19.07.2006

Need more

Howard Roak reports on the latest development in the party's fundraising drive

By the time this paper lands on most comrades' mats (or, more likely, their virtual mats), the good news is that we should have edged over £12k for this year's Summer Offensive, our annual fundraising push.

As this column is being written, I have £11,815.95 in hand. The weekend will see CPGB comrades involved in political actions of various types that will afford them plenty of opportunities to raise cash, including on the emergency demos in London and elsewhere on Saturday July 22 called around the developing crisis in the Middle East.

The bad news, however, is there are just 10 days left to the end of this year's campaign. Past experience teaches us that there will be a late rush of cheques and payments through our website, but with well over half of the total target of £30k still to find, we clearly have a problem. The nature of the campaign lends itself to the format of a relatively short burst of work, so if at all possible we do want to finish this year's effort at midnight on July 31. We simply may not be able to, however "¦

If our total is significantly below £30k (the minimum level required to keep the organisation on an even financial keel over the rest of the year, I remind comrades), then our leadership may have to take the same decision as in 2005 and extend the SO until the opening day of our Communist University school on August 12. This will be unsatisfactory for a number of different reasons, not least because - in truth - it will actually mask the true nature of our financial problems.

Our closing total in 2005 after the extra fortnight of fundraising was £26,228. Some £4,000 shy of a £30k target that is actually a calculation of the extra annual funds our group genuinely needs - over and above normal subs to our paper, literature sales and other forms of fundraising - to keep our heads above water and not to accumulate financial problems that will plague us for the rest of the year.

There's still time, comrades. Many hundreds of people, we are aware, have a degree of sympathy for our work, but have still not donated. They will be specifically targeted over the coming few days. This week, many thanks to comrade NR for his excellent £250, to MJ and MM for their £100, SW from Norway for his £15 (with "more to come", he teases - make it quick, comrade!) and to AR for a sturdy £100 via PayPal (one of the 21,492 e-readers last week).

We need more - far more - of the same over the coming seven days, comrades!