Help Us Decide : What to do with the Fund Collected

[dsatish]

Hi Every one,
We, at immigrationportal.org, need your suggestions regarding how we should spend the money. So far we have collected about $21,000 . Out of this, let us set aside $4000 for running expenses ($2000 for the accountant + $2000 for software, Stationary, Corporate Filing Fees, Minimum balance etc). So we might have about $17,000 for spending. In recent days, the contributions have slowed down very much and we begin to feel that it is futile to wait and do nothing till you get the minimum target of $30,000 required to hire some one for the organization for 3 months. We don’t know how long it is going to take to get that much money. So what are our options now ? What is the best course of action ? Any suggestions are most welcome.
We (core team) have discussed this issue in our last meeting but we could not agree on the outcome. Here are the different voices heard at our meeting :
1) Hire a less capable person for lesser period (2 months). That means, we should still go ahead with our original plan, but we may have to settle for a cheaper contractor to work for us for 2 months. Many people did not favor this idea.
2) Continue the Fund raising effort and wait till we get the required amount and go ahead with original plan (without diluting it).
3) Keep the money with the organization and use it for long term goals and also for advertisement etc.
4) For those who have contributed larger amounts (more than $50) , return the money over the $50. This way, we might be left with around $12,000 and that can be used for long term goals. That means, those who have contributed $70 should be returned $20 and those who have contributed $100 should be returned $50 etc.

Note : The backers of arguments 2 and 3, feel that we should not spend the money just for the sake of spending it.

I personally have preference to one of the above 4 options but I won’t let the cat out right now because that might influence more people’s evaluation of other options. Please feel free to tell your preference. You may also come out with new ideas about what’s the best way to utilize the money or ways to reach the target amount quickly.

Irrespective of the success or failure of the fund collection drive, we will continue to work in personal capacity towards putting more pressure on INS to act on the backlog reduction. I have prepared one strong letter to be sent to the congress men and I will present it here for review in a couple of days.

Links to the Fund Collection Threads :
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http://boards.immigrationportal.com/...682#post782682
http://boards.immigrationportal.com/...d.php?t=122531
http://boards.immigrationportal.com/...d.php?t=121175