SCN: Funding sources, policy, future course of SCN

[Janos Szablya]

Rod,

Let's get on thing straight.

CPRS was an umbrella

they did not run SCN

Janos



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On Thu, 24 Feb 2000, Rod Clark wrote:

> > Rod's comments (below) that CPSR set up SCN in such a way that we
> > wouldn't get substantial corporate, foundation, or govenment
> > support doesn't square with my recollections. One of the main
> > reasons that we didn't get any support was that we didn't ASK. I
> > can remember only one previous time when we submitted a grant
> > proposal (to the Bullitt Foundation to help environmental groups).
> > The main reason (in my recollection) we didn't seek grants is that
> > seeking grants is hard work and we didn't seem to be able to find
> > the time. I don't think it was ever an explicit POLICY decision
> > that forbade making proposals.
> 
> Doug,
> 
>    I wasn't there for the very early history of it, so I'll
> defer to your memories of that. But when I was a volunteer when
> CPSR ran SCN, in late '95 and the first half of '96, there was
> always a good deal of debate about issues like this, and never a
> clear agreement that I could see. And I think that in some
> important sense, policy is what actually happens over a course
> of years.
> 
>    This next is off on a tangent I suppose, bacause it's
> different from any question about grants. But I do remember
> that, in response to a question from a dissatisfied volunteer,
> you stood at a general meeting and said that you were in favor
> of SCN being friendlier to businesses in its content and in
> inviting more of their participation in the project. I'm sure I
> don't remember your views exactly, but I think they were mostly
> a general expression that SCN should more prominently include
> local small businessses and their economic life in the city.
> 
>    I also remember that while there was much sentiment in
> support of this as a fine concept, most of the volunteers there
> did not agree that actively advancing SCN along this course at
> that time was a good idea in practice. That particular
> discussion sticks in my mind because Doug Tooley had raised it
> as an acrimonious issue at the time, and because I was on the
> receiving end of a lot of the acrimony.
> 
>    This was also a time when people were fighting the CDA. If
> someone would have said then, "Oh, heck. I think we should
> pursue alliances with King County and some foundations and banks
> and institutions and seek major funding from them, and make that
> a lot more important than our membership revenues, and take them
> up on their generous offers to send us some experienced
> executives to advise us how to run things, and just see what
> happens!" that person might have met a cool welcome among the
> majority of SCN volunteers, even though that was and is a
> popular and workable model for other community networks.
> 
> > I am in favor of developing innovative community technology
> > projects and finding funds for them. What I think we need to
> resist is reliance on one or two resources for all of our
> revenues, fees for services, and (especially?) advertising.
> 
>    That's a responsible position, and I support it. I think SCN
> now has the solidity and experience, and the confidence in its
> ability to survive intact, to proceed safely and successfully
> with this on its own terms, that it did not have five years ago.
> 
> Rod
> 
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