[P2P-F] Fw: Wow Re:Thank you

[robert searle]

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: David Babbs - 38 Degrees <action at 38degrees.org.uk>
To: dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk 
Sent: Thursday, 8 December 2011, 11:01
Subject: Wow Re:Thank you

  
Wow, we've almost reached our goal of 1000 new regular donors. If a few of us chip in now we'll hit our goal and be able to step up all we do in 2012.

Thank you. It's so wonderful that we'll be able to do even more together thanks to all these new donations. In case you didn't see the email, here it is:

------
Dear friend,

Two and a half years ago, Hannah and I sat down to write the first ever 38 Degrees email. We hoped it would launch a new kind of organisation to bring people together from all over the UK to stand up for the things that matter.

We were nervous. We spent forever trying to perfect that email. In the end we sent it to just 400 people.Today, if we write an email to every 38 Degrees member, it goes to nearly a million people.

There’s a simple reason for the difference between those two numbers: people out there, including you, believed enough to give 38 Degrees a go. Thank you.

It's been amazing to watch 38 Degrees explode this year. Think back to this time last year:

· Rupert Murdoch was finalising plans to grab full control of BSkyB – until we helped stop him in his tracks

· The government was pressing ahead with the privatisation of England's woodlands – until 38 Degrees members forced them tocancel the sell-off

· Andrew Lansley expected hisdangerous NHS changes would pass into law by the summer – but he’s still waiting, and together we'vealready stopped some of the worst parts of his plans

I wanted to ask if you would be willing to help celebrate all we've achieved in 2011, and invest in the hope of even better things to come in 2012 – with a regular contribution of just a few pounds a week?

If just 1,000 members chip in £2 or £3 a week, we will raise the vital resources needed to dramatically increase our impact in the year ahead.

Click here to give a small amount to 38 Degrees each week:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-your-direct-debit

We achieved so much in 2011 with hardly any money. Our way of campaigning is extremely cheap. We don't have a big bureaucracy, layers of management or marketing departments – just six great staff, lots of volunteers, and an amazing network of thousands of 38 Degrees members like you.

38 Degrees is cheap, but it isn't free, and funding can be a problem for organisations like us. If you want to be independent and stand up to the rich and powerful, you can't take money from big business or government. Too often big donations come with strings attached. It can be easy to fall into the trap of resorting to expensive marketing campaigns and big fundraising bureaucracies, where you spend almost as much on fundraising as you raise.

We avoid all these pitfalls, and stay lean, independent and focused on campaigning, by asking you to chip in.In the past year, nearly 50,000 38 Degrees members donated a small amount each. All those donations meant that we could move quickly to campaign on the issues that matter.

A small weekly donation of £2 or £3 from 1,000 members means we can expand all our work next year and plan ahead confidently. It'll mean we can think big and create even more high-impact campaigns.

I know I’m asking you to invest not only your money, but your faith and trust in this community and staff team to continue empowering change on the issues that matter most.I can promise you that the entire team is deeply committed to taking 38 Degrees and your donations as far as possible in 2012.

Sign up now to be a 38 Degrees sustainer in 2012, and choose how much you want to give:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-your-direct-debit

It’s easy to write warm words about how together we’re powerful. But for us, the proof is out there all across the UK. It’s there when we enjoy our beautiful forests, or when we’re treated in an NHS hospital. And more importantly, it will be there when our children and grandchildren can do the same.


With HUGE thanks,

David


PS - In case you're mulling it over, here's 6 more reasons to donate to 38 Degrees:

1. We’re driven by you
38 Degrees works because hundreds of thousands of us act together to create change. Every campaign we choose and the actions we run are voted on and decided together by our members - no other interests come into it.

We are completely independent from government, politicians, big business, lobby groups, trade unions, etc. There aren't many organisations who can say that! Democratic values are at the core of what we do - and this means everything is accountable to all 950,000 of you.

Set up your Direct Debit now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-your-direct-debit

2. We’re financially responsible
We are regularly audited to make sure all our books and accounts are in order - and we post the results online. This is done independently and on an annual basis by Sayer Vincent, who are specialists in auditing for NGOs and charities. Our last audit gave us a clean bill of health.

3. We’re cost-effective
Our way of campaigning has a huge impact without costing loads of money or employing layers of management. We are a small team of only six staff and several volunteers - that means there’s no bureaucracy and your money goes directly on campaign actions and resources. You can read more about how we make donations go as far as possible here.

4. We’re independent and political
We are not-for-profit, but we are not a charity. This makes a massive difference. If you are legally registered as a charity you have to follow a stream of rules on what you can and can't say or do. That means they can offer tax deductible donations - but they sacrifice the ability to say whatever needs to be said about politicians.

Our alternative, not-for-profit legal structure means we are completely independent to shout as loud as we need to on as many political issues as our members are concerned about.

5. We win
Our people-powered model of creating change works. And more people are joining every day. In just two years nearly 1 million of you have come together to take action:
- We’ve stopped the government selling off our forests
- Held back media baron Murdoch from getting his hands on BSkyB
- Helped crack down on tax dodgers
- Signed the UK government up to stop human trafficking

Working together we get politicians to listen, and we get our voices heard in the places where decisions are made. With your donations we can double our impact and double our membership community - that makes a powerful combination for ensuring we continue to win campaigns in 2012.

Help us win some more! Set up your Direct Debit here: 
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-your-direct-debit

6. We are a community of AMAZING people
You're part of an amazing community of people who help make change happen. Here are a few words from some of them:

- “I just want to say well done to the 38 Degrees team for enabling, encouraging, facilitating & motivating us all in our common cause. You should feel rightly proud of what you've achieved so far. Let the fight go on!” (Marie)

- “You are doing a **grand job** and it makes a **huge** difference to people like me. I've been a voter all my life - in every national, Euro or local election. Poor people, ordinary people and other women died so I could vote but I've often felt that my (minority) votes have been forever lost in an unfair system. I finally have a non-party political way to influence what happens on the things that I care about and I can choose which I act on and which I don't. (Julia)

- “a real opportunity to create 'The Voice of the People' and give ordinary people the chance to stand up and stop the travesty and injustice happening to law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. Well done. Count me in!” (Ian)

- “Voters today feel utterly disconnected from politicians who all too often seem to have no idea about the real world. We want to feel that we can make a difference, that our voice can be heard, that we are listened to. Organisations such as 38 Degrees allow ordinary voters a rare opportunity to make their voice heard.” (Bill)

- “38 Degrees gives us, the citizens, a way of feeding back our concerns to our politicians, so it is a great enhancer of our democratic rights”. - (Marek)

- “Because 38 degrees has given me the power to make my voice heard on such important issue. This is people power for the 21st century.”

- “I am an ordinary member of the public, and what the 38 Degrees folks are doing is pretty fantastic. I am concerned about an number of things and as I am in my 60's if there is a way that I can help even by a small donation I want to. We seem to be going backwards as a society and not forwards. Everyone needs to help each other.”

- “The campaigning work that members of 38 degrees are doing is really crucial and it is important that the organisation is not affiliated to any political party.”

- "We need a voice - 38 Degrees is OUR voice." (Carol)



Set up your Direct Debit now: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-your-direct-debit
   
Unsubscribe: If you no longer wish to be part of our movement and receive our emails you can unsubscribe here.
This email was sent to dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk.
38 DEGREES Registered Company No. 6642193 
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