Why

[dsatish]

Hi All,
The response for the fund collection for immigratioportal.org, has been pathetic. The total amount collected online was less than $1000. It is disappointing that in a site visited by thousands of people daily, only a handful of them have joined the fight against the backlogs. I would like to know the reason why most of you have not contributed any amount online. Please vote.

[ramss]

Originally posted by dsatish
Hi All,
The response for the fund collection for immigratioportal.org, has been pathetic. The total amount collected online was less than $1000. It is disappointing that in a site visited by thousands of people daily, only a handful of them have joined the fight against the backlogs. I would like to know the reason why most of you have not contributed any amount online. Please vote.

Dsatish,

It is too early to tell this. This has been just started and I feel you need to give atleast a few weeks before making a judgement. I for one will be donating about $100 but have not been able to do so last week because of family issues that kept me busy. So while it is important that we keep posting this message in terms of "Please donate", "This is for your cause" and all that I feel a month to 2 would be the waiting time before judging.

Just my 2c

[Green_love]

Why are you Shouting? Buddy.
try some other words like "Bad response" instead of "pathetic"

Take it easy. Try other ways may be little more polite. I am sure people will donate.

[Pineapple]

Made my contrubution right away.

One of the reasons for my tadiness was that I had no clue there was such an easy way to donate online.

Most of us do not access the .org home page but access the board's home page directly. As a result, the excellent .org page is unknown to many of us.

As a constructive suggestion, make all links from other websites like immigration.com first go to the .org home page, and add the board link from there.
Also make the board page accessible only from the .org page, after users log in to the main site, so that users do not jump directly to the boards.

Of course, many will complain about the extra step, but thats not going to stop people from using the board. At least it will make the .org page prominent and encourage contributions.

Other ways to encourage contributions would be to list donors via a link (?).. dunno about the last one, esp. if someone wishes to stay anonymous...

Just ideas....

[Pineapple]

Another idea could be to allow users to 'pledge' an amout for a say, a year, for every month. So if its, say, $ 50 per month, a user pledges that amount which can be deducted from his card/bank account every month... This will fetch larger contributions for an extended period and at the same time be easy on contributors' purse.

Please post ideas.............

[dsatish]

Originally posted by Green_love
Why are you Shouting? Buddy.
try some other words like "Bad response" instead of "pathetic"

Take it easy. This way you not going to get anything.
Try other ways may be little more polite. I am sure people will donate.

I am sorry if i didn't sound polite. I used the word 'pathetic' to mean 'very poor' . I might be wrong, but then every body is not at the same level when it comes to language.
I wanted to convey the truth (that we got very poor response) and i wanted to know the reasons so that we can make corrections or improvements in our approach.
I would also like to reiterate to all of you that i have no personal interests involved in this other than a desire to have an organization to fight for us when we face discrimination on the basis of our status or skin. The core team would not have bothered to start this organization if an organization of this nature exists (actively) already. We spent many week-ends on conference calls and the website is designed by a couple of core team members (yea, they have burnt a lot of candles in their passion to form this organization).
I would also like to mention that every penny we spend, will be transparent to all the board members including Rajiv Khanna. A donation of just $100 from all of you will make up a fund of $100,000 if 1000 people donate here. With that money, we can immediately hire a professional to work for us on a full time basis and meet as many congress men as possible to support our cause. Our numbers is our greatest strength. Politicians listen to th numbers.

[dsatish]

Originally posted by Pineapple

Other ways to encourage contributions would be to list donors via a link (?).. dunno about the last one, esp. if someone wishes to stay anonymous...

We will do a brainstorm about it in our next meeting. Publishing the first name only, may be a good idea. We may also first send an Email to the donor asking for his/ her consent.

[TheEP]

Just donated $201 .......for this right cause !!! DO NOT GIVE UP.

Cheers...

[dsatish]

Originally posted by Pineapple

As a result, the excellent .org page is unknown to many of us.

Thanks for your complements about the web site. The credit goes to 'rajum' and 'rk4gc'.

[lareds]

Here is some ideas for you consider. With the little experience I had during Kargil donations, having this will really help.

- What are activities that need money and how much
- List of activities money is already spent & how much
- List of Donors (Name may not be required but with username) and thier contributions.
- Current balance

[dsatish]

Thanks TheEP.
Here is the list of people who have made their donations today :

1)Pineapple
2)TheEP

Those who have donated ,please post here to encourage others.

