[Imc-finance] an older survey [was diplomacy]

[sheri at speakeasy.org]

hi,

embedded in one of my emails about money issues from 2002 (that i just resent to the lists again) was the beginning of a survey.  i share it here because perhaps there's some questions we might want to use and it was never really commented on back in october 2002:

it was originally designed to be a survey about local imcs needs, so it's not exactly the same thing, but sustainability and money are related :)  

Survey to Local IMCs:

let's send out a list of questions for each IMC to answer over the course of 2-3 months and do a kind of sustainability assessment for the network.

What are your needs and expenses?

How do you sustain your local?

What do you think are some global funding priorities?

What perimeters would you place on money being raised and used?

What money would you be willing to accept? what conditions?

This could include local priorities for funding, their own local 
projects and needs and any grants they've received, their ideas for 
global network priorities (this was discussed a long time ago on 
IMC-Finance as something we needed to do to get an assessment of the
global network).

Others....

in compiling this "survey", we thought it was important to see where has the money been spent, so we started with what seattle has spent:

List of what has been funded thus far in indymedia for network projects:

1.  Seattle IMC spent $15K no strings attached on:
-travel for key tech person to travel to indymedia Europe meeting;
-money to IMC Brasil for their FTAA paper;
-critical funds to Argentina during a crisis (before current crisis);
-several thousand dollars to pay for stipends for people in the 
network to fly to San Francisco;
-money for South Africa IMC to get set up for the World Conference 
Against Racism;
-money for someone from Italy and Argentina to travel to DC for last 
year's protests and to network with people from the States;
-money to NYC's paper right after 911 so that they could put out 
10,000 copies onto the street the next week;
-funds to Urbana IMC for last year's Midwest regional gathering.
2.  IMC Tech Collective
3.  IMC Urbana
4.  Others....

this is just the beginning of doing a kind of assessment to demonstrate that money has been spent, that good has come of it and that we can create better relationships with money we have and how we raise it and how we share it.  because to act as though we do not have to deal with money is ridiculous.  if we are truly trying to create a different world than the one we have inherited based on capitalist principles of greed and oppression, then we must find ways that are healthy and cooperative and meaningful to everyone.  if we were to create a gift economy what would it look like?  and what does it look like if we were able to start to truly transition out of a capitalist economy.  these i believe are fundamental driving questions in our desgining a different relationship to money and economics.

i am glad to see anna and ana and clara stepping forward to help facilitate a discussion about these issues.  i have tried to do this in the past unsuccessfully.  perhaps now it is the time.  

i am also putting together a kind of "summary" of all the imcs dealing with the money issues from the past, because it is wise to remember the discussions we've had before and to learn from those who did engage on these very same discussions in a very positive and concerned way.

peace,
sheri

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ana [mailto:ana at indymedia.org]
> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 04:23 AM
> To: 'Anna'
> Cc: imc-finance at lists.indymedia.org, imc-communication at lists.indymedia.org
> Subject: [Imc-communication] Re: [Imc-finance] diplomacy
> 
> hey anna
> 
> i think a survey is a very good idea. i agree it is time to hash out some of
> these issues. plus it would be a good test of how networked our network
> really is. i would be willing to help craft a survey, but i cant afford any
> time right now to send it out or compile the results. 
> 
> ana
> nyc imc
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