Vol. 73/No. 45 November 23, 2009
After surpassing their initial goals, supporters of the fund in several areas have raised their quotas. They report that work to get the pledges early have helped assure a broader range of people contribute.
Osborne Hart, the fund director in Philadelphia, wrote that fund supporters there initially set a quota of $3,500 based on experiences with previous drives. They increased it to $3,700, in response to an October 17 Militant Labor Forum benefiting the fund. The forum featured a presentation by Omari Musa on “Capitalism and the Transformation of Africa.” Nearly, a third of the quota was collected there and several new pledges made.
“That event attracted several young people we met through the party’s political campaigns and in collaboration with two Young Socialist members during the fall. The enthusiastic discussion, formal and informal, following the presentation gave impetus to increased and new pledges by supporters and regular forum attendees,” said Hart. Philadelphia then increased its quota a second time to $4,000.
Citing an example about increased interest in what the party is saying about the deepening economic crisis, Hart point to the example of a Militant reader, originally from the Dominican Republic, who renewed his subscription. A week or so later, he left an envelope in the mailbox. In it was $15 for the party-building fund.
Kevin Dwire, the fund director in Boston, reports that after raising their goal from $2,800 to $3,200 they now have $3,763 in pledges and have collected $3,363. “This is beyond our initial expectations and shows what can be done with some concentrated work at reaching out and also that we have to do some catching up on what effect the politics of today is having on people around us and how they look at the importance of the party,” he said.
In Seattle, Mary Martin wrote, “In the last drive a number of regular contributors were out of town for work or other reasons and we couldn’t reach them. This time a couple of people have paid their pledges before leaving town, and in one case wiring money in from afar so the contribution could be counted. In the last few years our goals have been around $7,000, but with these additional pledges we raised our quota to $7,800, and there is room to go over.”