Fund-Raising

Fund-Raising

Federationists, Fund-Raising, and Free Enterprise

by Marie Cobb

From the Editor: Federationists who have enjoyed meals

in the dining room at the National Center for the Blind know

that Marie Cobb, who runs the kitchen from which all those

meals are served, is a wonderful cook and a gifted caterer.

In fact, she has many talents and is always adding something

new to her list of responsibilities. Here she describes the

latest work she is doing for the Federation:

As many of you know, some of the National Federation of

the Blind's traditional sources of funding are becoming less

cost-effective each year. In order for us to meet this

challenge, we are constantly searching for new sources of

revenue. Last spring President Maurer signed the NFB on as a

distributor for the American Communications Network,

marketer for LCI International long-distance. This project

will succeed or fail in direct proportion to the number of

people who agree to participate in the program.

There are about ten Federationists who own ACN

distributorships under the NFB, and we are all committed to

making this relationship between the NFB and ACN a lucrative

one. We believe that the combination of excellent service

and attractive rates will help to make our commitment a

reality. At the same time each of us is working to build a

profitable business for ourselves. The more successful we

are as individuals, the larger the residual income will be

for the NFB.

We want to be certain that everyone understands to whom

the commission from his or her long-distance or any other

ACN account will be paid, so here is the agreement we ten

have with Mr. Maurer. The NFB's ACN representatives will

hold business opportunity meetings at Washington Seminars

and at National Conventions. We will seek customers and

offer those who are interested a chance to examine the

business plan. We will also have a booth in the exhibit hall

for the same purposes. Any person who wishes to become an

ACN customer during the Washington Seminar or at National

Convention will automatically be placed directly under the

Federation instead of the associate who acquires the

account. We, the associates, will be building our personal

businesses during this time by recruiting new associates to

work with us.

Here is the way you can participate:

1. Fill out a simple form to change your long-distance

carrier to LCI. There is no charge for the switch, and LCI

provides excellent service at a lower rate than many other

long- distance carriers. If for any reason you are

dissatisfied with the service after ninety days, you can go

back to your original carrier at no cost to you.

2. Ask your friends and family to help the NFB by

switching their long-distance carrier to LCI as well.

The National Federation of the Blind will receive three

to eight percent of every dollar spent on long-distance

calls each month on all of these direct accounts, and one

quarter of one percent to five percent of all accounts which

are generated for our personal businesses.

Long-distance service is just the tip of the iceberg.

There is also cellular service through the most advantageous

carrier in each area, and pager service through Pagenet.

There will soon be voice paging as well. In the near future

we will also be able to offer cable access, local dial tone

service, Internet access, and utilities. The potential

income for the NFB is really exciting.

The bottom line is that this costs you nothing and

indeed will save you money each month. It will also help to

fund the important work in which we are all engaged. So

please contact an ACN representative as soon as possible. If

you do not know an ACN representative or wish to explore

becoming one yourself, please contact me, Marie Cobb, at

(410) 659-9314 or (410) 644-6352. I have volunteered to take

calls which come into the National Office or my home and see

that those accounts go directly to the NFB. However, I am

also building a file of personal accounts on other

occasions.