Note1 : We will be filing for Non Profit organization status so that the donors will get some tax exemption. I didn't mention it before, because we have not yet filed for it. But we will do it, 100% for sure. We will either send our Tax-ID to the donors by Email or by request.

Note2: I will propose to the board to give voting rights (to elect board of directors and also approve budgets) for all those who have contributed $200 or more. That means any of them can become the directors of our board. I will also propose to reduce the board term to 6 months so that new people will get opportunity to run this organization.

[dsatish]

Originally posted by lareds
Here is some ideas for you consider. With the little experience I had during Kargil donations, having this will really help.

- What are activities that need money and how much
- List of activities money is already spent & how much
- List of Donors (Name may not be required but with username) and thier contributions.
- Current balance

We are absolutely fine to do this but at the same time little apprehensive about what the donors prefer . The core team will brainstorm on this. BTW, our planned activities are mentioned on our website. Please read FAQ section there.

[Waitneb]

I just donated a little online. I should say
that dsatish's reminder did help. I think I
would be prepared to contribute more if I see
some meaningful movement on the class action
track. I guess most users stand ready to
contribute to any upcoming monetary needs but
they need to see a little bit of action to get
motivated. So, dsatish, don't be disappointed
and thank you for your efforts.

[cinta]

Is tax exemption important. The answer is absolutely NO. Besides there maybe a catch 22 in donating to change legislation. Contributions towards something to be used for possible legislation changes may not be permitted as tax-exempt!

See as an example :"www.moveon.org"

Personal opinion: forget the tax exempt status for freedom!

Furthermore: What about the status of contributors? Citizens, LPR and foreigners? Is it legal to contribute and also lobby Congress for changes? Does the nature of the organisation allow these? What about the governing council and Board of Directors? Do they have to be Citizens and/or LPR?

Could somebody briefly answer these?
Remember Clinton and the Chinese and Indonesian contributions?

[dsatish]

Originally posted by Waitneb
I just donated a little online. I should say
that dsatish's reminder did help. I think I
would be prepared to contribute more if I see
some meaningful movement on the class action
track. I guess most users stand ready to
contribute to any upcoming monetary needs but
they need to see a little bit of action to get
motivated. So, dsatish, don't be disappointed
and thank you for your efforts.

Waitneb,
Through months of campaign in this forum, we have realized that one of the drawbacks / weaknesses of our campaign is lack of full time efforts. Some people(like me) are ready to spend their internet time (spare time) to prepare petitions, sending Emails, faxes etc. California team has gone a step ahead and started attending the town hall meetings of the congress men and presented our problems to the congress men. They had some success because CSC has announced that they will reduce processing time to within 1year by the end of the year. CSC has also started a pilot program to reduce the backlogs. But this is not enough. Nothing has been announced by VSC and NSC. They have every plan to keep the backlog growing. The recent statements by USCIS director Mr Aguire and the USCIS operations director Mr Yates and also the reaction of USCIS to the lawsuit, indicate their insensitivity to our problems. This is mainly because there was not much pressure on them. This is where we are going to make a difference. With the money colleted, we will hire a professional to work for our organization. This person will meet the Indian Ambassador, Chinese Ambassodor and British Ambassador to use their influence with the congress men, to bring pressure on USCIS. Please remember that Indians, Chinese and the British are the main beneficiaries of the EB I485 process. We can try to add more countries(like Mexico, Philippines etc) to the list.

Secondly, this person will take appointments with the congress men’s office on behalf of us, and on the appointed day, the applicants (we) from the concerned constituency will accompany this person to meet the congress man. This can’t be achieved by part time efforts by forum members. Having an American working for us and representing us, will give us more visibility.

Thirdly, he will take inputs from us, for change of laws and he will have them drafted by a lawyer and then submit the proposed bills to the congress men and request them to introduce the bills. The motivation for the congress men to help us, would be our numerical and financial clout in future elections. So if we have an organization with thousands of registered members, then WE WILL BE A BIG FORCE.

PS : We can hire a person only if we get enough fund to pay for him. I personally feel that we need atleast 50K, to start with. Even if 10% of the visitors of I485 forums make donations, then we will easily hit the preliminary target.

