Revolution Online, June 24, 2012
Sample Fundraising Letter [July 6 update]
The following is a template for letters to send out to people broadly to raise funds for the BAsics Bus Tour. You can draw from and adapt this template, or write your own letters—the important thing is to reach out to everyone you know and call on them to donate to this tour that will make a big difference in the world. If the person you are writing to is in New York and other areas this leg of the tour is going to, make sure to ask if they can donate food or housing for the volunteers, or if they know someone who could. You can use the version below, or download the letter in a Word version.
Dear ,
I'm writing to let you know about an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the world right now—by contributing to the next leg of the BAsics Bus Tour that's hitting New York City and surrounding areas in mid-July.
This tour is building off the last leg in May, which went from Atlanta to Sanford, FL (where Trayvon Martin was murdered), connecting people with the vision and works of Bob Avakian, the leader who has developed a new synthesis of communism and a viable strategy for revolution. The crew of volunteers—from all over the country, multinational, of different ages—got out copies of BAsics, a book of quotes and short essays from Avakian speaking to the essential questions of revolution and human emancipation.
Virginia, a Black woman who came to a speak-out organized by the tour at the Sanford police station, said: "I started reading [Bob Avakian's] book and I just could not put his book down because he was explaining a whole lot about what is going on in America that a lot of us don't even know and everything that's in his book makes sense. And I can't wait to finish reading it… He is opening our understanding to the way it is, where other people are afraid to speak because it'll put their life on the line, and this man put his life on the line for everyone to know the truth. And he just told it how it is. How can we make that change if we don't know the basics?" (You can read more of this interview here.)
This is just one example of the powerful effect that the tour had—I encourage you to go to basicsbustour.tumblr.com to learn more. This had reverberations around the country, as people in different cities followed the tour and sent messages to the people of Sanford on banners with this quote from BAsics: "No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that." (A slide show of this, with BA's voice, is available here.)
Now imagine the BAsics Bus Tour going right into New York, the financial center of world imperialism, and surrounding areas. Think about the impact when the tour crew—doubled in size as the last leg, in two RVs instead of one—goes out to neighborhoods that have been left to rot by the system, and brings to those "the system has destined for oppression and oblivion" the message that there is absolutely no reason we have to live this way…except that we live under a system whose economic and political functioning requires it. Think of how this can be a catalyst for breaking through the stifling political atmosphere in this society, as people around the country follow and support the tour.
You can be part of making all this happen. $50,000 is needed for the NY area BAsics Bus Tour by August 1. I am asking you to donate to this goal. I'd also like to ask you to send a statement saying why you are supporting the tour, and encourage others to do the same. (You can read support statements from a wide range of people here.) You can donate here.
By donating to and taking part in other ways in this tour, you will be among others across the country like yourself who are outraged at the way things are and feel suffocated at the level of discussion in society, and who have been inspired and intrigued by Bob Avakian and the vision and strategy he's developed for a radically different—and far better—way the world could be. You will be joining with others in a movement across the country that is making a meaningful impact on the whole political and ideological terrain. Join the thousands today who are part of influencing millions with a revolutionary message… and preparing to lead those millions toward revolution when conditions emerge to do so. Be part of changing the world.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Best,
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