During the next two months, the State of California volunteers for a Department of Peace are embarking on a fundraising drive called Ten-K for Peace, to make a dedicated effort to raise $10,000 per month in donations to The Peace Alliance, and our movement towards creating a culture of peace.

This can happen with only $10 a month! You don't even have to run a Ten-K to participate!  We hope you will contribute and will recruit others to support creation of a U.S. Department of Peace.

What we put our energy towards will grow and thrive -- money is energy.

Click here now, to make your monthly commitment for

building and supporting peace:

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/696/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=1325

Prizes for Donations!

During the Ten-K for Peace, those who commit to $10 a month will receive a free bumper sticker! Those who commit to $25 a month or more will receive the new DVD media toolkit for volunteers called Peace On Earth, which debuted at the Peace Within Reach conference in Washington DC in March 2009! This DVD provides eight wonderful pieces of video for you to use and share, to help you spread the word about the movement for peace!

Join in the fun!

Read on, and decide if you are willing to s-t-r-e-t-c-h yourself over the next two months, and to play a crucial role in supporting our campaign. Learn a new skill, and become a grassroots fundraiser!  We'll give you tools, guide you and support you all along the way. It may feel awkward at first, but we promise that your choice to participate will reward you in empowering and unexpected ways.

Possibility in Washington DC

Those of you who were able to attend the conference in Washington DC in March witnessed that the climate in Washington felt different. There is an air of possibility. While concerns were still voiced at the meetings with our House Members and Senators staff, more of the conversations were about how to make the Department of Peace a reality.  Strengthening our grassroots movement is the most important thing that we can do right now, to grow the political constituency behind creating and building a more peaceful society. The Peace Alliance needs a higher, reliable and regular flow of revenue to effectively fulfill its mission of guiding and educating our grassroots volunteers to be focused, strategic and powerful.

Reaching Out

See this fundraising drive as an outreach effort.   This is an opportunity to engage people, and inform them about the very real prospects for peaceful communities and a peaceful world. While your friends, co-workers and family may be aware that you're involved with the campaign, it may be that they don't really know how it would provide the means for less school bullying, less gang violence, less domestic abuse and reduced prison recidivism. This is a chance to have some wonderful conversations, to share more detail about the legislation and the real solutions which already reduce and prevent violence, and to invite people to support widespread implementation of best-practice solutions.  You can invite others to help create a culture of peace by giving a small amount each month.

Monthly Donations

Please remember that the campaign needs regular monthly funding to survive and to thrive. Ten-K for Peace is about asking people to become monthly donors, for as little as $10 a month. Our goal in California is to generate $10,000 per month in new monthly donations; that might be 1000 new donors for as little as $10 a month!  Are you willing to enroll 3, or 5, or 7 new monthly donors for just $10 a month (or more if they choose)?   

Click here now, to make your donation:

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/696/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=1325

Know this about fundraising:

• 80% of money usually comes from individuals in the private sector rather than corporate or big institution donations

• A personal letter results in 10-15% success

• A personal phone call results in 25% success

• Face-to-face conversations result in 50% success in giving what is being asked, and 50% giving less than what is being asked

How to?

Take a few minutes, and make a list of 12 people that you will personally ask to support our campaign. Then, watch this instructional video featuring Lynn McMullen, our Executive Director and fundraising master. This video,  which takes less than 10 minutes to watch, will empower you to feel wonderful about Ten-K fundraising, and will enable you to succeed without causing any discomfort in your relationships with the people on your list.

Watch the video now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KjAHVUlo-s

When you contact your potential Ten-K supporters, make sure they know  this is a political contribution, which is not tax deductible. If they absolutely need their contribution to be tax deductible, they can make their donation to the Peace Alliance Educational Institute. However, the campaign needs regular funding, and even a small contribution of just $10 a month can make a huge difference!

Begin right away!

The Ten K for Peace timeframe is April 15 - June 15. The sooner you begin, the greater success we will all have in reaching our goal for peace. Make your list of 12 people - whether they live in California or not. Then, allocate some time over the next several weeks to implement your plan for making your calls or meeting with potential donors, having the type of conversations that Lynn describes in the video. Experienced volunteer fundraisers have shared that this process may not be easy or comfortable at first, but it gets easier very quickly - and it is so exhilarating when some says "yes!" - (and they will)!

How to complete the process?

Print several forms and carry them with you:

http://www.thepeacealliance.org/files/fundraising/donation_form_pa.pdf

After you've engaged the support of a new donor, you can…

• Help them complete the paper form, or provide them this link to go online to complete their donation.

• If they complete the paper form, they can give it to you - then you can go online to the link to complete their donation for them.

• If you're talking to someone on the phone, you can go online to the link to complete their donation for them.

Be sure to encourage them to check the box or click on the button to become a recurring monthly donor.

Here's the link for donations:

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/696/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=1325

Check Our Ten-K for Peace Status Often!

Come back to the website often, and see how we're progressing! We'll be sending out encouraging notices weekly between now and June 15, for example, with stories about programs that currently reduce violence and would be expanded by a Department of Peace. Did you know that the current legislation appropriates a budget of $10 billion  annually, 85% of which will be dedicated to supporting local community programs for violence prevention and reduction? Look for these notices. They may inspire you to share the information with your prospective donors, as wonderful examples of the work that will be supported by their donations.

Let's really give peace the chance that it deserves. We can't afford not to.

Rob Atkinson sent the following to a friend shortly before he left us - may it inspire you in your efforts:

"It seems to me that the idea of  'giving to other people'  is less of the issue and it is more about following inspiration. It seems any other context imprisons the human being and sort of condemns our nature and destines our actions as a means to an end. That's just not quite beautiful enough for me. I'd rather move on some other kind of impulse, something that begins with inspiration and that holds itself to no other standard, and whose manifestation we must witness rather than control." 

Many of you have heard Azim Khamisa say, "There is nothing more important than a Department of Peace, there is nothing more important ... than a Department of Peace. There is nothing, nothing, nothing ... more important than a Department of Peace."

Ready - Set - Go - on our Ten-K for Peace!

Click here now, to make your donation:

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/696/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=1325

Thanks so much!!