Alabama Libertarian Forums

[StephenDow]

A message I sent to the state party EC (Executive Committee) email
list, which might be of interest to others here.

[lpa-ec] party finances, office rent
Friday, May 1, 2009
From:"Stephen Dow" <stephendow>
To: lpa-ec@yahoogroups.com


Mike and Gordon have indicated that our monthly pledge income has
decreased somewhat. It would be good for the rest of us to see the
actual figure. As best I can recall, at our last EC meeting the rent on the
office space was still $325/month, and our monthly pledges totalled
somewhere near that amount.

I'd say my recommendation doesn't depend too much on what the
exact figure is though. Within a wide range of possible values, whether
it is now $50/month or $500/month, I think the same thing makes sense,
which is to stop paying most of our measly income for rent. If we dropped
that expense, I'm guessing we'd have more income than our few other
bills, and could accumulate a bit over the next three months or so, and
then comfortably put on a decent Convention.

Most other state affiliates of the LP do not attempt to pay rent to
maintain an office. Nor did we for many years -- years when we had
more members and more activity than we do now with an office.

Look for example at the LP of Florida's contacts page here:

http://www.lpf.org/connect.htm

They list a P.O. box as the party address and then what I'm guessing
is the Treasurer Jack Tanner's home address as the place for "Treasurer
Related Mailing."

From past statements I'm guessing we'd be allowed to continue to use the
Highland address as our party address for the time being, but other
solutions such as what LPF is doing could be worked out if need be.

Steve Dow

[captruss]

Good point. If we can't raise $500.00 a month why do we think anyone cares what we have to say anyway. See my response to Mike.
_________________
When things aren't working the way you want them to, find a different way to do it.

[captruss]

Maneuvering the posts.
_________________
When things aren't working the way you want them to, find a different way to do it.

[Dy]

I think this makes a lot of fiscal sense, Stephen. Is the current office space manned regularly? How often is it used? Is it mostly opened for meetings and storing other property, uses that could be met another way?

(Sorry for the barrage of questions - just trying to get a feel for where the LPA stands, and what use current resources are going to.)
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An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason. ~CS Lewis

[StephenDow]

Dy wrote:
> I think this makes a lot of fiscal sense, Stephen.
Thanks

> Is the current office space manned regularly? How often is it used?
No, it was more regularly manned by Mike Rster for several years up to a couple years ago, during which time he was being paid as a part-time party administrator. He still uses the office fairly often though for party administrative tasks, along with a few other Birmingham Libertarians. Mike hosts "volunteer nights" there for that purpose. I'm not sure how many of those he has held in the last few months.

> Is it mostly opened for meetings and storing other property, uses that could be met another way?

By virtue of renting the office we are allowed to hold EC meetings and occasionally other gatherings in the conference room there, and yes the office is used to store party literature, etc. As you say I do think all of these uses could be met in other ways. Through the 1990s the party functioned well without renting an office, in fact was more active and as with the national party as a whole actually had more members during that time than now. I think that having a paid administrator for a time, working from a central office, put the membership to sleep in some sense, and the model which Mike and some others have promoted -- just send money and we'll take care of things -- lends itself to that lethargy, in my opinion. In fairness though, a number of factors hurt the LP during and following the 2000 election cycle and it just doesn't seem to have recovered from those yet. There is a lot of disquietude and rumbling about the possibilities for third parties at this time nationally though.

[captruss]

Dy and Stephen; I tend to agree with you. Stephen: Do you know when the state convention is? Maybe we should get a slate together, go there, and see if we can get elected to something.
_________________
When things aren't working the way you want them to, find a different way to do it.

[StephenDow]

Thanks Russ. I don't know when we'll be able to pull a convention together. I think we agreed at the last EC meeting to shoot for sometime around now, then things feel through and it got put off. The party is in a very weak state, as Mike's message and "motion to disband" indicate.

[captruss]

This might be a question you don't want to answer on this forum but I'll ask it anyway. Is Mike the dynamic leader and personality who can bring this thing back from the dead?
_________________
When things aren't working the way you want them to, find a different way to do it.

[StephenDow]

Mike provided some numbers which I'll summarize and pass along. I don't have a current bank balance though; I've asked Mike or Gordon for ballpark number on that.

The expense items which I think are closely associated with the office total $425/month (Rent $325, Telephone - including Vonage and eFax: aprox. $75.00, Internet Services: aprox.$25.00). On the revenue side the most recent monthly credit card billing Mike listed was $230 and he said there were pay-by-check pledges of $35/month. If you subtract from those the bank and credit card fees Mike listed at $55, that comes to about $210/month net revenue.
So looks like we have a shortfall of about $215/month. ($425 - $210)
Of course calling that the shortfall sort of assumes that it makes sense to spend all the party's revenue on maintaining an office. (I don't think it does make sense, but I am only one vote on the EC.)

[StephenDow]

"I don't have a current bank balance though; I've asked Mike or Gordon for ballpark number on that." I still haven't heard anything back on that. I think it just got lost in the shuffle of other messages on the EC list. It's also possible Mike is getting some contributions from his plea, and wants to give that a bit longer before letting us know how it did.

[Dy]

[mrjones0913]

The lack of information is the biggest reason that I do not send my money in now. I am willing to give for the betterment of the cause if I could see that money being put to good use but we can not get a straight answer and this does worry me as to where the money is going and for what. New leadership if chosen must make this one of the key elements so that the party can move forward. I keep seeing all the emails that ask for money, but I never see where it going.

Failing to plan is planning to fail

[captruss]

I agree with you. You've made some very good points with your posts and thanks for the support. I athink we need more than give us some money to pay rent on an unused office. Somehow that seems unlikely to stir passion in me to the point where i'll open up my bank account.

What I think we need is an annual budget or spending plan which includes administrative costs, fundraising costs, and party growth costs. Perhaps budget is the wrong word. You can't have a budget without revenue. What we need instead is an action plan that everyone agrees upon. Once we have a plan we sit down and figure out how much money it would take to ececute that plan. Once we know that we calculate what our monthly income needs to be. Let's say we are ambitious and decide we need $120,000 before next June's primary. That means we have to raise $10,000 per month. We then embark on a fundraising drive using our action plan to explain why we need the money. We create fundraising levels and issue certificates to contributors. We go on radio and TV and find ways to get statewide publicity for our plight.

Piece of cake. It can be done. Let's start talking about it.
_________________
When things aren't working the way you want them to, find a different way to do it.

[motrctyman]

I would rather see money spent on LPA promotion, than rent. I support the use of a Post Office Box.
_________________
Chris Carr
LPA Birmingham Regional Representative
christopher_w_carr@yahoo.com

[StephenDow]

A couple times above I wrote: