Even though we are still in the process of getting our 501C3 I have decided to kick off our fundraising project since most of our plans for change revolve around it and because we could really use some help getting everything moving.
I will try to lay out our plan and ideas as best I can but there is a lot to talk about so we will continue to refine our message, add more details and information, and build on these ideas as we have time and as they develop.
Our organization’s goal is to look at issues from a bigger picture perspective to try to find more holistic solutions for the big issues we see in the world such as social, racial, and economic equity, climate and environmental issues, and generally working to create a better more equitable, more sustainable, and more enjoyable world for everyone.
We recognize that there are already many great organizations, groups, and efforts working to address these issues and many are doing great work. It is not our goal to step into areas where good work is already being done, or to take the spotlight or resources from that area. In fact our goal is quite the opposite. If good work is being done in an area we hope to be able to support it with whatever resources we might have that organizations, groups, or efforts might need.
It is also our goal to fill in gaps where needed, work to create a more unified, and efficient system, foster communication and collaboration where it could benefit progress, and look for ways to innovate better systems or otherwise try to accelerate forward progress.
To do any of this will take resources and especially time and money.
According to this article the Green New Deal would cost between $52 and $93 trillion dollars over 10 years.
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/how-much-will-the-green-new-deal-cost/
Many will question the number but I find it a good one to base some rough numbers off of.
$50 trillion divided by the US population comes to $156,000 per each of the 320 million people in the US divided by 10 years is $15,000 per person per year to implement the NGD. This doesn’t mean we are doomed if we don’t all come up with that much. As resources get put into the economy moving in the right direction they will continue to circulate and keep moving things in a better direction if we keep the pressure on to make it do so. It should give you an idea however that what we are currently doing is not enough. Our current path is one to climate disaster, mass global extinctions of many plants and wildlife and if not extinction for the human race at least extreme suffering, poverty, and misery. A future that can largely be avoided if we take aggressive action right now. In a sense those lives, those extinctions, that future is in our hands. Deciding not to take aggressive action is in it’s self an action to make that happen. On the way we are looking at current racial inequities and injustice being amplified and many people of color being hit sooner and harder than most White people. On the way we are looking at economic inequities being amplified and poor people paying the biggest price while the wealthy will be able to escape the worst of things for much longer. The longer we wait to address these issues the worse their impacts will be. The longer we wait to address these issues the less resources, time, and capacity we will have to address them. If we wait till we are all climbing into life boats it will be the poor communities, the POC communities and regions, the marginalized, and the powerless who will be left behind.
Our government is not working hard enough to address these issues. Even where our government wants to do more it is limited by funding and resources. Granted it would be nice if they chose to divert some of that military budget to something more progressive but unfortunately we don’t have much say in our government. In rural areas like ours we also face the issue of conservatives and others voting against taxes that could be used to better address these issues. Taxes that many would happily pay if they were effectively being used to address them. Organizations, groups, and other efforts are doing what they can with the resources they have but it is going to take a lot more resources and a lot more effort to get this ship on a better and more sustainable course.
Our goal is to build a fundraising system that fits alongside government and organizations that would allow those willing to pay more to address these issues a way to do so. Creating this part of the organization aimed specifically at fundraising should also give us the ability to raise money more efficiently and effectively than organizations that focus on other things and have to fundraise on the side when that is not what they are set up or designed to do.
What will we do with the funds?
This is a big question especially for an organization with such an all encompassing vision as ours. I will lay out in more detail what our initial goals would be and where funds would initially be used. As we grow we hope to have more research, more empiricism and data driven solutions, and more knowledge and information that will influence how money and resources are used long term. The ultimate goal being to as effectively and efficiently address issues such as climate change, environmental issues, consumerism, sustainability and efficiency issues, local resource and localized production issues, social, racial, and economic equity and justice, etc. It is also our goal to create a scalable model where our organization can grow to cover larger regions, and or other groups and organizations can grow their own off of our model.
Initially funding would be used to continue setting up the organization, planning our initial path forward, and creating a general framework. This includes compiling research, data, and information, and creating a sort of priority list of what projects to start with, what needs to be addressed first, and where to go from there. It is likely a high priority will be to hire someone to manage this and do much of the heavy lifting as our board has limited time and there is too much to be done.
If we can get to a point where more money is coming in than our projects require the goal would be to start supporting other groups and organizations who’s goals align with ours and who are doing work that we believe is efficiently and effectively addressing that issue.
What are our current project ideas?
Our first goal is to launch this fundraising campaign as it is largely the cornerstone for the rest of our efforts.
Our second goal is to get the organization up and operational, build our operational framework, and start laying out much better defined goals, timelines, and systems for deciding how to most efficiently and effectively move forward.
We have a couple projects floating in the idea space right now. Ones we would love to implement but need resources to do so. As we build things these may rise up the priority list, or they may fall as we gain more information and a better idea of what needs to happen first.
One idea we have been talking about for some time is a transportation solution. At the moment the main focus has been on Carbondale but could from there be scaled valleywide or bigger.
