by Sandy Sanderson
In July 2001 I was appointed by ACB President Chris Gray to chair the constitutionally mandated resource development committee. In the past several months, the committee has been exploring a variety of ways that our organization might make money. More important, we have explored ways that the national organization, in partnership with its affiliated organizations, can make money together.
I believe that making money should, whenever possible, be a win-win situation. It is unfortunate that programs like telephone solicitation for money can be a win-lose proposition. We all know though that if ACB and one of its affiliates both try to raise money in the same city or state with a phone solicitation campaign, somebody will almost surely end up with the short end of the financial stick.
We also know that raising money is harder today than it used to be. My experience in Alaska tells me that telephone solicitation is nothing like the money-maker it was in the 1980s. Too many people are attempting to raise money via the telephone, and the onslaught of people asking for money at the other end of phone lines antagonizes all of us. So, fewer people are willing to give.
We have to do some new thinking and some creative thinking if ACB and its affiliates are going to prosper, and my commitment is to do anything I can as chairman of this committee to make all of us prosper together!
We are exploring ways in which ACB and its affiliates can share projects jointly. One potential money-making project may be to share in the placement and management of vending machines which dispense cash on demand. Without going into detail here, I want to ask affiliates and their leaders to consider whether this would be something you would like to pursue.
The various kinds of machines have a range of requirements for investment levels and day-to-day or month-to-month personal care and management. They can make good profits though, and we have had good success in Alaska with this kind of venture. At its board of directors meeting in Albuquerque, the ACB board authorized my committee to explore becoming involved in profit-sharing arrangements for purchasing and maintaining these vending machines, with our affiliates.
In weeks to come, my committee will be contacting affiliates and make ourselves available for you to contact us as well. We will have some specific proposals to discuss and hope to discover if this is something affiliates believe would be worth trying.
I want to give you my personal assurance that the resource development committee is committed to working on win-win proposals for ACB and its affiliates. Working together, we can make things happen for our great organization.