GRASS ROOTS FUND RAISING
On November 9, 1996 I placed an idea on the listserv which is in abbreviated
form here.
I am a person with Parkinson Disease diagnosed 4 years ago but manifesting PD
symptoms for about 8 years. My work hours are reduced to about 3 hours per
day and that may decrease in the near future. About 2 months ago I started
searching for a project to help the PD community, to occupy my time and to
maintain my optimistic outlook on life.
Working on the premises that there are 1,500,000 PWP in North America and
assuming we could collect $ 100 per person we could raise twice the money
proposed in the Udall Bill. Thus was born the idea of starting with this
group and branching out from here to try and connect with as many PWP, their
friends and their CG’s to begin a grass roots fund raising drive. I also
thought that a pledge of a monthly giving would generate greater
participation with small monthly amounts adding up to a greater donation than
an annual one shot deal. Since most of us pay a monthly server to be on the
internet we could encourage ourselves to write a donation at the same time we
pay our monthly server bill.
The majority of comments from this original post were positive but an
underlying theme was the suggestion that we concentrate our donations with 1
foundation or organization. Each suggestion had there own choice for a
candidate to be the recipient of the funds. I soon realized that choosing one
recipient would alienate a substantial number of the group’s members. (More
later)_
At this point I would like to state that I am working in an individual
capacity without affiliation with an other person or organization.
I propose that we do not interrupt any gifting to Parkinson causes that you
may currently have in place. But for those who have not made a contribution
and to those who can donate more please consider the following:
1. Make a monthly contribution by check to the PD organization of your
choice.
2. Send the check to me to tabulate the statistics on the donations.
3. I will then forward your check on to the institution named on the check..
I suggest that you indicate in the memo area on the check for “PD Research
only.” If that is your intention.
4.. Your canceled check will be verification that the checks were forwarded
to the respective organizations. My firm in 1996 will match donations
received up to $ 25.00 per donation and for a gross total of $ 500.00 and
will make another matching offer for 1997.
5. The PDF has offered to send an acknowledgment of any funds received for a
two month period to assist in establishing my credibility.. I did not
approach any other organizations with this request. Normally the cost of
acknowledging a small donation is too great an expense for the large
foundations.
At no time must anybody be made to feel that they must make a donation to
participate on Barbara Patterson’s listserv.
All donations will remain confidential, and I will not disclose names or
amounts without the expressed written permission of the donor.
For non residents of the USA to contribute send your donations to me with the
address of your organization until I make other arrangements.. At this time I
would like to ask for volunteers in each country to contact me if you can
act as the clearing agent for donations from your country and to then
forward the results to me.
I’m convinced we need to help ourselves in case Big Brother lets us down
again.
Send checks to Dale Severance
145 Hicks Street
Brooklyn, New York 11241
Please consider making a contribution if only $1.00 a month. This list is
projected to grow to 8,000 members within three years which could project to
$ 8000 per month at the minimal amount of giving.
Lets get started now.
If anyone has questions
I can be reached at 718-625 2300 9-12 Monday through Thursday
or 718-8585893 after 12 Monday through Thursday
or [log in to unmask]
help me get this started because I have a lot more ideas to implement as soon
as this gets off the ground.
Thanks Dale Severance 55years old and a Parkie since age 47.
The following organizations were recommended in your comments as worth
recipients of your donations. The list is in no special order but merely
represents the order I found them in my notes. I plan to solicit a summary
from each institution explaining their operations, fundraising efforts and
the method of distributing funds for research and what areas are they
especially researching . As information is received I will highlight one
institution each month.
My original goal was to raise funds strictly for research with no cost to our
group for the fund raising. Not withstanding that goal I have placed The
Parkinson’s Action Network as the first organization on the list even though
the focus of their drive is not research orientated.
Their commitment is to politically motivate Congress to increase funding for
Parkinson’s research and if successful will channel more funds to PD research
than any other single project.
1. Parkinson’s Action Network
2. Parkinson’s Disease Foundation
3. Emory University Medical School
4. National Parkinson Foundation
5. Brown University Movement Disorder Clinic
6. American Parkinson’s Disease Association
7. Loma Linda University
8. John Hopkins Univ. Now called Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey
9.Univ. of California in San Francisco Institute of Brain Research
10. United Parkinson’s Foundation St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago
11. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
This list represents a summary of institutions recommended by the listserv
commentators and there order of listing has no signifance with exception of
PAN’s listing
