[Imc-finance] Re: IMC Brazil funding request: today's currency convertion rate

[Sascha Meinrath]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2003, Luis wrote:

> Hey Sascha and all,
>
> So was the proposal approved? If so, what information do we need to send you
> in order to receive the funding?

Given the past history of sending funding through Western Union, I would
highly recommend utilizing a direct bank transfer.  We did this before
with the Plata-Latina funds, so if you send me the same information we
used previously (and if this is o.k. with Brasil IMC folks), we know
already that this system will work.  This will also avoid the enormous
Western Union charges.

> I think we will have to try to get it through Western Union because we need
> this money really fast. But Miguel knows more about this than I do since he
> was the one talking with the banks and all.

I can wire it as soon as I have confirmation on how the funds should be
disbursed (again, I would suggest using a bank instead of WU, but the
choice is up to Brasil IMC).

> And about the currency convertion rate (on the proposal I said I was going
> to tell imc-finance the latest convertion rate before Sascha sent the
> funding). So at the time I wrote the proposal, the dollar was worth 3.5
> reais and that was the convertion rate I based the proposal on. But today
> (only 10 days later), the dollar is worth 3.25 reais. So with today's
> convertion rate we ask for
>
> US$3,910 for the proposal A (IMC Brazil national meeting and WSF coverage)
>
> and
>
> US$925 for the proposal B (to buy a video projector for the Rio de Janeiro
> collective)
>
> That is US$345 more than we requested on the funding request. But I hope you
> will understand that this is not our fault. This huge currency fluctuation
> is been caused mostly by Lula's election in october. We didn't imagine that
> the fluctuation would be so heavy on these last 10 days.

I understand the problem -- most of my family lives in Brasil -- but I'm
not authorized to change proposals once passed.  The proposal was for U.S.
dollars, and I can't change the amount.

> Thanks for all your support and we hope we will be able to pay back part of
> what we are asking for.

Hopefully this can be a model for supporting Indymedia _and_ having
individual IMCs help support the Global Network in return.

--Sascha