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The “New Barn-Raising” refers to the raising of three things:
• awareness around the benefits of assets;
• money to support the assets’ capital and running costs; and
• help from volunteers to deliver asset-related services and to raise awareness and money.
It is for this reason that awareness, money, and help form the three main sections of the toolkit.
The New Barn-Raising is not about civil society being asked to single-handedly sustain assets nor is it to naively
suggest that substantial spending cuts can simply be “made good” by such activity. It is instead to highlight the
benefits of involving both civil society and government, with the exact balance being determined by whatever
level of provision residents of a particular community or city feel comfortable with.
Key messages in the toolkit
The case study areas have not escaped concerns around public and private spending constraints and have not
found a magic bullet to address these. However, they have offered lots of reasons for hope. The key messages in
the toolkit are that:
• on awareness, asset support groups can best make the case for assets continuously and collectively rather
than simply pursuing 11 th hour protests against cuts. The asset offer should also be marketed to the public;
• on funding, there are many mechanisms available to U.S. local government/voters to support assets, and
there are benefits for assets and wider society of support also coming from communities, business, and
charitable foundations;
• on help, there is the potential, as yet not fully explored, for volunteers to improve the quality and
attractiveness of assets (and, again, deliver benefits for wider society). There are some possibilities to fill
jobs that have had their funding cut but there are various limits on what volunteers can do.
The following sections outline these three themes more fully.
Summaries | 8