[23726] in APO-L
[APO-L] Why should a volunteer have to pay?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lisa M. Covi)
Wed Apr 30 09:56:00 2003
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 10:01:30 -0400
Reply-To: "Lisa M. Covi" <lmcovi@earthlink.net>
From: "Lisa M. Covi" <lmcovi@earthlink.net>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
The following is my own personal opinion, and not that of APO:
I wanted to add to some of Jim's point about why volunteers should pay or
contribute.
> If volunteers do not pay for the services they receive, who pays? The
active members
What services do volunteers receive?
Sectional Chairs receive paper mailings, supplies that
chapters can order and are served by paid National
Office staff.
Generally, alumni receive the same discounts and subsidies
for conferences and National services as the active members
Why should volunteers WANT to pay?
Aside from deducting your personal expenses for carrying
out your responsibilities on your tax form, consider
that the active members generally do not have an
independent source of income, they do a lot of service in all four fields
and THEY pay.
>Contributing to the fraternity (via fee or voluntary contribution) is an
important form of service and a public act of support for the
fraternity.
There are many people involved with fund-raising for Alpha
Phi Omega: Alumni who encourage other alumni to
give, and Board members whose promotion of
"life membership" and the torchbearer program is
part of the job they were
elected to.
What brother who reads the T&T doesn't look to see who
gives money from their
chapter, if their advisors or staff members appear
annually and considers
that in their decision about whether to give.
As we continue to pursue grants and other external funding
to make or keep the National Programs affordable to active
members, we need to report the
percentage of giving to the fraternity. How can
we ask other parties to
contribute if we do not contribute ourselves?
> Volunteers should consider three areas of stewardship in their service
to Alpha Phi Omega:
time, talent and treasure. For some of us, time
is our most difficult
sacrifice - time away from family, children,
pursuit of a livelihood. Talent
can be hard to contribute too, especially if you
are donating a skill you
usually get paid for to Alpha Phi Omega. Your
might consider a treasure
contribution to be what you paid in active dues
when you were in your
chapter, or you might skip a night out to the
movies or perhaps even one of
the more expensive APO events and make that your
contribution.
As far as community service and even compared to activist organizations, I
feel APO has a lot of catching up to do in the area of fund-raising (on all
levels). Some chapters are very successful, but many active and staff feel
that asking people to contribute to the fraternity is an
imposition. Philanthropy is a wonderful way to do community service and
our chapters routinely raise and donate money to a variety of non-APO
causes. Isn't it time that we consider life membership, torchbearer
contributions or making a small donation to the annual fund a part of the
commitment to the principles of APO?
Lisa M. Covi, Ph.D.
