The Facts
We are delighted to announce that, as of February, Marion Dove has become SfP’s first Coordinator/Secretary, in charge of the National Office and of communications in our organization. Already our operation has become immeasurably smoother and more efficient. Marion is a daughter of John and Lois Dove, who gave so much of themselves to Science for Peace until their tragic deaths in an auto accident last June.
Marion’s position is for the moment only halftime, and the funds for it are guaranteed for only six months. So this is only a start, because we absolutely need a staffed National Office if our activities and influence are to continue to increase. So it is up to us as members, with Marion’s help, to see that by the Summer we are in a position to establish this on a full-time basis. As we note below, we are looking for your help in this growth.
The Story
Soon, you will be receiving a copy of a brochure which some of us put together for public relations purposes; it is a sort of ‘profile’ of Science for Peace’s activity. We were quite impressed! It seemed to us that for a small and essentially volunteer-operated organization we’ve been doing pretty well; I hope you’ll agree.
On the other hand this has depended on rather heroic organizational efforts by a few dedicated volunteers, who are painfully aware that the lack of central coordination has made their efforts very inefficient — this couldn’t go on being the pattern without complete burnout. At the same time we’ve been recognizing that, while our traditional disarmament issues remain to be solved, the rapid changes in the world require a far broader perspective on Peace and the role of Science in its preservation. This led to the gamut of new projects proposed at last Fall’s SfP retreat (reported in the November Bulletin) and adopted by the December meeting of the Board. So Science for Peace is at a crossroads. Even to maintain our present momentum, and certainly if we are to expand our activities to meet the challenges we perceive, we must have an efficient National Office run by a full-time Coordinator/Secretary.
We’ve taken a first step by the interim appointment of Marion Dove as announced above. This was made possible by a ‘start-up’ grant from the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. The Foundation will usually not give grants for administrative purposes (as opposed to specific projects) so we are especially grateful for this sign of its ongoing confidence in SfP and its recognition of our situation.
Now we must make use of their assistance to put ourselves in position to carry on our expanded activities after the grant runs out next Summer. We hope that we can count on your help in doing so. What we need is evidently a somewhat larger base budget than at present.
The most attractive way to achieve this is undoubtedly by increasing our membership. This would not only increase our income, but also provide a larger pool of people to draw upon for participation in our projects (and, by the way, increase our weight when we advise governmental and other bodies). Yet we have not seriously sought to expand the membership for a long time. Partly this has been because we didn’t have the administrative backup to do so — but now Marion Dove can give us that organizational assistance.
There is an important first step in this that all of us can easily take: that is for each of us to invite one or two acquaintances to consider joining. Likely all of us know a few people who would be appropriate members, but we don’t normally think of approaching them; now there is good reason to do so, and the fact that you have the ‘profile’ brochure makes it a lot easier than before to approach people and tell them about us. (Just let Marion know if you want more copies of the brochure, or of the membership application forms.) If we each found just two more members it would provide the hulk of the extra income we need. Will you please have a shot at this? Now? It will make a big difference if we all undertake to do so.
In addition, local groups or Chapters could now easily try less personal but larger-scale recruiting attempts. The materials for doing so — ‘profile’ brochures and application forms, for example — can be obtained from the National Office. A few projects of this kind are already being launched by mailings to staff and students of certain University departments, and to some secondary school science teachers and technical schools. (These mailings include, besides the brochure, simply an appropriate form letter for the target groups, inviting individuals to consider joining.)
Please help now in this growth of our organization and its work! You can contact Marion for materials or advice by writing her at the National Office, by phone at 416-978-3606, by electronic mail to SFPOUTORPHYS.BITNET, or by FAX to Science for Peace at 416-978-8775.
We’re on the move. Essentially we are planning to bootstrap ourselves, in the course of the next few weeks, into a still more active and effective organization — with your help. Please DO help! Now!
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