[Chapter-delegates] Day-to-day funding

[Elver Loho]

How quickly could ISOC global roll out various low-cost pilot projects
in this field to see what works in an agile "let's try things" manner?
For example:

- 10 grants of $1000 to spend on local advertising and fundraising
(not salaries) over 3 months and then report back to this mailing list
with the exact measurements on the increase or decrease in donations
and what exactly was done. Followed by another report 6 months later.

- Finding 10 active chapters with very few donations and offering to
match every dollar they raise in donations over 3 months up to $1000.
Followed by another report 6 months later.

- Picking 10 active, but underfunded chapters and having a 10-day
drive on the front page of the ISOC global website, showcasing each
chapter's people and accomplishments for a single day, and asking for
donations for that particular chapter. ISOC global would need to take
care of payment processing and such. This would be by far the easiest
to measure.

- Something like the previous, but an "adopt-a-chapter" approach,
where ISOC uses its publicity muscle to sell the idea that wealthy
individuals could adopt a foreign chapter that's doing something good
and get regular updates via e-mail.

- ISOC global providing funds to 10 active, underfunded chapters to
hire a student journalist or student PR person for the summer as a
paid intern, whose responsibility would be to write about what the
chapter is doing, tweet, blog, facebook, publicize, etc.

- ISOC global sends an ambassador to the governments of a few local
chapters urging the head of state to finance the chapter from the
state budget. Bonus points if you can get a respected elected
politician of a major country to go around doing this.

- ISOC global negotiates with a multinational civil society funding
network (e.g. Open Society Foundations) to make it easier for local
chapters to get regular funding via these means.

- etc.

The focus should be on experimental projects, which cost very little
for ISOC, deal with active, but underfunded chapters, and provide
rapidly measurable results. The aim is to find strategies, which help
chapters become self-sufficient. I have no interest in relying on ISOC
global's fat wallet in the long term, but it would be great to be able
to measure the effectiveness of various fundraising ideas without
having to spend what little cash we have at the moment.

We don't need a corporate approach here, nor a redistribution of
existing funds. We need a skunkworks approach. We need a scientific
approach, based on experiments and data. We're all in it together and
we're in it to learn what works and doesn't work, so that we can make
smarter decisions later.

Best,
Elver
Vice Chair
Estonia Chapter

elver.loho at gmail.com
+372 5661 6933
skype: elver.loho


On 12 March 2013 19:41, Ted Mooney <mooney at isoc.org> wrote:
> True, Veni,
>
> We would all favor more direct and immediate action.  And there is acute
> awareness of the situation among many staff as well as chapter leaders.  My
> point in the discussion is not just to vent, but to catalog and come back to
> Chapters with the opportunity to prioritize a list of upgraded support
> opportunities.  And that is still my intent.  Nevertheless if more
> discussion and seeding of ideas is not what you would like at this point,
> what advise to do you have for Chapter Support?
>
> Best,
>
> Ted
>
>
> Ted Mooney
> Sr. Director, Membership & Services
> Cell: 301-980-6446
> Skype: ted.mooney3
>
> www.internetsociety.org
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 12, 2013, at 1:29 PM, Veni Markovski <veni at veni.com> wrote:
>
> I am not so supportive of the discussion.
> Every once in a while there's a discussion on that topic, and every once in
> a while there are some great ideas, which are being shelved "for
> consideration" by staff.
> And nothing happens.
> We discuss, over and over, and over - the same issues. More or less since
> 2002, by the way. At least that's what I remember, when several of us, ISOC
> Trustees, discussed that in Minneapolis at a Board meeting.
>
> v.
>
> On 03/12/2013 11:53, Ted Mooney wrote:
>
> I support Eric's call for a the views and discussion on this list.  While it
> will surprise no one to say that nothing will be done quickly, I would like
> to work with Chapter leaders to develop a long term support plan for the
> Internet Society that takes these needs and ideas into consideration, indeed
> as a foundation.  I'm making no commitment that once a plan is developed it
> will be fully implemented.  Such a decision is at the highest levels.
> However, without a proposal that is complete and well thought-out, the
> likely outcome is quite diminished.  So I am collecting these ideas for the
> moment and will discuss alternatives for moving forward with ISOC Execs.
>
> All the best,
>
> Ted
> oc.org
>
>
> --
>
> Best,
> Veni Markovski
> http://www.veni.com
> https://www.facebook.com/venimarkovski
> https://twitter.com/veni
>
> The opinions expressed above are those of the
> author, not of any organizations, associated
> with or related to him in any given way.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org