[Nfbv-announce] The next generation of VPAD

[Mark W. Roane]

The last time the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia (NFBV) held it's annual convention in Richmond, in 2006, we launched the Virginia Pre Authorized Draft (VPAD) plan.  The plan was created to make it easy and convenient for chapters and members, along with their families, friends, and coworkers to make regular monthly contributions to financially support the efforts of our organization.  While the plan has been seen as a tremendous success, there have been 2 perceived drawbacks to its operation.  First, some individuals expressed concerns about authorizing anyone to access their account in order to draft their contribution and second, the plan came with Operational fees that some saw as too high.  Both of these were legitimate concerns.  Fortunately, both have been overcome.

At this year's convention, the next generation of the VPAD (Virginia Pre Authorized Donation) plan was introduced.  The new plan is based on the increasingly popular online banking technology and here is how it works.  Anyone wishing to make regular monthly donations simply needs to go to their financial institutions online bill pay platform and set up a recurring monthly payment using the following information:

NFBV PAD

3230 Grove Avenue

Richmond, VA  23221

(804) 262-7057

Individuals may specify donations in any amount and may specify them to reoccur on any day of each month that they choose.  With this new plan, individual donors, not the NFBV, initiate and control all aspects of their donation.  Finally, with this new plan, there are no operational fees.  100% of each donation goes directly to financially support the efforts of our organization.  Each participant should send their phone number and email address to mwroane at mindspring.com.

 

At this years annual convention, we heard presentations about many programs that are sponsored by the NFBV.  Each of these programs plays an important role in increasing opportunities for blind people and we want to be able to expand the scope of each one.  For this reason, we urge each and every one to become a participant in the new plan and to encourage others to do so as well.

If you have any questions, please contact the plan administrator, Mark Roane, at mwroane at mindspring.com.

Together, we WILL change what it means to be blind!