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How do we deal with that bugaboo, money? Another workshop
topic, but an important enough one to at least touch on by summarizing.
One thing that can hamstring a group is not having enough and / or consistent
funding, either by forcing groups to spend all of their time on the issue
or to fold completely. The easiest thing to remember and the best
piece of advice is, KEEP YOUR EXPENSES AT A MINIMUM. There so many ways
to avoid unneeded expense. Beyond that, you will have to raise some
funds. Just a few brief suggestions:
(A) Tabling / Outreach -- you can solicit people for funds through
your tabling efforts, selling merchandise, or even by asking for donations
in person, through newsletters, or by taking out ads in local publications.
This is generally the most consistent source of funding.
(B) Dues and voluntary contributions. The main way the IWW pays
for itself is through dues. While our dues are low, they do allow
us to organize, publish new literature, maintain our offices, and produce
web-sites like this one. However, you cannot retain portions of the
dues you collect until you organize a branch and receive an official IWW
branch charter. After that, your branch may retain one-half of all
dues for organizing purposes (more about that later).
(C) Grants and Benefits -- if you are skilled enough to write a grant
proposal, and you are lucky enough, your group might receive a large sum
of money or several block grants for an extended period, and such dividends
can help enormously. A benefit is sort of a poor-activists' grant,
except that it involves staging an event and raising money at it.
You will probably raise anywhere from $50 to $500 at any given benefit,
not as much as a grant, but certainly more of a sure thing. Unfortunately,
this fundraising method is by no means consistent. Grants can dry
up (or even be revoked if you're too "radical" for the foundations dealing
the grants) and you can only hold so many benefits. The most appropriate
use of such funding is for one-time expenses, such as capital costs.
You put your group at a great disadvantage if you use grants and benefits
for rent and phone bills.
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