Civil Disobedience Evolution Fund

[KBCraig]

I haven't seen any wide publicity yet, so I hope I'm not jumping the gun, but I stumbled onto this the other day:

http://cdevolution.org/

I've made a donation. I hope others will too.

[Tom Sawyer]

No link to NHFREE.com among the links. Kind of interesting since this is the place the CD began.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I think Brad Jardis is running this. He announced something that sounded like this the other night on FTL. I think it is unlikely they will get the donations.  I also don't know how they could ever distribute the funds equitably.

[KBCraig]

$10k/month is pretty ambitious.

[Russell Kanning]

No link to NHFREE.com among the links. Kind of interesting since this is the place the CD began.

kids these days have no respect for their elders
maybe the nhunderground is going secret, slowly and quietly in plain sight
or maybe it is only for evolutionary change and we are  too revolutionary

I think it is unlikely they will get the donations.  I also don't know how they could ever distribute the funds equitably.

i think they have been discussing this on freekeene for a long time. I always think it is easier for people to support people when the situation comes up, so you never have to worry about the money getting stolen or used on something you don't want. But it works on a small scale for the LSFund and it seems to be working for KB.

$10k/month is pretty ambitious.

better start working overtime or just steal it from your employer

[Lloyd Danforth]

I admit that I don't know any of the details.

[dalebert]

It's nice for things like being able to contribute to it when you buy from Newegg through FTL. Money goes into it automatically and it doesn't cost you anything, assuming you were planning to buy something from Newegg anyway. I've contributed some to it in this way.

[Fluff and Stuff]

Brad is on FB if you want to contact him about the CDEF and don't know another way to do it.

[highline]

I haven't seen any wide publicity yet, so I hope I'm not jumping the gun, but I stumbled onto this the other day:

http://cdevolution.org/

I've made a donation. I hope others will too.

No not at all.  Thank you for posting AND for donating

[highline]

No link to NHFREE.com among the links. Kind of interesting since this is the place the CD began.

Good observation.  I will see to it that it is fixed

Danke.

[highline]

I think Brad Jardis is running this. He announced something that sounded like this the other night on FTL. I think it is unlikely they will get the donations.  I also don't know how they could ever distribute the funds equitably.

Why is it unlikely?

We are creating the group as an educational organization that intended on giving presentations to numerous groups of various social settings.  I think everyone here realizes the importance CD has played throughout history in correcting evil social policies.  Just as you have come to be aware of this, it will be my goal to present to others and attempt to bring them to the same conclusion.

There are many people out there who would like to "take on" the state... but just don't have the drive, time, courage, or ability to do it.  By supporting us, people are ensuring that we pick and choose individuals who have engaged in CD and offer them support.

The Board of Directors that CDEF has is rather impressive for it's mission.... at least *I* think so.

We have business men, CD activists, media professionals, and sales professionals.  And for the ED/head presenter/speaker/organizer there is me.......... a former LEAP speaker.  I have plenty of experience going into rooms of people who already disagree with what I am about to say.  I've been very successful at even convincing the staunchly conservative that the WoD needs to end.  My mission now simply is to show people how CD has always been involved throughout our recent history when social injustice prevailed.

Getting 1,000 people to donate $10 a month is NOT all that unreasonable.......... and at $10,000 a month we will have a full-time attorney launching 42 USC 1983 suits against the state for crap like what recently happened to Big Mike. 

How is that not a wonderful thing?

[highline]

$10k/month is pretty ambitious.

$1000 people at $10 a month?

Or every FSP signer at $1/mo?

[KBCraig]

$10k/month is pretty ambitious.

$1000 people at $10 a month?

Or every FSP signer at $1/mo?

The number of people willing to donate times the amount they're willing to donate, and how many actually pay. I'm a little cynical, I admit.

You've got my $10/month (although I paid a year in advance, because I don't like recurring payments).

Oh, and it occurred to me that people might see the CDE warnings and disclaimers as weasel words, by which they might distance themselves from unpopular CD. I suspect that language was carefully crafted because of the reality of "conspiracy" charges (always a favorite when no one has actually harmed anyone else). It's also not unprecedented: NH Common Sense, Marijuana Policy Project, NORML, LEAP (ha!), etc., all state that they don't advocate breaking any laws, no matter how unjust those laws are.

I don't know how CDE could promise equitable distribution of funds, in light of that. It's not like they can say, "If you smoke pot in Veterans Park in front of a Manchester cop, we will pay your legal fees and lost wages."

I think this is an organization that will have to prove itself by deeds, not words. People will either trust their decisions based on their actions, or will not trust them and withdraw support.

I'm willing to give them a chance.

[stanford]

The BS "conspiracy" charge was on our mind, of course. In order to make the most impact for our community, we have to work inside the system to some extent. That means operating a bank account so we can take subscriptions over the web. As we have seen in a lot of cases, it doesn't take much for them to freeze bank accounts.

The Fund is classified as a private educational charity. We will supply materials and even book speakers for events if they can teach something to the activists in New Hampshire.

That said, we're thinking about various ideas to make the most cynical potential supporters trust that the fund is for them and is a good investment.

I'd like to see total transparency in where the money comes from and where it goes. That way, we can be held accountable by the community. I'm not sure how that will work in some cases. Consider the case where we discover that an activist has been jailed for some non-violent crime involving civil disobedience. We offer to pay some of his expenses. But let's say one of them is child support for a child that he may not want made public. Just how transparent can we be in that case? I'm thinking if we just indicated, "$450 for expenses of Joe Schmo", people would be pressing us for even more detail.

I just pulled that example out of a random orifice, but it just goes to show that total transparency is not always going to be possible. Constructive ideas are appreciated.

As far as the "equitable distribution of funds", I'm sure everyone on this board has a different idea about that. We were thinking about a voting system, where donors would be able to vote on which cases we support. Donors only, of course, because if you don't support the fund, I don't really care where you think other peoples' money should go.

Perhaps even give more votes to people who donate more.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on either of these.

I hope that I and Brad and the other board members of the Civil Disobedience Evolution Fund have built a reputation in this community to the point where you will trust us to do the right thing. If so, contribute. If not, don't. This Fund will only be successful if we have enough liquidity to seriously support the people who are putting their freedom on the line for our freedom.

[stanford]

No link to NHFREE.com among the links. Kind of interesting since this is the place the CD began.

That's my bad. I built this site over the weekend, stealing elements from the site that's been up for a year. That explains all the typos. And I'm a guy who make a living by writing. Sheesh!

I'll add nhfree.com right now. Any other suggestions?