:hexbear-retro: Time to organize, libs
We’re going to create a guide on how to start organizing by doing so as a group. We’ll use the experiences and questions of participants to form a living document (likely a wiki) that will bring people from start to finish on getting a community network up and running.
:arm-L: Challenge :arm-R:
Do at least one of the following by August 8th:
- Search for existing org chapters in your area and contact one of their members expressing interest
- Find to a single person you know who is politically aware and would dedicate a couple hours a week to organizing with you
- Plan a small gathering of people where you can get together, eat, and pitch the idea of starting to organize
:what: How does this help?
With sufficiently large groups of people coordinating with each other, we can achieve large effects with relatively small individual actions. However, organizations will often be very small for extended periods of time and consist of people only donating a few hours a week of their time. If an organization already exists in your area, this work has been done for you and you should be thankful. Otherwise, an easy start is a good way to beat decision paralysis. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
:gigachad: Goals
What goals do you have for organizing? Do you have a hard time understanding how organizing can help you accomplish those goals?
:blob-help: Barriers
Are you having trouble with this week’s challenge? Are you having trouble with other projects you have going on?
:picard-excited: Successes
People who are currently organizing, what successes have you had over the last week?
It seems like none of my dues would go to my local chapter if I join the DSA using a annual payment. Even if I use a monthly payment, which is significantly more expensive, only a small portion of those dues are sent to my local chapter. And, the larger the chapter, seemingly the higher the proportion of dues are allocated to the chapter, which seems totally counterintuitive.
I can tolerate the... authoritarianism in this facet, so long as I can also speak with my dollar. For instance, I'll pay an annual membership, then donate ten times that amount to my local chapter. But, if I were designing this system with the goals that seem inherent in it, I'd have thought of this.
Every time I bring this up to a DSA member (online) they feed me absolute bullshit. I'm not talking about how they believe it should work. It's my voice. I wish to speak with my dollar. I'd like guidance.
ah yeah i think the cheapest u can sign up with for national dues is $2 a year. i think i do like $20 a year and $5 a month locally and then donate directly to help fund different campaigns. The org has some possible money problems as far as i know but nothing too serious, and we cant exactly cut staff either cause theyre all needed, but thats where most of the money goes. There is a financial report that came out a few months ago that explains the budget well. i thought national gives a % of all dues to smaller local chapter to help them grow, large ones dont get much if anything cause they can raise their own money locally. or is that backwards? i would think most active members put more money into local than national anyways. I dont think theres many ppl who have concerns about the budget and all that, i wouldnt worry about it too much theres too much other shit to figure out tbh
I think you've got it backwards. The larger the chapter, the larger the proportion of dues they retain. You're doing what everyone else does: Trying to convince me the distribution of dues is justified. You've done better than anyone else by providing a financial report and budget. But, that's not what I asked for. I want to know if I can make a donation to my local chapter that nationals may SEE, but not TOUCH. The required dues are negligible compared to what I have to possibly donate. I wish to be able to support nationals and my local chapter in whatever proportions I wish, not the proportions someone else wishes. If I could, I'd like to be able to earmark part of what I give for certain initiatives. Basically, I can rationalize giving more if I have some reasonable influence over what happens, afterwards.
Regardless of if you know the answer, am I making sense, at least?
oh i see, yeah national doesnt take any cut from local dues if thats what you're asking. you should also note how your own chapter distributes those funds though, there might be better individual donations you could do to specific campaigns youre interested in. Ive donated directly to fund stuff like mutual aid and stuff like that for my local chapter
I dug into this. I'm getting the feeling that there was significant internal debate over authoritarian vs. libertarian. That debate couldn't be resolved, shouldn't be resolved. The rules were codified in such a manner they appear to be fighting with one another.
The good news is, it definitely seems I can do what I wish to do.