[Theforum] starting at the beginning

[Ron Dorman]

Marlene, look at
http://lists.evolt.org/theforumarchive/Week-of-Mon-20020520/004866.html for
alternative ideas on fundraising.  There are a few more on the wiki also.

Marlene Bruce wrote:

> Hey folks,

<snip>

> WE HAVE NO MONEY.
>
> This means that we're going to need one or more of these types of
> financial supporters:
>
> * corporate sponsor;
> * institutional sponsor;
> * sustaining community sponsors.

many other ways to generate cash flow, even at our state of organization
and "officialnish".

> We need to secure support from one or more so that we can avoid
> becoming everybody's favorite red-headed stepchild:
>
> * a subscription site.
>
> Or worse:
>
> * nothing at all.
>
> In order to achieve the ability to look for support (whether from
> corporations, institutions, or the community), we either have to
> become a "for-profit" business (cringe) or a "not-for-profit"
> organization.

we can generate cash while building and creating the NFP.

> Those are the only two choices, right?

no, we start some of the fundraisnig options we have available, continue to
grow, continue to organize ourselves and continue to prepare for NFP
organization and status.

most of this has been mentioned and discussed to some extent.  some of the
distillation of the discussions are on the wiki and the full discussions
are in the archives.

the problem I see us having is:
some of us want it the "established, corporate way" with everything in
place and some of us realize that we will not survive long enough to get
there without something happening and working now.  this generates a lot of
discussion, a lot of adding to the wiki, a lot of "what if?", etc., etc.
with very little getting acomplished on funding, hosting and moving.  We
don't have time to get the ducks lined up and pretty, we have to get them
moving in the right direction.

i think we all would like very much to have achieved the "pie in the sky"
situation and have things running smoothly with no worries.  truth is, we
just have the ingredients for the pie on the counter top and need to find a
way to keep them from spoiling until we can get the pie put together and
baked.

Ron D.