fill places on our events, get income from our products.
Overall right now I have this sensation that I know all the best people to consult on Permaculture and Regenerative agriculture design, I share messages with the people who GIVE the conferences to the researchers, which is just amazing. On the other hand I am lost in a desert regarding the “comunication plan”.
I will big us up a litlle and say that we are doing an AMAZING job of running permaculture education activities.. that we know!
See you in the valley soon I hope!
As always you can see what we have coming up on the Opportunities Page.