Fundraising Guidelines

All fundraising needs to be done according to the Guidelines for fundraising. We've had experience from time to time with fundraising, and have refined our thinking about how fundraising can complement and not undermine our Co-Counseling relationships.

There are several main points to the Guidelines about fundraising (Guideline H.11).

1. Our efforts at fundraising need to focus on bringing funds into the RC Community from those individuals who are not yet involved in RC. Voluntary contributions should only be solicited from people and institutions from outside the RC Communities. No individual member of the RC Community should be targeted for direct solicitation of funds for RC Community projects.
   
   Contributions from Co-Counselors are welcomed, but solicitation of such contributions is in violation of our no-socializing rule. We do not want any undischarged patterns about needs and money to interfere with the full development of the safety and trust necessary to make Co-Counseling relationships effective. In addition, we do not want to encourage dependency within the RC Community.


2. Fundraising should be done primarily on a one-to-one basis with individuals with whom people have existing relationships. The basic information about RC should be shared with potential donors. As with the activity of communicating about RC, people receive the most accurate impression of RC, and the reasons to provide financial support for our activities, through one-to-one communication. Fundraising is best thought of as another way of communicating about RC, with the basis of the communication being caring about the person and providing accurate information about RC. The individual who is solicited for funds should also be viewed as a potential member of the RC Community.


3. Any local fundraising activities should be planned in cooperation and consultation with the Regional Reference Person.