General
Burners Without Borders (BWB) is a grassroots, volunteer-driven, community leadership program whose goal is to unlock the creativity of local communities to solve problems that bring about meaningful change. Supporting volunteers from around the world in innovative disaster relief solutions & community resilience. projects, BWB is known for the unbridled creativity they bring to every civic project they do. Read more about us.
Before you mail your check, make sure that you make it out to Burning Man Project, and add BWB in the memo and in the letter accompanying your donation. For complete information on how to do it right: https://bmanbwb.wpengine.com/contribute/donate
BWB began in 2005 and operated for 10 years as an independent operation. In 2015 BWB was incorporated into the Burning Man Project, as the Burning Man Project transitioned to a nonprofit organization. BWB is now a program within the Civic Activation department of BMP.
BWB is a grassroots network with independent, decentralized leadership in BWB projects and the chapter network. Check out our map graphics to learn about individual projects and their leadership. BWB grant programs are operated by BWBHQ in collaboration with local and/or relevant community members around the world.
Definitely not! What does it really mean to be a “burner” anyway (You definitely don’t need to have been to the Gerlach Regional event to be a burner!)? As long as you identify with the 10 principles and our community values, we’re happy to be in connection with you. BWB’s foundational belief is that all communities have an inherent capacity to thrive by encouraging innovative approaches to disaster relief and grassroots initiatives that make a positive impact.
NO! BWB helps facilitate/channel the enthusiasm, the resources, and the people-power of the burning man community- and supports hyper local civic activation in communities around the world, year round. We work with burners to support their communities (regionally) and we support emerging project leaders in succeeding in their civic activations. We also support emerging leaders who feel aligned with the Burning Man Community- even if they have never been to the thing in Nevada.
There are many different ways to get involved with Burners Without Borders. If there’s already a chapter or working group in your region, you can join that group to start participating in actions. If there is no chapter, you can start a group! You can build a community of practice with your friends! If you’re not interested in starting a group, you can still lead a BWB project- we’re excited to connect with you and see how we can amplify your work. To join the conversation, connect with us during one of our weekly Community Roundup COVID-19 calls, join us on facebook for official announcements or on our community driven page, send us an email, or join our slack workspace. If you run a theme camp, check out our Theme Camps //Resource Partners webpage- because that’s for you.
Burners Without Borders runs two micro grant programs (granting up to $1500 per project):
- Our BWB Community Micro Grant Program runs once per year, usually in the spring. Follow our newsletter and social media to be in the loop when the dates are announced.
- BWB Civic Ignition Micro Grants are regionally focused, and selected in a consensus driven workshop with participants who are directly connected to the region as well. To learn about open opportunities, and read about past Civic Ignition cycles, visit the Community Initiatives on our website.
History
Following the 2005 Burning Man event, several participants headed to the Gulf Coast to help survivors rebuild their devastated communities. While the rest of the world’s attention was focused on New Orleans, the small group decided to head towards Biloxi, which had been hit just as hard but was receiving little help. The group named themselves the Temple to Temple Crew since many of the volunteers had built the Temple at Burning Man.
As the volunteer numbers grew, they focused their initial efforts on rebuilding a destroyed Vietnamese temple. After several months and a job well done, they moved to another needy Mississippi community, Pearlington, to continue to work hard — gifting their time — to help those in need. And a new name, Burners Without Borders, was born.
Over the course of eight months, BWB volunteers gifted over $1 million dollars worth of reconstruction and debris removal to the residents of Mississippi due to the donation of a brand new front loader and excavator. BWB was the only volunteer group on the Gulf Coast to receive a donation of heavy machinery, which enabled them to put Pearlington three years ahead of the relief effort in their region.
But, we did more than just clear people’s homes, we started burning sculptures made from the debris we gathered while doing our work. Soon, the community began bringing their own sculptures and many experienced a powerful, cathartic moment as they were finding the courage together to let go of the past and rebuild their futures.
After Katrina-From Disaster Response to Civic Engagement
After witnessing the incredible creativity that the Burning Man community brought to Katrina, Tom Price and Carmen Mauk returned to San Francisco with a desire to continue to grow BWB beyond the scope of natural disasters. They wondered what would be possible if the kind of participation and creativity they experienced in Katrina could be turned into our every day lives in communities around the world.
