Re: [atlarge-discuss] A Plan... but no funding...

[espresso@e-scape.net]

At 18:01 -0800 2002/11/13, Jeff Williams wrote:
>Judyth, Walter and all stakeholders or other interested parties and members,
>
>  Indeed Walter is right as far as he goes...  Any plan without funding is
>just a plan that will never be executed adequately, if at all...


Repeating myself yet again, I'll just point out that no responsible funder writes cheques to unknown individuals for unspecified purposes in unspecified countries. Even start-up funding for a one-person operation under some kind of "create your own job" grant required a defined purpose and a well-articulated statement of what the funds are for.

FIRST the mission, charter and a plan for Year 1,
THEN a budget (or several project budgets) to implement the plan,
THEN applications can be made to various funding agencies and foundations.

Anybody who's hoping to make money from belonging to this group should probably leave right now: there won't be any salaries or consultancy fees for a long time, if ever. 

As an unofficial and unfunded non-organization, we shouldn't dream of paying anyone to do anything and should expect to pay our own incorporation expense. 

After that, as a legitimate non-profit organization, we'd be in a position to apply for funding but not in a position to pay people to keep the organization's normal operations going. As a grassroots endeavour, we'd *deserve* to fail if we cannot generate enough member participation to keep ourselves going, at least for the critical first two years. 

We can reasonably expect to raise a little start-up money by passing the hat amongst ourselves and (once incorporated) to apply for things like travel grants so we can afford to send representatives to meetings and conferences. We *might* be able to scare up something for postal mail, brochures and such or for lobbying efforts but these things are not normally eligible for the funding available to charities.

In the meantime, those of us who can afford to give something will probably do so as soon as there's a legitimate bank account for the organization, and those of us who can't will probably be donating time instead of money. As for asking for donations from others ... well, it's premature to demand it until we know what we'll be doing and who is likely to support it.

My opinion (based on 30+ years of non-profit experience),

Judyth

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Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
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"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
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