OLYecology
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Funding:
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In addition to generating funds from gardening, tree-work,
invasive removal and restoration plan writing OLYecology is currently putting
together a door-to-door fundraising canvas. Here’s an excerpt from our
funding plan:
“Direct communication with an entire population of people is a basic need of political organizations. Grassroots outreach into the community increases groups’ support base, finds allies and volunteers, and educates the public. Directly reaching every person in a region is a high overhead, labor-intensive task so national groups and big electoral candidates have tended to monopolize direct citizen organizing. Despite administrative and technical hurdles, local groups are better situated to directly communicate with their population. The best starting point to political communication with an entire regional population is a comprehensive canvass. With full protection from the US Supreme Court, national groups opened extensive door and phone canvasses across the U.S in the 1970s.
Today the leading canvass groups include USPIRG (who now represents Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, and others with PIRG staff) with a canvass in 25 states and ACORN with canvasses in 55 U.S. cities. Greenpeace operated canvasses for over 20 years in 25 states ending in 1997. Bay Area canvass groups also include statewide groups such as Peace Action, Forest Forever, and independent contractor groups for hire. Greenpeace found that donors gave “2 ½ times their initial canvass donation of the course of their membership,” largely through low overhead mail and phone renewals. That means that a $10,000 door canvass list should give an additional $25,000 in donations over the course of their membership. Program staff include 1-3 Coordinators, 4-8 canvassers, a database specialist, data entry worker, editors, a layout specialist, an accountant, and a bookkeeper.”
Visit OLYecology at:
Oly Free School
808 Jefferson
(Next door to the Downtown Post Office)
360-789-7843