[nfb-talk] Question of Philosophy- fund raising

Michael Bullis mabullis at hotmail.com
Mon Aug 30 14:26:39 UTC 2010


Hi Robert and all:
I think it is interesting that we've come so far in society that few of us
give any thought to the dicotomy created by a blind person asking for
donations.  It puts me in mind of a conversation I had with a blind guy
about twenty years ago.
He told me that for work he played in a street duet with another blind guy
in a southern city that shall remain nameless.  He indicated that they put
out a hat and people donated money.  I asked him if he didn't feel funny
about that--like people might see him as begging?  He said, "No, we are
giving fair value through our music and besides, we can't always control why
people give."
Several weeks later he and I were talking and he said that "today" had been
a very slow day for the band.  He said, "Mostly, we didn't play--just left
the hat out and did make some money."

It seemed to me that he had lost the subtlety of the issue and that he was
indeed now begging.  

In essence, I think that context is everything.  A literature table and
people talking about the NFB is quite different than blind musicians who put
out a hat.But, in either case, there will be those who will give because of
pity and compassion rather than any clear understanding of our movement and
what we stand for.  We have decided over the years that the possibility of
such misguided donations are worth the over all benefit of the education we
do and the funds we obtain by the activity.

I wonder though if we could describe some activities that would be
inappropriate.  In other words, are there some activities you might think
would resemble begging rather than public education and how would you define
the activity so we could recognize it.
Mike Bullis

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Reyazuddin, Yasmin
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 8:18 AM
To: newmanrl at cox.net; NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Question of Philosophy- fund raising

Hi Robert and all

All nonprofits do such fundraising. I personally think that selling
items is not a problem. People do not think about fundraising when they
buy girls scouts cookies. They just buy the cookies. So do they buy nuts
or candy bars from us. 
Handing literature is a different matter. Our chapter has clear plastic
bins in which we place our brochures for people to have. When they come
to the table, we mention them. The brochures are visible and each have a
different topic. Brochures on aging, diabetes, and Newsline go into one
three tiered bin. The second similar bin has information about Braille
and the parents division. A third bin has fundraising information like
imagination fund and books. People can see the information available and
take what they want.  
We stay busy with the sale or the games we have for the kids. We do
answer questions but do not force the literature on the people. This is
my idea of providing information and not begging. 




Yasmin Reyazuddin 
Aging & Disability services 
Montgomery County Government 
Department of Health & human Services 
401 Hungerford Drive (3rd floor) 
Rockville MD 20850 
240-777-0311 (MC311) 
240-777-1556 (personal) 
240-777-1495 (fax) 
office hours 8:30 am 5:00 pm 
Languages English, Hindi, Urdu, Braille 
 

This message may contain protected health information or other
information that is confidential or privileged. If you are not the
intended recipient, please contact the sender by return mail and destroy
any copies of this material. 

Thank you.

 


-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Robert Leslie Newman
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2010 12:28 PM
To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Question of Philosophy- fund raising

Mike, Steve, ray, Cindy and others --- 
 
I appreciate help with this issue. I'm thinking that NFB wide, there is
this
same debate and discussion surrounding the solicitation of donations.
Through out my decade old hosting of "THOUGHT PROVOKER," my efforts very
much dealt with the discussion of philosophical issues of blindness and
so
this specific topic falls right into that arena. And as I stated in my
second post on this topic, I do plan to put together both an discussion
exercise which I will offer to chapters for a meeting activity, and an
article which zeros in on this philosophical question. 

So the more you give me to chew on, the more fun I'll have in developing
my
offerings. (Do point me to any historical documents that may have been
written by our leadership on this issue.) 

Thank you all 


Robert Leslie Newman
President- NFB Writers' Division
Division Website
http://www.nfb-writers-division.org
Personal Website-
http://www.thoughtprovoker.info




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