THE ORGANISING FUND.

White Ribbon, Volume 31, Issue 368, 18 February 1926, Page 10

THE ORGANISING FUND.

(To the Editor.) Mauu.ni, —In the course of my cor-respond-nee with the Treasurers ol some of our Unions. 1 find there is a certain amount of lack of understanding of the objects of the Organising Fund, and the reason why Unions are tusked to contribute annually an amount proportionate to their membership. Unions will remember that on the day we celebrate as ** Willard Day,” in commemoration of the founder of the Union, the collection taken is donated to the “World’s Missionary Fund.” which is the fund maintained by the Worlds Union for the purpose of paying women who are engaged as mis sionaries in spreading the work and principles of the W.C.T.U. in foreign kinds. The Organising Fund may be described as the missionary fund of the N.Z. Union, because it is maintained to pay t lie women who are engaged in spreading the work and principles of the W.C.T.U. to parts of the Dominion which have not yet been penetrated by our work. On the work of the paid Organisers we depend for the organise tion of new branches in towns where none have existed, and for visiting, advising. and helping existing Unions, s peeially in country places, which may be finding difficulty in carrying on. ft is unavoidable that we should depend on paid Organisers for this work. localise our Union is for the most ivirt made U" of women who have neither the leisure nor the money to undertake such work voluntarily, seeing that it involves a considerable amount of travelling and of absence from home duties, which we cannot neglect, in spite of what on - opponents sometimes say. At the present time we have twa Organisers working; both of them willing and earnest young women who

hive spared neither time nor effort to effectively spread the work of th»* Union. Their duties necessarily involve not only the discomforts of frequent travel from place to place, but also an almost complete sacrifice of home comforts—and in saying this I do not overlook the hospitality often accorded *o them by members of the Union, or other sympathisers with our cause, for which we are very grateful. Now for the financial aspect of the matter. In regard to which T take th° figures which were presented to the 192.">

Convention, as those for the forthcoming <'onvolition are not yet quite complet* . A reference to the balance-sheet, published on page 18 of the 1925 Handbook, will show that the receipts for the Organising Fund were £398 2s Bd, and the expenditure (salaries, travelling txpenses, postage, and incidentals) £3/7 15s Id. This looks more satisfactory than it really Is, because during t.h*» year neither of our Organisers was a-' l .* to work full time, and consequently both salaries and expenses were less than they would otherwise hove l>een. On the his is of a complete year’s work, the charges on the fund would be appro<l- - not less than £lO9. To illustrate the position more clearly. I give the i ' ci'ipts and expenditure during tlir *e years:— Receipts. Expenditure 1922 f 312 £448 1923 _ ~. 475 286 1924 .... 398 337 £llßs £lO7l In explanation of some of the alxive figures, I may mention that in 1922 two Organisers worked full time, but contributions were only asked for from Unions at the n♦* of Is er member; the 1923 Convention raised the rate of contribution to Is fid per member, but during practically the whole of that year wo had only one Organiser working; while in 1921. as already stated, neither of the Organisers worked full time. Most of the Unions have paid up their Is ftd per member loyally; a noble few have done bettor; some have not found themselves able to do a* much. Our adult paid menil>ership for 1924 was 5654; on this basis the receipts for the fund should have been £424; actually they were only £398.

Some Unions have objected to the contribution on the ground that if they pay Is fid per member, plus capitation fees (7d per member) out of their members* sulrseriptions of 2s 7d. they Mil’ have little left for their own local work This, however, is not the intention or desire of the N.Z. Union, which con siders that local Unions should endeavour to raise their contribution by sonv' special effort, such as a garden party sale of work, drawingroom meeting'--etc. The exod method is, of course, a matter for each Union to decide for itself. Finally, T should like to remind members that we all belong to a world-wide organisation, whose subscription fee —

2s 7d per member —is probably one or the cheapest in the world. We are, J fear, sometimes a little inclined to re member chiefly that we belong to our own small local I nion, and to forgi l that through it we are linked up with the larger District l nion, and through that again with our own Dominion Union, and again through that with all the other branches of the Union throughout the world, thus becoming part of an organisation op rating in mast of the countries of the world, irrespective of race or language am' devoted throughout all of them to the service of Sod and humanity, and par tinilariy to adl causes affecting the w I fare of our own sex and of little children. In the work of the Worlds Union we are partners by the payment of the World’s capitation of Id p.v member, and the Willard I>ay collections for the World's Missionary Fund. In tiie sphere of our own Dominion wcan best serve the cause by doing on: utmost to spread the work and prim of the Union throughout on.country to the fullest possible exten We are not a Kind of wealthy women probably there are very few who an* in even more than comfortable circumstances. and most of us have our own homes and families to look after. W are all anxious for the spread of tie* Influence of the W.C.T.U. and apart from the limited circles in which we. as individuals, move—we must depen I mainly on the efforts of the Organise for the extension of the sphere of outwork. We could do with three, or bet** v Mtill, four, Organisers, two for each Island, in order to c* ver the ground effectively, because many country Unions, formed under promising con !i tions, have languished and died for want of more frequent help and encouragement which oai Organisers hav been unable to give try reason of the e\ tent of country they had to cov r. We certainly, however, civ-not contemplate any extension of our organising work on our present income, which, on th“ average, as I have shown, renders it a

matter of some anxiety whether we can meet our current liabilities out of our yearly receipts, quite apart from incurring further charges. The contribution per member is not. of course, n com pul son- payment (the only compulsorpayments are the capitation fees), but the N.Z. Union hopes and believes tha f all Unions will support the Organising

pund loyally and as liberally as possible, lor the love of our cause and of humanity - 1 am, **tc., E. u H. BETs’DELY, N.Z. Treasurer.