KABVI NEWS - Volume 47, Spring 2004

THE PRESIDENT PONDERS

By Michael Byington, President

As I write this, in mid-January 2004, I am pondering, and trying to do something about, lots of “stuff”. Trying to explain everything in one article does not make much sense, so I submitted some other pieces which discuss some substantive issues that I believe are important.

KABVI is not an army of one. We need many blind and low vision Kansans and their associates to be involved to accomplish the work KABVI needs to get done. If you want to help in new ways, or have ideas you think need consideration, I want you to feel free to contact me.

We list contact information for KABVI elsewhere in this newsletter, but I am going to list several ways to contact me directly. The KABVI office is at 603 S. W. Topeka Avenue, Suite 303, Topeka, KS 66603. You can leave a message for me, or any of our officers and Committee Chairs, at the KABVI telephone number, (785) 235-8990 or toll free at (800) 799-1499. You can e-mail KABVI at kabvi@earthlink.net. My personal e-mail is byington@cox.net. My personal telephone is (785) 233-3839.

The rest of this magazine will offer examples of reasons KABVI needs to keep growing and moving forward. Looking at all of the issues which need to be addressed and all of the things we need to do makes it obvious that KABVI has to do more than survive; it needs to become even greater than it has been. We have accomplished a lot; but we must develop the capacities to do even more. I will thus explain some areas where we need help, and some areas where we are not doing everything we would like, but are making progress.

The bad news is that our budget for 2004 is a little smaller than it was for 2003. Some of KABVI’s operating funds are raised through a program where people donate used cars to a firm which auctions them with KABVI getting a very significant percent of any profits. The amount we get for each car depends on cost of picking it up, expenses in selling it, etc. so I cannot give you an overall percentage, but the percentage of funding we receive is higher than is the case with most charitable fundraising schemes. Nonetheless, if we do not get many cars, the costs of advertising for the cars, selling them, etc. often are greater than the value of the cars. When this happens, obviously, we do not make any money. We have not received many cars of late, and thus we are not earning the operating funds we need. We need the help of all of our members and friends in promoting our car donation program. The number to call to donate cars to us is (800) 767-6229. There is a lot more competition in this type of fundraising than there used to be. For example, many of the public radio stations in Kansas have started competing with us, and they have a built in way to give themselves free publicity, which KABVI does not have. You can help by letting all of your car-owning friends know that we accept donated cars, and giving them our toll free donation number.

The car donation game is becoming more and more competitive. Even with more help from our members and friends in promoting this charitable scheme, we know we must attempt to diversify our funding sources. Your KABVI Board of Directors has therefore begun working with the Docking Institute at Ft. Hays State University to identify and solicit funding from foundations and other granting sources.

We know our website at www.kabvi.org has been woefully behind and out of date. We are working to improve it. We have a good Webmaster, but we need to work more closely with him so he knows what we need to have done.

My biggest ponder at this point is how to keep the momentum going both from a standpoint of funding and excitement for the work we are doing. The good news, though, is that I see some growth in the cadre of members who are stepping up to help us grow and keep going. There is thus probably as much to brag about, as there is to worry about. It is important, however, that we do not let the bragging negate our rolling up our sleeves and working together to alleviate the worries. Thanks to all who are helping. For the rest of you who believe that what KABVI is doing is important, but who have not gotten deeply involved yet, welcome aboard!