[Imc-tech] OC End of Year Offer

[Peter Miller]

I don't know if any of you have looked at the info from the Organizers' 
Collaborative, but I'm impressed with their organization, and it seems like 
they're producing some good materials.

Have any of you looked at their website?  If so, what do you think of it?

-Peter

>Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 22:15:03 -0500
>From: "Rich Cowan" <oc at organizenow.net>
>To: "Peter Miller" <peterm at shout.net>
>Subject: To Peter Miller re: OC End of Year Offer
>X-Mailer: FletMail 1.103
>
>                                        Dec. 30, 2002
>
>   A few weeks ago we mailed an end-of-year appeal to everyone we
>have met in the last 2 years.  The letter has done fairly well.  As of
>today we have raised just over $2,300 from 47 people.
>
>   We are most grateful for these contributions.  They enable us to
>advance projects that foundations do not always support: projects
>like ODB and democracygroups.org, designed to benefit not one just
>one kind of activist group, but the entire progressive movement.
>
>   But we haven't quite reached our goal.  You see, we are trying
>to raise $40,000 this year.  That is more than we have ever
>raised before, and we are tantalizingly close:  As of right now,
>OC has raised $39,650.  So we are looking for a dozen or more
>people to assist us in getting over the top.
>
>   So to give us a chance of making our 2002 goal, we are going to offer you
>something if you become an OC member at the reduced rate of $25.  And
>while there is symbolic importance to donations received by midnight on
>Dec. 31, we are actually going to extend the offer for a full week beyond 
>that.
>
>   Here's the offer:
>
>   FROM NOW UNTIL MIDNIGHT ON January 7, if you make an online
>donation of $25 or more to Organizers' Collaborative you will
>receive a BONUS CD with a copy of the Organizers Database software.
>Plus, the CD will contain the latest versions of the Open Office
>office Suite, the AbiWord word processor, and the Mozilla Web
>Browser.  Though these excellent OPEN SOURCE software programs
>are available on the web, downloading them even on a computer with
>a fast connection can take a half an hour.  And then you have to
>go through the trouble of burning a CD if you want to bring the
>software to the social change group down the street that has only
>a modem connection.  We've already done that for you.
>
>   This promotion was quite popular in September:  15 people responded
>and received CDs WITH THE SOURCE CODE for all of these programs.
>Note that each of these software programs has improved since then.
>Plus, we are including a new installation guide for novices drafted by
>me and finished by OC tech consultant Randy Divinski.  And,
>we are including one additional software title, the e-Wrapper
>utility (which can clean up hard to read email articles and make
>them much easier to forward).  All of this software is free, which
>means you can make 100 copies of it and give it to all of your friends.
>
>   We think that is a win-win situation if there ever was one:
>
>- First, you get a CD with high-quality software
>
>- Second, you support our program to deliver high quaility
>   technology assistance to needy grass roots groups.
>
>- Third, if it matters to you, you get to deduct the donation
>   from your taxes, as OC is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt group.
>
>- Fourth, you can copy the CD we sent you without running
>   the risk of paying a fine or going to jail.
>
>- Fifth, you can rest assured that your gift is going to
>   technology assistance and not paying high salaries: we are
>   largely a volunteer run group:  no one at OC was paid
>   more than $15,000 this year.
>
>   If you want to earmark your donation to support our technology
>assistance programs, use this URL to donate:
>
>http://organizenow.net/donate-t.html
>
>   If you want to earmark your donation to support our DemocracyGroups.org
>Progressive Networking project, use this URL to donate:
>
>http://organizenow.net/donate-d.html
>
>   (if you don't care, just type 'unrestricted' on the donation form)
>
>   Finally, if you don't quite remember everything that was in that
>letter we sent you, you can scroll down and read the whole thing,
>below.  This also means that if you are undergoing financial hardship,
>you can still help OC out by forwarding the letter around the Internet.
>
>   The results of this end-of-year promotion will be published on
>the OC Tech newsletter.  To subscribe, go to www.organizenow.net
>and enter your name at the bottom of the page.
>
>   FYI this is a once-a-year email:  we do not sell or trade our
>email list, and we are interested in reducing the amount of spam
>activists get, so we even have an "antispam" technology tip:
>see http://organizenow.net/techtips.html.
>
>   Thank you for listening, and I hope that you have a great
>New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Rich Cowan
>Organizers' Collaborative   (Federal Tax Exempt ID#  04-3469389)
>
>P.S. If you have any questions about our work, please feel free
>to email us at oc at organizenow.net.
