Hello KK :) Another thought provoking mail, specially @ answer of Santh. Let me try answer some of ur qns:
Hyd & Bangalore Chapters have just decided on introducing a membership fee. Pls ask Prasanthi on effective dates & amounts. We have an option where members can choose to donate every month a fixed amount set by the group (based on an open discussion in the group on a comfortable number to all) - called Monthly Subscription. With US members it is 10$ every month, and pretty much all of us have registered on this basis here. I think it is 500 INR with Hyd and Bangalore chapters & many active members have registered on this aswell. Members who have registered under this need not pay the additional membership fee applicable, unless they choose to. We have one treasurer who represents his/her local chapter, and all the members send out their donations either thru cheques or online transfers or cash (where applicable) directly to them. In turn these treasurers forward these amounts into the TMAD bank a/c in Hyd, which is presently on Prasanthi's name with ICICI since we are an unregistered group as of now. ********************************************************************* Treasurers: Hyd Chapter: Prasanthi as of now, and Suresh Adina will take over the charge soon. Bangalore Chapter: Pavan Pyda US Chapter: Chandrareddy Manubothu ********************************************************************** Members are open to donate seperately any amount on special cases they prefer, or just be an active member and donate their services & time, instead of money - which ever suits them better. When it so happens that we have a member who has donated some money for a particular case which we later chose not to takeup, or have found a financial aid for, or an outside donor or fee waiver, and are left with the member donated surplus....we contact back the member on what he/she prefers to be done with the funds. Many choose to leave us the option of using it on other relevant cases, and inturn when that opportunity comes we always mail them back informing the same and asking on their approval again, whenever possible. This way we always make sure that the person/member who donated knows exactly where his penny is put to help/use. There is no set budget as such for any chapters. We usually only take up the cases we think we can help within our financial boundaries. We have referred cases many a time to other organisations aswell, that have helped in either eliminating the costs totally or partially, which in turn gives us that financial buffer. However in some special cases where the patient is totally helpless & without much time on hand, we have raised the money required for upto 2 lacs, thru frnds n chat groups and various other sources/means. We always discuss and go by the groups' concensus on which case to help. We also have worked on a guidelines sheet which are set standard rules on how to approach these cases. US members have worked on this document, and have forwarded it to Prasanthi for further review & additions. Once we have a finalised document, we can post it into the group as a reference chart. However, we always have to realise that each case is different from the other, and this document will only be a reference scale, and not set rules we have to follow a MUST. Accounts have been maintained by Prasanthi till now, and soon we will have the balanced ledgers uploaded online. From now onwards, Mr. Suresh Adina will be maintaining the accounts of Hyd chapter. I am unsure if Prasanthi retains the overall accounting rights or otherwise. Rest assured though, each penny that comes in is always accounted for. We have the rough balanced cash books already uploaded into Prasanthi's dokkuface4 yahoo page. (You can get the exact details from her). We are a transparent group in all ways, and that includes financial end aswell. All the details are posted then and there thru emails into the group inbox. Very soon we plan on introducing the funds page into our website directly that will allow browse funds inflow and outflow, as well as the balance available. The quickest way till then on any qns on funds is to just call Prasanthi. About 80G, this is the qn for Ratan to answer. He will be the one helping out with all the paperwork on Groups' registration part, etc. Hope I have answered some of ur qns, if not all :) Please mail back if I have not been clear on any. Oh btw...we always weigh our options on where our penny works best. So to that end we have followed Santh's wise advise :) -Divya --- In [email protected], "Krishna Konakanchi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [ > Note: This is a general mail. Please read it only when you have time. > Importance: Low > ] > > Hi Prasanthi garu and all equally active members of this group, > > It is an amazing and a much appreciable effort from you people in > identifying the destitute and helpless even from websites and magazines, > without avoiding it a single day and then making all efforts to let people > (group members) know about them, so that they might get the needed help. I > wonder how you are able to attend to so many