$3500 by 11/15?

Can we do it? I think it’s looking good, although this is our first financial campaign. I’ve been a little hesitant about how to do this, but I’m getting up to speed and besides, we don’t have an option. We need the $3500 in order to continue to work on our projects. This IS Plan B! Please donate.

So here’s the deal: first in a professional version like you’d get from any traditional nonprofit, and then a personal version, letting you know exactly where we’re at and a little more about the trials and tribulations that I’ve experienced getting here.

Professional Version

In a very short period of time, the Open Forum Foundation has gone from being nobody to being well-connected in the DC tech and politics scene. We have GovLuv up and running, making political conversations on Twitter more productive; had a successful CongressCamp with an excellent mix of Hill staffers and social media experts, which is slowly evolving into something greater; and are working with George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet to Map Political Communication.

We are at the heart of a growing movement to enable governments to be responsive to their citizens, are just beginning to build a community to take this all to the next level, and are well-positioned to actually make it happen.

This is where you come in. Everything that we’re doing is for citizens. According to Abraham Lincoln, we also need to fill the of and by portions.

Are you passionate about citizen’s rights? Individual liberties? Do you want to get involved in something that has enough momentum to make a real difference – today and into the foreseeable future?

Soon we’ll be releasing a list of activities that we need assistance with but in the meantime, our largest concern is money. While I have done my best to ignore this fact up until now, nothing is sustainable without it. If you see the value in what we’re doing, please donate right now at http://donate.openforumfoundation.org/. It only takes a minute and it will be the start of your involvement in a great community.

Personal Version

Hi.

I’ve done really well in DC accomplishing what I set out to do. I talked about all that stuff above. But let’s be realistic, I have also failed in one important regard: funding. This is not to say that I’ve asked a bunch of people and they’ve said no. More to the point, I’ve been able to survive on my past savings (and then credit) to get to where I am today. From the outside, this is clearly not sustainable. From the inside, there were more fun things to do and I had no role model to look to for asking for help. It’s something I’ve never done, and while I perceived that as a strength, I now understand that it is a weakness. What I set out to accomplish, I cannot do alone.

Nor can it be accomplished with a dozen board members, volunteers, and interns – even if they are fabulous. It requires a huge community that shares the vision and is willing to put in the time and money required to bring it to fruition.

And the vision is to enable responsive government. Globally. For every individual on the planet.

The time has come for me to open up myself and the Open Forum Foundation. We are well-positioned to be the vessel for that change. If this is your issue – your passion, then this is your organization as much as it is mine – or at least it should be.

My role is to organize and delegate and keep things moving and expand the network that we’ve established. Your role is to come up with great ideas, to evangelize, to design and code, to maintain websites, to contribute your knowledge, to help with grant writing and funding. In short to do all the little things that make it possible to accomplish miracles.

This epiphany was brought on me, as many are, by lack of options: IF we raise $3500 by November 15th, I personally won’t bounce any checks — and at this point, that seems pretty exciting.

Then, we will need $5000 by 12/15 and another $5000 by 1/15. You get the picture.

We are working on longer term solutions of course, but that is the baseline on which we will be able to sustain ourselves while we re-organize and prepare for greater things.

Are you in?

If this is your issue: do it. $250? $100? $25? Whatever you can contribute is an investment in the future that you want to see come to fruition. Donate and join a community with a solid goal and the ability to get there.

Thank you.

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Wayne Moses Burke
November 9th, 2009 9:06 pm
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