>
>
>OC  *  Box 400897, Cambridge, MA  02140  *  http://organizenow.net
>OC is a non-profit organization           Tel. (617) 426-1228 x108
>
>
>
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>
>         December 2002
>
>Dear Organizers' Collaborative Friend:
>
>Q:  What do a Vietnamese immigrant organization in Massachusetts,
>a food bank in Northeast Georgia, an activist arts group in New
>Mexico, community organizing projects in Florida and Connecticut,
>a civil rights organization in Delaware, and an environmental
>justice group in Texas all have in common?
>
>A:  In 2002, they all made use of software and activist
>assistance resources developed by Organizers' Collaborative to
>dramatically simplify the management of donors and volunteers.
>
>Since the public release of our free Organizers' Database (ODB)
>software (see enclosed news article), we now estimate that  250
>organizations nationally have made significant improvements in
>their grass roots organizing efforts without having to spend
>precious dollars on software and training.
>
>We think this is a pretty good outcome for a program that in 2001
>had a budget under $20,000!
>
>And the potential to expand this work is enormous.
>
>Voter turnout is a good example.  In the recent election in
>Florida, Iowa, and a dozen other "battleground" states, activists
>from national labor and civil rights groups and dozens of local
>organizations set up temporary offices in a nonpartisan effort to
>"get out the vote."  I witnessed one of these efforts first hand
>in Miami, and had the opportunity to speak with voters and
>election volunteers at a half-dozen precincts.
>
>While some of these efforts were successful, I was troubled by
>the impersonal nature of some of the voter contact efforts.
>Local volunteers could be given software and training to record
>existing community relationships well in advance of the election.
>  Such a strategy could result in a more indigenous voter
>participation campaign, integrated with other issues affecting
>each individual ward or precinct.
>
>Thanks to the cost (free) and ease of use of software like ODB,
>such a strategy is now possible for 2004.  In fact, the one
>candidate who did use the ODB software for her campaign in 2002
>was extremely successful, receiving almost 30% more votes for
>school committee than the incumbent (see enclosed testimonial)!
>
>(continued)
>
>-2-
>
>Plans for the Future
>
>How is OC planning to capitalize on our success and expand this
>work in 2003?
>
>First, thanks to a grant from Ploughshares Fund, we will add to
>ODB features that automate web signups and enable remote access
>for the national group SPAN, a network of over 100 campus peace
>groups.
>
>Secondly, we will develop a new training program.  Just this fall
>we participated in the training programs of the AFL-CIO, Social
>Action and Leadership School for Activists, and NeighborWorks.
>In 2003, we will hire a software trainer to develop a bilingual
>training curriculum and to assist ODB users nationally.
>
>Third, we are developing a network of consultants and equipping
>them to affordably assist the often-neglected needs of grass
>roots organizations -- assessing their overall use of technology
>and implementing the changes that are most urgently needed.
>
>Fourth, we are launching DemocracyGroups.org, an online directory
>of email lists for social change.
>
>And finally, we are expecting our FOURTH annual conference on the
>use of technology by grass roots groups (to take place in April
>in New Haven) to be our largest ever!
>
>To do all of this in 2003, we need to raise $75,000.  That may
>sound like a lot of money, but if you consider the infrastructure
>many grass roots groups are forced to work with, I think you'll
>agree it's a bargain.
>
>How many gifted progressive organizers have burned out and how
>many groups have died because the computers crash hourly; because
>it takes 3 hours to print labels; because the database is not
>designed to serve organizing tasks; because the group lacks any
>"institutional memory" of its organizing efforts?
>
>I think you will agree that there are literally thousands of
>groups facing these problems.
>
>And I think you will also agree that those on the front lines --
>facing the juggernaut of a conservative agenda that threatens to
>roll back decades of progress on issues relating to social
>equality, the environment, and education -- need to be equipped
>with tools that permit a high likelihood of success.
>
>If you have appreciated the work of Organizers' Collaborative and
>you want to see it grow, please consider a donation of $100, or
>what you are able, to support OC's work in 2003.  Two hundred and
>fifty people have supported our work so far.  This is one
>investment that will continue to pay huge dividends!
>
>Have a wonderful holiday season!
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Rich Cowan
>Founder and President
>
>P.S.  OC is a nonprofit educational organization and your
>contribution is tax deductible.  Donations by organizations are
>also encouraged; your group could be listed as an ODB "sponsor"
>(see enclosed card).