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The practice of WCOCA giving small cash grants to organizations goes back to a time when there were very few WCOCA members available to do special projects such as publicity. Under those circumstances, it made sense to give small cash grants to a few organizations that were attracting patrons to Woodstock. At that time WCOCA might give half a dozen or so grants that would typically be in the $50 to $150 range or well less then $900 or so total for the entire year. As time went on and word hit the street about WCOCA handouts, the frequency, quantity and size, of requests increased and not surprisingly, this informal practice got out of hand. In recent years, WCOCA has gained in members willing to help with promotion and because it still seemed to be obligated to some past "promise" of "support". This of course lead to even more bad feelings.
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At the very least, WCOCA can take a leadership role by reminding its members what a signifigant value the non-profits have in making Woodstock an interesting place for patrons to visit. It can further quantify this by listing possible benefeciaries in order of their estimated value to visitors. Possibly WCOCA could go a step further by doing a matching-fund type fundraiser. Certainly the Non-Profits, as part of their regular activities,
do much to make Woodstock attractive to patrons. On the other hand, WCOCA could easily cross the line into becoming a Robin Hood. While that may not bother WCOCA's rich members all that much (who probably give to the Non-Profits anyway), others members might well wish the dues were a little less. (a $2000 donation is $10 from each member). And it is quite important for WCOCA to encourage many people to join because having many, and a wide variety of listings also is an important way in which WCOCA makes Woodstock look attractive to patrons. Donators and benefactors need to be analyzed both as individuals and togather as a whole picture. What percentage of each members dues is a reasonable amount? If WCOCA does make donations, how does it allot money in an objective fashion? Clearly some organizations are much more patron-attractive then others. It's safe to assume that no one would suggest the fire tower be given the same amount as Bird on a Cliff Theatre. May 2004 |
The following list is of Patron attracting organizations
and has been rated for estimated value to WCOCA members on:
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Next are high visibility community areas. That is, things that that make the community a more pleasant place to do business.SKATEBOARD PARK I can't help but snipe, while the county can spend $71,000 per cell on prison building, a Skateboard park that attracts kids to good positive activity has to panhandle for $60,000 in funds. What is wrong with that picture? FIREWORKS VILLAGE GREEN (WCOCA gave them $500 last year) |
The ones that didn't make it onto this particular 2004 list are.Comeau Park
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In 2005, WCOCA has pretty much agreed that it is unable to give cash grants from its general operating fund but instead will do fund raising to assist various worthy causes. Doing fundraising in a democratic fashion would suggest some system whereby nonprofits would submit short request forms which would then be thrown into a hat for a drawing. Money raised would go to one or more of the winners of the draw. To make system even more democratic, winners from current year would be excluded from entering following year. WCOCA might take a further step of creating its own list of "Most valuable organizations" (see below).
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