Session: What's Money Got To Do With It?

This workshop focused on economic justice. The idea is to address what the term means - it is commonly used, but how is it put into practice?

We started by doing introductions. The presenter explained that the idea was that WE LEARN needed this workshop because it is a conference theme, and because of the economic situation in the world. And to also help people understand the economic structure of WE LEARN.

One participant said she wanted to learn about the structure, because she is getting involved in similar efforts. There is a concern for sustainability.

One participant talked about moving his organization away from a membership model towards a participant one. What does that mean for the financial situation of the organization?

One participant is a student, who just wants info because she his new.

One participant is a board member and a leader of other organizations, so wanted to learn more about the budget (especially since WE LEARN does so much with such a lean budget). This kind of work is under-resourced, which is an issue of social justice.

One participant is a program director and teacher, and has to juggle funding and deal with budget cuts. She is also a WE LEARN board becoming more involved in the discussion. She feels now how much she doesn't know. She wonders what economic justice means on the ground for members - learners, teachers, etc.

The we did a hands-on activity: What it costs to run Women's Perspectives.

We start with $650.

Income: Donations, Grants, Sales, Other

Expenses: Conference calls, Printing, Contract Worker, Print Issue, Postage

We start by looking at the costs of the calls. At $.06 per minute per caller, 10 people, 90 minute calls, and four calls, the total is $216.

For the printing, in house $.05, 60 pages, x 200 = $600

Contract Worker: New thing, because the director cannot do it herself anymore. Using homeless shelter students to do it as a project it didn't work out. They used a graduate who needed it for her resume and did for less money. Contract hours by a company $60-$100/hour. 40 hours? However, WE LEARN does not pay this much.

For income, if WE LEARN prints 200 copies and half are given away. So if there are only 100 to sell, at 8 a piece - it is $800.

This covers almost the printing, but nothing else. There are also awards, up to $500.

This means that it doesn't cover its own cost (to the tune of -$1411.34).

But as an issue of economic justice, it is important to provide accessibility.
In the same way, the membership has a sliding scale. The conference registration is also this way - a varied structure allows people to participate in ways that work for them.

Economic issues also help shape decisions about lunch at the conference. Some people cannot afford to eat out, so having the food as an equalizer. Learner price covers the food.

Who gets paid? Everybody is a volunteer. The director has no salary (though she does on paper), so that is also an issue of economic justice.

What about work to offset the cost of the conference? When is that allowed?

So lean budget. Need to spend money to make money?

Open Conversation:

Economic justice as part of the mission as seen in the structure of the conference.

We cannot assume people can or can't pay (particularly students).

Grants typically ask you to go in a certain direction. WE LEARN also doesn't do direct service. Or they pay for project, but not salary. Or they only fund new stuff. Or how are you doing systemic change?

Suggestion: For student line in form, have numbers spread out starting at a base rate.

The main reason people say that they haven't given money is that people have not asked.

WE LEARN is open about the budget.

Do you need to have money to make money? Is the budget not big enough for people to take it seriously.

How to be more sustainable?

Diversify membership (reach out to non-adult ed areas that interact with learners, such as health literacy, financial literacy) and services (reading circles for health literacy)

Online read-a-thon with sponsors?

If you have "this just pays for the food" on the form, people might pay more.