Budget FAQ
1: Why did you choose to work without a budget?
Because constant funding requires too much work and can cause too much trouble. Also, since membership is free, we can attract creative, helpful people, who would hesitate if a fee was demanded.
2: How do you accomplish anything without a budget?
Instead of headhunting for people to fund us, we look for people interested in using a bit of time and effort to help us from time to time. The materials involved are cheap enough that people rarely mind it. Most can spare the change for three envelopes and stamps, or the bus fare to city hall. Nothing we do costs any significant amount of money.
Furthermore, we use free alternatives, such as this very site. If just one person in a group of a dozen or so has access to the Internet, that entire group has free access to all the information available to any of us. Hence charges for printing and distributing newsletters and the like are non-existant. Other casual uses of free options remove other costs.
3: How do you get jobs done without hiring people?
As mentioned, we aim for people capable of spending some free time now and then. Most jobs usually requiring hired staff involve producing and distributing material and to keep the budget. We have some people capable of posting information on the fitting site, distribution is unnecesary, and there is no budget. By making things a casual net of cooperation, the jobs needing hired staff do not exist.
4: How do you finance the usual "events" of volunteer organizations?
Simple: We don't. Plenty of organizations exist that have field trips to the UN building or lectures on civil casualties during wartime. We felt no need to compete with them, nor do we feel that we could do it any better. Also, many such events, like benefit concerts, are arranged to get funding. We do not need funding, so the events are unnecesary.
5: Then what do you do?
Most of that is explained elsewhere. But basically, we try to convince certain people to support our goals. This requires little but writing letters or meeting with people to talk. Planning and coordination either takes place in groups or through the Internet. True, it is less flashy, but we prefer it this way.