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05 October 2001

Will SAS Survive?

by Shawn Carlson

Earlier this week you probably received a personal appeal from me about the state of SAS's finances. I told you that I had to reduce Nancy Scarduzio's work schedule from 5 days to 3 days a week because the membership dues didn't cover her salary. (If you don't know her, Nancy is our Managing Director. She's the one who has done such a great job of expanding and delivering services to our membership over the last 10 months.) I also told you how disheartened I was by the very low level of donations we'd been receiving to support the main office after all the hard work we've been doing to provide everyone with more and ever levels of membership services.

Well, I'm very gratified to say that a number of you have chosen to stand with us. Some of our members have opened their checkbooks and given generously to support our work. And it has been a huge help! In fact, I started the week worried about SAS's survival. And I'm proud to tell today you that our members' donation have secured SAS's short-term security.

That improvement frees us here in the National Office to look forwards again. To thrive in the long-term, SAS must expand its membership base so that we can bring in enough money each year from member dues and donations to cover all our basic operating costs. This means that we must launch and sustain a major membership drive to attract many more science enthusiasts into our ranks. To that end Nancy, Sheldon and I are now perfecting an outreach plan that can take SAS all the way to permanent financial security. One thing is sure; SAS will need a lot more support from its current rank-in-file to get there.

If you've made a special contribution to SAS this week, you have my deepest and most profound thanks. You'll be receiving a special thank you letter and your free gifts in a few days. But if you haven't donated yet, please consider this. If you support what the Society for Amateur Scientists does and stands for, if you want to see SAS continue to expand our support for amateur science to all science enthusiasts from age 8 to 80, we need your help push us over the hump. Please make our mission your own. Get involved personally. It’s easy to contribute. Link to our donations page, send a check to our address, or phone in your donation by calling Nancy at 401-823-7800. If you prefer, you can stretch your donation out throughout the year by authorizing us to charge as little as $10 per month to your credit cared.

But however you choose to give, please do it today. And please be as generous as you can.

With renewed optimism for the future,

Shawn Carlson, Ph.D.
Executive Director