continuously, more than wonder, > I am happy and inspired. God bless you all ! > > An average person who has inclination to help others, but with limited > abilities & determination usually compromises his idealogy often because of > hesitation about the possibility of a help to the needed. But once he/she > realizes that the help need not be all alone but it can come from a large > group with minimal contribution from everyone, he/she might be willing to > help and thus also draw some satisfaction from it. If we know what is in the > pocket of MAD group, we can think how much can we cater to what. How we > should spend is ofcourse a different decision. So my ignornace for now is > about the following: > > 1. Are you collecting some fixed amount every month / once in an year from > every member if so, how much? > > 2. What is the budget of Hyderabad group alone and similarly other > sub-groups? > > 3. Are you maintaining a seperate bank acc for these purposes? > > 4. Is there an easier way to dynamically see the avaialble funds online > while we spend them on service activities? We should also be able to > dynamically publish the account in one continuous ledger kind (atleast by > end of every day) > > 5. Apart from such "membership fund" can some of the members declare their > proactive share additionally? If so is it possible to predict the minimum > total yearly budget for service activities? What are the modes of payment? > > 6. I heard that 80G is now only for spiritual organizations and not for > service organizations. So you may want to check about this with a CA. > > > Why am I asking such questions is: > > The moment we see a giagantic need for someone, we remember our pocket and > our liabilities immediately...This stops us from thinking big... Instead., > ideally when we see the case of Janardhan likes on the web site, we should > be able to call and assure his mother, "dont worry, we are there to take > care of him after you. Now live happily and take care of your son till you > can..." To say this, we must have a self-sustained "home for homeless" which > may also seek some funds from big givers if required. Taking care of > Janardhan and likes should ideally start well before they can become alone > in life. Another way is to join such people in already existing "anadha > saranalayam" and fund whatever we can for once. Are we prepared to do such > things? Or can we take up such things in future? Do we intend to? > > Can we come up with a decision chart about types of cases we receive and our > supposed action in response, our approach to the needy and such things, > basically a template of our service line? This way we can avoid ambiguities > to some extent and have a organization guideline to quickly decide on few > cases without too much debate. A process guideline, a decision analysis > chart, budgetary information and such things can make MAD function less > person-dependent. We can evolve such documents over a period of time. > Otherwise, people sometimes get biased by the moods of debating participants > on the group site. [ hope I explained it meaningfully :) ] > > May be you are already doing all these and I am not aware...! > > > By the way, today someone came to me and while in our discussions he told me > a story as follows: > > A famous Santh came to a religious house holder for bhiksha. Naturally many > devotees and disciples gathered in that house by evening to have darshan of > Santh and listen to his discourse. One of the disciples asked the adept this > way: > > "Swamiji, is it correct to pay money to the beggars and sadhus wandering > lazily on the roads, not doing anything. Does not it encourage laziness and > hence is a sinful activity...some beggars ask even after their belly is > full..."? > > Swamiji waited for a minute, smiled and said: "No it is not sinful...because > you have money and you are ready to give...and he is in need and asked, so > you must give. While giving you should not bother about what is he going to > make out of that money, whether he deposits it in a SB account or drinks > with it. You cannot beg, he is begging ... he cannot give and you can give, > so what is wrong in giving. Give naturally. Even ants in nature have the > habit of preserving, so what is wrong if a beggar preserves money you gave > for his later life? Hence we should not see about where the money goes ... > once we give it, it becomes their money. However, you can always think of > best utilization for 'your' money and hence choose the most deserving person > and give him." > > This story made me think for a while... > > People might debate about the answer given by Santh...but unless we are > collectively clear about what is "correct to us for now", we cannot reach a > consensus. That is when we need decision charts and org guidelines. I will > leave it open for your thoughts.. hopefully some one can build up on this. > > If not possible for a response now, let this be preserved as a seed in our > minds and sprout when the context suits...[provided all this makes sense] > > I am going to Guntur on friday and will be back on 6th... > > > Regards, > Krishna Konakanchi >
