Sunday, April 15, 2007
Rebecca White draws attention to Proposal 277
Rebecca White, Of NYC, wrote the Green National Committee to ask "Is there a way that online donations could be automatically put in two accounts proportionally based on which page they came from and then only the check and cash donations would have to be physically processed by our folks?"
I don't know the answer, but with all the hub-ub about Proposal 272, not that the hub-ub was undeserved, I missed Proposal 277 entirely. The proposal, titled "PROPOSAL TO REDEFINE AND EXPAND STATE SHARING PROGRAMS", proposes to formalize understandings about how money raised is shared by and between the state and national parties. The full text is linked above, or behind the "Read more!" link below.
Here's the thing: Greens, but most especially Green donors, need to have full confidence that the party is using funds to their greatest effect. Some folks believe that the party offices are a liability, but I have seen photos. It is no fancy digs. Some have said that national staff were given raises when the cash was in reserve. These two deserve $200,000 a year a piece, but it's not there, and I know they would likely take that cash and turn around and hire assistants to make them even more effective.
But super-specific rules can hog tie you, and you wind up risking violating your own rules because it's unavoidable. Say you know the power will be turned off if the bill is not paid, but there is a credit card deposit coming with more than enough to cover the check you write today...what do you do?
Of course, avoid getting behind the eight ball, but that's like saying that exercise and eating healthy will be good for you. We all know it's true, but sometimes...
Background
State sharing programs (SSPs) support both state Green Parties and GPUS and, as such, are a basic and important part of fundraising programs at both state and national levels. In order that the number and variety of SSPs continue to expand, it is vital that both state Green Parties and GPUS are appropriately compensated for fundraising efforts within these programs.
Our current SSPs do not differentiate between contributions that come in through state efforts and that come in through national efforts. In order to encourage state participation in fundraising, and to make it financially worthwhile for state parties, the Fundraising Committee is introducing a series of state driven SSPs.
Along with an increasing menu of state driven SSPs, we are reconfiguring the way state sharing is calculated. For contributions deriving from state driven programs, the state's share will be 60%, instead of the current 50%. For contributions deriving from national efforts, the state share will be 40%.
The key to the success of this system will be identifying whether a donation came in through state or national efforts. Our current donation tracking system assigns a solicitation code for each contribution. Identifying a contribution as state driven or nationally driven will utilize this current system for tracking solicitation codes. The tracking codes become part of the database records used by our accountant in calculating state sharing.
A description of programs follows, along with details on how contributions from each program will be tracked.
STATE DRIVEN PROGRAMS
State Sustainer Program:
The national office will provide for states a customized donate page and printable template for sustainer donations of $10 month or more per month ($120/year). The state party will be in charge of promoting the program on-line, at meetings, mailings, events. The national office will handle credit card or check processing, data entry, thank you letter, green pages subscription, and lapel pin. A unique tracking code will be assigned for both the web donation and the printable template indicating that it is a state driven program.
State Driven One Time Contributions:
Details same as state sustainer program, except that the donor signs up for a one time donation, again with a minimum of $10. As above, a unique tracking code will be assigned for state drive one-time contributions.
Green Party Card:
The national office provides for states a customized Green Party card page and printable template for Green Party signups ($36 or more). The state party will be in charge of promoting the program on-line, at meetings, mailings, events. The national office will handle credit card or check processing, data entry , thank you letter and GPC packet. As above, a unique tracking code will be assigned for state driven Green Party Card on-line transactions. If a state party chooses to use the printed
applications available at the office, they will need to write the code SD (state driven) on the bottom of the card and make sure the state sharing option is checked.
GPUS DRIVEN PROGRAMS
Nationally driven programs will be handled as they are now. State sharing will be an option on all direct mail, web, sustainer and GPC solicitations. The only change will be that the GPUS driven Green Party Card solicitations will now make state sharing optional rather than automatic.
Proposal
PROPOSAL
Beginning 1 April 2007, the first day of the 2nd quarter, State Sharing Programs (SSPs) are defined as state driven and national driven.
State driven SSPs are defined as those in which contributions come in through state efforts. For contributions deriving from state driven programs, the state's share will be 60% of gross.
National driven SSPs are defined as those in which contributions come in through national efforts. For contributions deriving from national driven programs, the state's share will be 40% of gross.
For all SSPs, the tracking system will continue to assign the solicitation code of the program to each contribution so that each contribution is identified as being part or a state driven or national driven SSP. The tracking codes become part of the database records and are used by our accountant in calculating state sharing.
The SSPs described in detail in the BACKGROUND above are examples of current and currently planned programs and are not meant as an exhaustive list of the possibilities for the SSP system.