In a nut shell , the priorities will be as follows :
1) Reducing the backlogs for employment based I485, I140, LC
2) Reducing the wait period for Citizenship for EB category people
3) Reducing the backlogs of other types of applicatios and also to fight discriminations against legal immigrants.

Thanks for contributing. Here is the updated list (non core team):
1)Pineapple
2)TheEP
3)Waitneb
4)freenation

Did i miss any one else? Please let me know.

[dsatish]

Originally posted by cinta

Furthermore: What about the status of contributors? Citizens, LPR and foreigners? Is it legal to contribute and also lobby Congress for changes? Does the nature of the organisation allow these? What about the governing council and Board of Directors? Do they have to be Citizens and/or LPR?

Could somebody briefly answer these?

Hi Cinta,
I hope that my previous post(above) makes it clear how we will spend the money. As aliens, we can't make any political donations and we can't do lobbying with money. But there is nothing in the law that prevents us to fight for our causes. We are not making any political contributions. We have every right to form companies / organisations and hire people and we can be directors or CEO of any company. All the people in the board have EAD / GC.

As per your question on tax exemption, i don't think we do not qualify for tax exemption. We are not paying money to change the laws. We are only hiring an employee to help us in our activities. Meeting a congress man and asking presenting our problems and requesting him to introduce bills, should not pose any hurdles.

[Pineapple]

Originally posted by dsatish
With the money colleted, we will hire a professional to work for our organization. This person will meet the Indian Ambassador, Chinese Ambassodor and British Ambassador to use their influence with the congress men, to bring pressure on USCIS. Please remember that Indians, Chinese and the British are the main beneficiaries of the EB I485 process. We can try to add more countries(like Mexico, Philippines etc) to the list.

Secondly, this person will take appointments with the congress men’s office on behalf of us, and on the appointed day, the applicants (we) from the concerned constituency will accompany this person to meet the congress man.---------------- He will take inputs from us, for change of laws and he will have them drafted by a lawyer and then submit the proposed bills to the congress men and request them to introduce the bills. The motivation for the congress men to help us, would be our numerical and financial clout in future elections.

D Satish, you hit the nail on the head! This is exactly what I've always believed would work.
Today won't be my first and last contribution - I promise to keep contributing regulary.

[rajum]

Originally posted by Pineapple
D Satish, you hit the nail on the head! This is exactly what I've always believed would work.
Today won't be my first and last contribution - I promise to keep contributing regulary.

I always believed in what dsatish said...We can be effective and some concrete results can be seen by hiring a professional...

Depending on the funds, apart from hiring a professional, we can do much more. For ex: we got flattened on signature campaign for class action suit..we can give ads in ethnic media and publicize our problem and try for a target of 10000 signatures for the courts to understand the impact...
if we can get more funds...we can run campaigns against USCIS highlighting the 'immigration anomaly' (USCIS says that the process is delayed because of security reasons and for security purposes, it should be other way round)...

a lot more can be achieved...

To me, I think it is the latency of the people and also apprehension of the people about the usage of funds is the main reason for slow mobilization of funds..

-rajum

[dsatish]

Originally posted by rajum

To me, I think it is the latency of the people and also apprehension of the people about the usage of funds is the main reason for slow mobilization of funds..

-rajum

That's why i have explained about the planned usage in a very detailed way. As you said, we can run good campaigns against the lies of USCIS.

[leeya]

How to vote?

Thanks!

Leeya.

[dsatish]

Originally posted by leeya
How to vote?

Thanks!

Leeya.

Sometimes, people from other forums won't be able to vote. Never mind, please try to make a donation and post the message here.

[sunk1ng]

Hwo do U make a donation?

[Pineapple]

D Satish, what would be the estimated 'seed capital' needed to run advertisements etc to get more funds? We'll anyway first need to reach this target before getting down to brass tacks regarding lobbying.

Perhaps if a general plan with estimates (say no. of publications, no. of ads, average rate etc) is spelled out at the .org web-site it might encourage more people.

[dsatish]

Originally posted by sunk1ng
Hwo do U make a donation?

