Why
DRCNet?
10/16/98
DRCNet readers are often people who believe in many good causes and support, or are in some kind of contact with, many nonprofit organizations working on those issues. Many of us receive frequent pleas from good organizations, whether by e-mail as in our case, or by mail to our homes. Some will respond to requests from all groups in whose work they believe. But most of us have to pick and choose. How do we pick which groups we will support financially, which groups to which we pledge our loyalty and our commitment to action? A good reason to support drug policy reform groups is that the number of people supporting our cause, whether at the major donor level or the member level, is still small compared with the numbers of people and level of resources available to most other issues. This is not to say that other issues don't need and merit your support. But in the drug issue you are in a position to make a big difference, because at this early stage you are one of the few. For example, earlier this year, contributions from members added up to more than we expected, helping DRCNet to climb out the debt in which it had ended 1997, and paving the way for us to be able to hire our webmaster, Karynn Fish, and our membership coordinator, Kris Lotlikar, both of whom have done wonders to enhance the scope and professionalism of our operation. But while major gifts have increased, member donations during this second half of the year have not kept pace with the excellent support you provided during the first half. Your contribution to DRCNet this month, be it $10 virtual membership, $35 to become a full member and receive a copy of Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War, $100 to become a Friend or a monthly donation by credit card to continue to fuel DRCNet's work on a regular basis, in a real way will determine how many of our strategic goals we will be able to accomplish this year and early next year. Will we be able to continue to develop our soon to be announced web site on needle exchange, intended to be the most comprehensive source of policy-related information on that topic? Will we be able to continually work the net to increase our hit rates and bring in more and more new subscribers and supporters for the movement, or promote this newsletter to the media and our radio segment to stations, carrying the reform voice even further? We have a corps of talented young people who have interned or volunteered here, and who are willing to work here part-time if only we can set aside the $80 or $100 a week that they are earning on their current jobs, and their help can produce much added value for the organization and the cause if we can make that happen. This is an amount of money that your small contributions can easily add up to, if only a few more of you decide to take that step and bring DRCNet into your family of organizations that you support one or more times a year. Hence, you have a role in deciding this through what you decide to put into the organization. To donate, use our form at https://www.drcnet.org/cgi-shl/drcreg.cgi (encrypted transmission, especially for credit card donations), or http://www.drcnet.org/cgi-shl/drcreg.cgi (no encryption, recommended you print it out and mail in with a check), or just send your check or money order to: DRCNet, 2000 P St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036. Please note that contributions to DRCNet are not tax-deductible, and please consider signing up to make a monthly contribution by credit card. If you wish to contribute beyond the basic membership dues and are looking to make a deductible gift, you can support our educational work through a tax-deductible donation to the DRCNet Foundation. You can also help DRCNet by joining the 578 supporters who have enrolled in the eyegive online fundraising program and who are collectively earning DRCNet over $30 on the typical day, over $9,000 per year! If you don't know about eyegive, visit http://www.eyegive.com/html/ssi.cfm?CID=1060 on the web to find out. If you've signed up but haven't kept up, you can make it easy by selecting http://www.eyegive.com as your browser's home page. You can earn valuable dollars for the cause, just by pointing and clicking on the eyegive home page whenever you feel like it, up to fives times a day. And yes, we have gotten checks from them, in the right amounts, it's legit! Whether or not you choose to support DRCNet at this time, we are glad to have you among our readers.
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