Contacts: Jody Grage jody at gp.org
Liz Arnone larnone47 at yahoo.com
I don't know the answer, but with all the hub-ub about Proposal 272, not that the hub-ub was undeserved, I missed Proposal 277 entirely. The proposal, titled "PROPOSAL TO REDEFINE AND EXPAND STATE SHARING PROGRAMS", proposes to formalize understandings about how money raised is shared by and between the state and national parties. The full text is linked above, or behind the "Read more!" link below.
Here's the thing: Greens, but most especially Green donors, need to have full confidence that the party is using funds to their greatest effect. Some folks believe that the party offices are a liability, but I have seen photos. It is no fancy digs. Some have said that national staff were given raises when the cash was in reserve. These two deserve $200,000 a year a piece, but it's not there, and I know they would likely take that cash and turn around and hire assistants to make them even more effective.
But super-specific rules can hog tie you, and you wind up risking violating your own rules because it's unavoidable. Say you know the power will be turned off if the bill is not paid, but there is a credit card deposit coming with more than enough to cover the check you write today...what do you do?
Of course, avoid getting behind the eight ball, but that's like saying that exercise and eating healthy will be good for you. We all know it's true, but sometimes...
Background
State sharing programs (SSPs) support both state Green Parties and GPUS and, as such, are a basic and important part of fundraising programs at both state and national levels. In order that the number and variety of SSPs continue to expand, it is vital that both state Green Parties and GPUS are appropriately compensated for fundraising efforts within these programs.
Our current SSPs do not differentiate between contributions that come in through state efforts and that come in through national efforts. In order to encourage state participation in fundraising, and to make it financially worthwhile for state parties, the Fundraising Committee is introducing a series of state driven SSPs.
Along with an increasing menu of state driven SSPs, we are reconfiguring the way state sharing is calculated. For contributions deriving from state driven programs, the state's share will be 60%, instead of the current 50%. For contributions deriving from national efforts, the state share will be 40%.
The key to the success of this system will be identifying whether a donation came in through state or national efforts. Our current donation tracking system assigns a solicitation code for each contribution. Identifying a contribution as state driven or nationally driven will utilize this current system for tracking solicitation codes. The tracking codes become part of the database records used by our accountant in calculating state sharing.
A description of programs follows, along with details on how contributions from each program will be tracked.
STATE DRIVEN PROGRAMS
State Sustainer Program:
The national office will provide for states a customized donate page and printable template for sustainer donations of $10 month or more per month ($120/year). The state party will be in charge of promoting the program on-line, at meetings, mailings, events. The national office will handle credit card or check processing, data entry, thank you letter, green pages subscription, and lapel pin. A unique tracking code will be assigned for both the web donation and the printable template indicating that it is a state driven program.
State Driven One Time Contributions:
Details same as state sustainer program, except that the donor signs up for a one time donation, again with a minimum of $10. As above, a unique tracking code will be assigned for state drive one-time contributions.
Green Party Card:
The national office provides for states a customized Green Party card page and printable template for Green Party signups ($36 or more). The state party will be in charge of promoting the program on-line, at meetings, mailings, events. The national office will handle credit card or check processing, data entry , thank you letter and GPC packet. As above, a unique tracking code will be assigned for state driven Green Party Card on-line transactions. If a state party chooses to use the printed
applications available at the office, they will need to write the code SD (state driven) on the bottom of the card and make sure the state sharing option is checked.
GPUS DRIVEN PROGRAMS
Nationally driven programs will be handled as they are now. State sharing will be an option on all direct mail, web, sustainer and GPC solicitations. The only change will be that the GPUS driven Green Party Card solicitations will now make state sharing optional rather than automatic.
Proposal
PROPOSAL
Beginning 1 April 2007, the first day of the 2nd quarter, State Sharing Programs (SSPs) are defined as state driven and national driven.
State driven SSPs are defined as those in which contributions come in through state efforts. For contributions deriving from state driven programs, the state's share will be 60% of gross.
National driven SSPs are defined as those in which contributions come in through national efforts. For contributions deriving from national driven programs, the state's share will be 40% of gross.
For all SSPs, the tracking system will continue to assign the solicitation code of the program to each contribution so that each contribution is identified as being part or a state driven or national driven SSP. The tracking codes become part of the database records and are used by our accountant in calculating state sharing.
The SSPs described in detail in the BACKGROUND above are examples of current and currently planned programs and are not meant as an exhaustive list of the possibilities for the SSP system.
Contacts: Jody Grage jody at gp.org
Liz Arnone larnone47 at yahoo.com
// posted by Gregg Jocoy @ 1:55 PM 
