Hi All! It's time for us to reserve our spot for Pride 2014. As you know, this is always our biggest outreach event of the year when hundreds of people stop by our booth during the two-day festival to obtain Libertarian literature, discuss the issues of the day, or just say hi. While the primary purpose of our booth and outreach is to nudge those with open minds closer towards libertarianism, another benefit of us being at Pride is encouragement for those who already believe as we do that they are not alone in this sea of statism in the Bay Area. Every year I always have at least a few visitors to our booth thank us just for being there.
This year we have decided to fund our participation in this event from donations rather than our general fund. The booth cost is $254, there is a $50 environmental fee, and the insurance usually runs around $50. We have a fair amount of literature on hand, so I think we can get by with around $50 for additional literature and brochures, bringing the total to around $400.00.
We will not participate in Pride this year if we don't raise the funds beforehand. I will donate the first $50.00 towards the cost of the event. Who will join me in helping to ensure our presence at Pride this year?
If you feel this is worthwhile event for the LPSF, please send your checks to The Libertarian Party of San Francisco 2261 Market Street #170A San Francisco, CA 94114 or donate through PayPal at our website. Please indicate Pride 2014 on your checks or let us know via email if you use PayPal that your contribution is for the Pride event.
Thanks!
Aubrey
Hi Aubrey and All,
I will deposit my $50 to the LPSF account tomorrow. Update to my LPSF Announcement List letter of yesterday: one PayPal donor for $40 a month, for which we are extremely grateful. Again, the LPSF (or any other non-profit) has no other way to do its work except through voluntary donations and membership fees.
Marcy
Aubrey,
Bad news -- I just realized that Pride is the same weekend this year as the Libertarian Party national convention (happening June 27-30 in Columbus, Ohio). Personally I'll be going to the convention, and have been encouraging others to attend as well if they can. National conventions only happen once every two years and are crucial to charting the party's direction (electing leadership, voting on platform and bylaws) as well as a terrific opportunity to connect and network with other Libertarians, learn about issues, pick up literature, etc.
Given this conflict, one idea would be for us to approach the Golden Gate Liberty R3VOLution, Pink Pistols, Restore the Fourth, or other groups about the possibility of putting some money toward a booth that they primarily staff in exchange for having some of our materials there, rather than doing our own independent booth. We may also want to think about possibilities for giving the LPSF a presence in the parade in conjunction with another group. Thoughts?
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Hi Starchild! Thanks for the update on the convention and the conflict. At this point, I'm going to put my money on having our own Pride booth and working at it myself both days because, though mixing with "our own kind" is often more fun than dealing with the left-leaning crowd that visits our booth, our work trying to pull folks more in our direction is more important than mixing with the converted. I know the National LP could use some help and attending the conventions and helping to improve our own party is useful work too, but at this point I prefer to stay "local" and be a beacon of Libertarian light right here in The City on the Pride Weekend.
Mind you, your idea of having the other liberty groups run a booth with some of our literature there is a good one, if we do not collect enough for our own booth. It's a good second course of action. The main idea is to have a Libertarian or libertarian presence rather than none at all. However, it would be a shame to lose the most visible event for the LPSF this year.
Thanks for the Thoughts!
Aubrey
Aubrey,
Bad news -- I just realized that Pride is the same weekend this year as the Libertarian Party national convention (happening June 27-30 in Columbus, Ohio). Personally I'll be going to the convention, and have been encouraging others to attend as well if they can. National conventions only happen once every two years and are crucial to charting the party's direction (electing leadership, voting on platform and bylaws) as well as a terrific opportunity to connect and network with other Libertarians, learn about issues, pick up literature, etc.
Given this conflict, one idea would be for us to approach the Golden Gate Liberty R3VOLution, Pink Pistols, Restore the Fourth, or other groups about the possibility of putting some money toward a booth that they primarily staff in exchange for having some of our materials there, rather than doing our own independent booth. We may also want to think about possibilities for giving the LPSF a presence in the parade in conjunction with another group. Thoughts?
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))