As a first step in encouraging community participation, they decided to host a beach cleanup at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, on May 5th. By engaging the Burning Man network and former Katrina volunteers, this cleanup spread to five countries and the first annual Cinqo de Playa cleanup was born. This program ran for seven years and continued to grow to more than twenty cities around the world.
Community
We have a new website coming in 2023, which will include a page to help you find the chapter or project nearest you. In the meantime, here are two ways to find a BWB group near you:
- Click here!
- Email bwb@burningman.org with your city, state and country- and we’ll let you know if there’s a BWB chapter near you.
- If you know that there’s a BWB group in your city, search on Facebook for “Burners Without Borders CITY”- many of our chapters and working groups have a Facebook presence where you can plug in.
For information on other BWB Projects and opportunities, visit our project page: https://bmanbwb.wpengine.com/projects-home
If there’s an existing chapter that you’d like to join and support, the first step will be connecting with existing chapter leadership and getting involved in the community. If there’s already a chapter near you, it’s always best to try to plug into what’s already happening and grow your participation there.
If you would like to start a new chapter based on your region or interest, the first step will be to start a Working Group. After successfully completing 2-5 projects, we’ll be ready to have a conversation about formalizing your group. Email bwb@burningman.org if you’re interested in starting a working group or getting connected to an existing chapter.
Yes! Our chapter system represents only one part of our network, and we are here in support of any burners who are interested in having a positive impact in our local/global communities. We spend about 70% of our time and resources supporting and amplifying projects initiated by burners just like you. To propose your project to BWB, you can use this webform.
While BWB was born from disaster response, we continue to evolve, and our members participate in ALL KINDS of civic actions in addition to direct disaster response. Our main goal as a network is to create communities of practice, and there are plenty of ways to do that when your community is not experiencing an immediate disaster. In fact, the right time to prepare is before disaster strikes. Our chapters use civic impact projects to practice working together, so when a disaster happens: they are ready to work as a team and organize for a rapid response. Prepared communities of practice can (and have) activated disaster response in the form of: distribution hubs, demolition services, search and rescue missions, power and infrastructure, and more. Whether you are working with other community members to solve real problems, or hosting workshops/opportunities to densen your local network and learn new skills, by developing a local community of practice you are building community resilience.
Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. By putting ideas into practice, we improve and prepare for when it counts the most. We often refer to all and parts of our global network as communities of practice.
Burners Without Borders works very closely with Fly Ranch, and this partnership has developed into opportunities for BWB to gather using Fly Ranch as a hosting land. We gather on Fly Ranch for work weekends, skill building, and most recently in 2019 the BWB Summits at Fly Ranch. These are in person opportunities to connect off-playa, and we are hosting 2 Summits per year through 2021. These are small group gatherings of less than 100 people, and the weekends have a participant driven, unconference style of loose programming with plenty of focus on connecting with the land, each other, and personal wellness. The summits are invitation only and BWBers are invited to express interest prior to receiving the registration link to confirm your spot. To learn about upcoming Summits, subscribe to our newsletter.
Convenings
Burners Without Borders works very closely with Fly Ranch, and this partnership has developed into opportunities for BWB to gather using Fly Ranch as a hosting land. We gather on Fly Ranch for work weekends, skill building, and most recently in 2019 the BWB Summits at Fly Ranch. These are in person opportunities to connect off-playa, and we are hosting 2 Summits per year through 2021. These are small group gatherings of less than 100 people, and the weekends have a participant driven, unconference style of loose programming with plenty of focus on connecting with the land, each other, and personal wellness. The summits are invitation only and BWBers are invited to express interest prior to receiving the registration link to confirm your spot. To learn about upcoming Summits, subscribe to our newsletter.
Disaster
While BWB was born from disaster response, we continue to evolve, and our members participate in ALL KINDS of civic actions in addition to direct disaster response. Our main goal as a network is to create communities of practice, and there are plenty of ways to do that when your community is not experiencing an immediate disaster. In fact, the right time to prepare is before disaster strikes. Our chapters use civic impact projects to practice working together, so when a disaster happens: they are ready to work as a team and organize for a rapid response. Prepared communities of practice can (and have) activated disaster response in the form of: distribution hubs, demolition services, search and rescue missions, power and infrastructure, and more. Whether you are working with other community members to solve real problems, or hosting workshops/opportunities to densen your local network and learn new skills, by developing a local community of practice you are building community resilience.