Click on the "paypal" button on the website (www.immigrationportal.org)

[ag28]

Which I think may not cost much (mostly free).....
Most universities have their daily newspapers wherein is an op-ed column. People affiliated with the universities can opine in a general manner (maybe referring to the newspapers articles as back up). these papers are read by hundreds of people (faculty, students etc) who in some way have been frustated by the unnecessary delays.
It might be a good way to get our situation across to a large number of people at a negligible cost.

[Edison]

Originally posted by ag28
Which I think may not cost much (mostly free).....
Most universities have their daily newspapers wherein is an op-ed column. People affiliated with the universities can opine in a general manner (maybe referring to the newspapers articles as back up). these papers are read by hundreds of people (faculty, students etc) who in some way have been frustated by the unnecessary delays.
It might be a good way to get our situation across to a large number of people at a negligible cost.

Thanks, We'll explore this option.

[waitn2long]

I wonder if I was in the first $1000

If I see concrete progress in the next month or so, there's another $200 coming.

And if I get my GC in the next couple of months, there's another
$200

How much does PayPal skim off ?

How about getting Linus Torvalds to put in some money?
I hear it took 4 years for his GC -- he even made a
statement to the Congress on immigration woes.

Any other freshly minted gazillionaires who had to go
thru the GC grind?

waitn2long
--
WAC-02-135

[dsatish]

Originally posted by waitn2long
I wonder if I was in the first $1000

If I see concrete progress in the next month or so, there's another $200 coming.

And if I get my GC in the next couple of months, there's another
$200

How much does PayPal skim off ?

How about getting Linus Torvalds to put in some money?
I hear it took 4 years for his GC -- he even made a
statement to the Congress on immigration woes.

Any other freshly minted gazillionaires who had to go
thru the GC grind?

waitn2long
--
WAC-02-135

Thank you my friend. Your donation is within the first $1500 among the online payments. The amount you have donated is the highest among all the online donations. Only one more person has donated $250. We definitely do not want you to donate any more. It's not good to rob any one . Let every one join this campaign instead of a few people doing the whole thing. I will be periodically making the appeals to the people and i hope that each time new people make their donations. After all it's their cause. BTW, i do not know this "Linus Torvalds " is
Paypal charges 3% of the amount as the transaction fees. So we got a net donation of $242.5 from you. For those who don't know much about how paypal works, i would like to inform that paypal does not provide us your credit card number. Even you can prevent your address from being displayed in the transaction.

I request more people to make the donations now. I always believe that if you postpone something, most likely you will end up not doing it. So do not postpone your donation. It's very simple. You don't need a paypal account to use paypal. You just need any creditcard to make a payment using paypal service.

[coolchap]

Guys,
I just donated $103. I certainly like the idea of one of the member of recurring small donations. Say I want to donate $250 and I might not be too happy to give it all in one month there should be a provision/choice of donating in smaller investments. Also I think the "advertising" is a bit lacking in my opinion. Every member could be sent an email about this(I know I am opening up a bag of worms here) or make every group of the board have a sticky thread on the top and if they can click on any link and people are redirected via the immigration.org portal site. Just my 2c.

Great Work Guys. Keep it going

[dsatish]

Originally posted by coolchap
Guys,
I just donated $103. I certainly like the idea of one of the member of recurring small donations. Say I want to donate $250 and I might not be too happy to give it all in one month there should be a provision/choice of donating in smaller investments. Also I think the "advertising" is a bit lacking in my opinion. Every member could be sent an email about this(I know I am opening up a bag of worms here) or make every group of the board have a sticky thread on the top and if they can click on any link and people are redirected via the immigration.org portal site. Just my 2c.

Great Work Guys. Keep it going

Thanks for your donation and suggestion. We will certainly look towards recurring donations. Regarding advertisements, yes, we need to do more. We are only a trifle disappointed with the poor response so far and thinking what to do. We got total online payments of about $2000 so far. The core team members have made check payments before and that amount was around $2000. I think the check payments of others might have been around $700 (six or seven people said that they have sent checks). So the total collection might be around $4700 . And one of the core team members has asked his personal friends to make donations (they are not from this forum) and they have given checks for a total of $800 . So i guess we are having a balance of about $5500. Not bad to start with, but we still have a long way to go. If we reach atleast $10K, then we can go to next phase : approaching corporations for donations.
All those who have donated, please post it here so that it will encourage others. We just need 45 more people making $100 payments each, to make it $10,000. Atleast we can use that amount for publicity and small campaigns.