This idea has a lot of potential because it has many important intersectional check boxes.
Access to transportation covers a range of equity issues. Having more coverage and especially free or affordable to anyone transportation benefits those with disabilities and accessibility needs, it creates greater racial and economic equity, and benefits the whole community. Putting that transportation in the hands of an organization that cares about environmental aspects allows the organization to buy the most efficient and least impactful vehicles. And focusing on intersectionality and a holistic approach allows for innovative ideas like using the same fleet for transportation deliveries, and other community needs meaning more efficient routes, accomplishing multiple tasks per trip, and reducing traffic and emissions by having fewer vehicles on the road. Doing it as a community based non profit or then transitionining to it’s own nonprofit or workers cooperative keeps all of the money circulating in the community instead of profits being extracted to executives, shareholders, and offshore bank accounts.
A big one for us is wanting to create more equitable community based development. Currently rich investors are buying every patch of land in the valley that they can and any that is developed is designed and developed to maximize profits for the investors. It is not designed around what would be best for the community or what the community wants. Once developed the money generated by that development is extracted from our community and economy and goes into those same pockets of a wealthy few. Non Profit combined with municipal and workers cooperative based development allows for development to be done by and for the community. It gives us the power to plan and design things how we want instead of based on what will maximize profits for competing profiteers. It gives more ability to choose where different communities, and types of development should be instead of developing where land was available. It puts the community in the drivers seat instead of for profit developers. It also keeps money in the community. Instead of those “profits” being extracted from the community it will continue to circulate in the community which will have permanent positive impacts on the community economy.
Most of our ideas have multi faceted and intersectional components. It is being able to look at problems from this higher level view that allows more effective and efficient systems to be designed that bring more positive impacts with less resources. Many of these ideas also focus on keeping money and resources in the community and stopping the bleeding of money flowing out of our community into the hands of very few. We are asking for money right now to build better systems to act as a tourniquet for this bleeding but doing so will have long term positive impacts that should result in more money for everyone in the long term. We want to move away from the paradigm where a wealthy few are the only ones who can afford to take the risk and therefore get all the reward, and move towards a paradigm where the community takes the risk, and the community gets the reward. Sure this can occasionally mean the community looses a round, but in the end the house always wins. It is time for us to be the house instead of leaving it to the richest of the rich to keep taking our money from our pockets.
How much money do we need?
There isn’t really a possible limit that would be enough. As discussed above if we could bring in trillions of dollars a year those trillions could easily be put back out to any number of efforts working to address these issues. Even within our little Roaring Fork Valley billions could be spent to make a better, stronger, healthier, more economically robust, equitable community.
The great part is that we are investing in our community. Every dollar that you donate is going to benefit our community in a myriad of ways. A dollar spend trying to reduce or prepare for the impacts of climate change could equal hundreds or thousands of dollars saved compared to waiting to deal with it later. Funding invested in keeping wealth circulating in our community instead of being extracted by wealthy investors can mean more wealth coming back to each of us with a stronger and more sustainable economy. Supporting this effort is building a better future for all of us and hopefully one where we all reap the rewards of a better and healthier world, a stronger economy, and more wealth for everyone below the 99%.
How much money should I give?
This is a tough one to answer. In reality if everyone gave us half their paycheck we could do an unbelievable amount to try to address these issues. Of course for most that wouldn’t be practical and we don’t expect to see much support from the kind of people who would afford to do that.
The first question is should you donate. A good rule of thumb is that if you are receiving any kind of financial assistance or if you are close to needing financial assistance of any kind you probably shouldn’t be donating. Taking money from one support system to go through another just creates efficiency loss.
If you can give something we believe what you give should be proportional to income/net worth.
Unfortunately since our goal is to level the playing field and bring more equity to the world we don’t expect to see much support from the hundred millionaires or billionaires as they rely on these systems to maintain their wealth. They tend to only support charity that does not threaten those systems.
We have come up with a couple ways of looking at it that we think create some reasonable goals. If you are someone who has voted or would vote in favor of a carbon tax, climate change and environmental tax, or a tax to address social, economic, and racial equity and justice then you could think of your donation in a similar way. If we could get 10% of the population donating 2% to 5% of their paycheck we could do huge things to start addressing these issues.
Another way of looking at it is time is money and money is time. For those willing and able to volunteer we welcome any contribution to efforts. With that said it is often more efficient for someone trained and doing that work every day to do the work. Donating a couple hours of your paycheck means you can do the work you are good at and most valuable doing, and that money can go towards paying someone else to work to create that positive change in our world.
Both of these systems are a nice way to create a more equitable scale. Those who make more should support more. In the end it is up to you. If these things are critically important to you then please by all means donate more. If all you can justify is a couple bucks it’s better than nothing and if we got enough people donating a couple bucks we could accomplish a lot. Whatever you choose to do, remember that our goal is to use those dollars in ways that will ultimately come back to benefit you, your family, and your community. We hope to build systems that keep more dollars coming back to you and your community and less dollars being extracted from our community.