BWB is not a civilian army, and we don’t “dispatch” crews to respond to crisis. We support groups and leaders standing up in their own initiatives and communities so that we can amplify and support the work that’s already happening in the extended burnersphere. In the world we live in, there are disasters happening every day. We know that at this point the question is not if, but when a disaster will strike in your area. The best way to respond to a disaster is to prepare before it hits. That’s right- if you’re reading this and things are going well- NOW is the time to start preparing with your community of practice.
*Be mindful that not all help is created equal in the wake of a disaster. Taking a moment, stepping back and evaluating what the greatest need is in your community and working to address that can go a lot farther than diving in with passion but no concrete data about how to have a real impact.
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- BWB’s ability to help during an active disaster is limited, however we encourage you to reach out and research global and local disaster relief organizations, mutual aid networks, and community hubs in the area. There are probably people nearby activating in the area who can use your help. Start small- the fastest groups to arrive on the scene are usually local civilian groups. Someone near you has probably started a distribution center. Find them and see if you can help.
- If you’re a part of a mutual aid network, onsite and assessing needs, or coordinating direct services in your community: email bwb@burningman.org with as much information as possible and we’ll use you as an on-site contact to funnel volunteer interest/community resources when it’s appropriate.
- Stay safe, follow all evacuation mandates and do not try to be a hero! If you don’t have a crisis skillset, please keep yourself safe (you don’t want to become another person that the emergency services need to rescue). There will be time to help after the immediate crisis moment has passed.
- Once it’s time for “recovery mode” BWB is able offer resources in the form of:
- helping connect local initiatives, burner groups and volunteers in an area
- working with our partners and affiliates to see if there are resources we can help arrange
- connecting and amplifying the work burners are doing out to the global network
- Advice, consultation, and mentorship if you have an appropriate project/initiative that you need support in implementing well
Pause, take a breath, and read this article from BWB co-founder Tom Price. Save your energy for when the real work begins, which will probably be weeks or months from now! The instinct to help is strong in the immediate media blast, but now is not the most useful time to help. Unless you have specialized skills/are invited with a local group, now is not the time to send yourself or donations (besides cash) to a disaster zone.
You can start now by keeping yourself informed about the disaster, and trying to connect with folks on the ground who will have a real understanding of needs in the months to come- but if the disaster is still active then have some patience- the people you’re hoping to help are probably not ready for your help yet.
Join the BWB Volunteers Worldwide facebook group, we will share out any relevant calls to action as soon as it makes sense.
Following the 2005 Burning Man event, several participants headed to the Gulf Coast to help survivors rebuild their devastated communities. While the rest of the world’s attention was focused on New Orleans, the small group decided to head towards Biloxi, which had been hit just as hard but was receiving little help. The group named themselves the Temple to Temple Crew since many of the volunteers had built the Temple at Burning Man.
As the volunteer numbers grew, they focused their initial efforts on rebuilding a destroyed Vietnamese temple. After several months and a job well done, they moved to another needy Mississippi community, Pearlington, to continue to work hard — gifting their time — to help those in need. And a new name, Burners Without Borders, was born.
Over the course of eight months, BWB volunteers gifted over $1 million dollars worth of reconstruction and debris removal to the residents of Mississippi due to the donation of a brand new front loader and excavator. BWB was the only volunteer group on the Gulf Coast to receive a donation of heavy machinery, which enabled them to put Pearlington three years ahead of the relief effort in their region.
But, we did more than just clear people’s homes, we started burning sculptures made from the debris we gathered while doing our work. Soon, the community began bringing their own sculptures and many experienced a powerful, cathartic moment as they were finding the courage together to let go of the past and rebuild their futures.
After Katrina-From Disaster Response to Civic Engagement
After witnessing the incredible creativity that the Burning Man community brought to Katrina, Tom Price and Carmen Mauk returned to San Francisco with a desire to continue to grow BWB beyond the scope of natural disasters. They wondered what would be possible if the kind of participation and creativity they experienced in Katrina could be turned into our every day lives in communities around the world.
As a first step in encouraging community participation, they decided to host a beach cleanup at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, on May 5th. By engaging the Burning Man network and former Katrina volunteers, this cleanup spread to five countries and the first annual Cinqo de Playa cleanup was born. This program ran for seven years and continued to grow to more than twenty cities around the world.
