Small goals from small minds

I received the following email from CSGV which gives us insight into just how small their support base is. $3000 after a week of fundraising? And a goal of $10000? Wow!

If the contributions were the suggested $20 then that means they have about 150 people who were willing to support them with actual money as opposed to just pressing the “Like” button on Facebook. Boomershoot attracts that many people who travel hundreds or thousands of miles and spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to participate.

Even though I am far from an expert on the subject I know they are totally clueless about writing a fundraising letter. But what do you expect from people who are totally clueless about the people and culture they want to destroy?

Small goals from small minds.

From: Chelsea White [mailto:Chelsea@csgv.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 8:50 AM
Subject: FW: We Owe it to You

I wanted to make sure you saw this email from Josh. Supporters like you who donated in response raised over $3,000 dollars already, which is a great start on our end of the year campaign! But we still need to raise $7,000 to reach our goal. Can you make a contribution to help us out?

Click here to donate $20 or whatever you can give right now.

Thanks so much,

Chelsea White
Director of Development
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Josh Horwitz <Josh@csgv.org>
Date: Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 2:12 PM
Subject: We Owe it to You
To: Chelsea White <Chelsea@csgv.org>

Dear Chelsea,

I want to thank you. Your steadfast commitment to ending the tragedy of gun violence played an integral role in the work of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) in 2013.

The year really started for us here at CSGV on that dark day of December 14, 2012, when a deranged gunman slaughtered 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary. Like the rest of America, we were heartbroken, but we redoubled our efforts to prevent future tragedies and can now reflect on some important accomplishments.

While the U.S. Congress failed to act in the wake of massacre, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey and California all enacted significant new laws to reduce gun violence. Additionally, for the first time in seven years, a permanent director of the ATF was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Our staff here at the Coalition was involved in these achievements, and played a key role in the historic off-year election in Virginia, in which proponents of comprehensive gun reform won elected office in all three statewide races!

We want to continue to build on this momentum. Will you pitch in $20 to help us push for change in 2014?

Supporters like you also helped us reach our goal in several CSGV-sponsored petition campaigns this year. These successes included:

  • Pressuring Ms. Magazine to reverse their decision to give into intimidation by pro-gun extremists and censor gun violence prevention activist Heidi Yewman’s articles.
  • Lobbying National Geographic to cancel a planned episode of “Doomsday Preppers” that was to feature a pro-gun extremist who threatened to “start killing people” in response to White House consideration of gun reform.
  • Demanding the Gilberton Borough Council fire dangerous, insurrectionist police chief Mark Kessler, who threatened “armed revolt” and shot the council’s members in effigy.

We expect even more wins like this in the coming year; wins that will make a difference in changing the culture of violence in this country. If we work together—if we stand together—we can save lives and help families across America.

As we approach the end of the year, will you make a contribution to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence?
As a small organization with a tight budget, every dollar counts! We want to be able to continue to engage in cutting-edge projects that make a difference. Thank you so much for enabling us to do just that in 2013.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and the happiest of new years. Here’s to a safer America in 2014!
Sincerely,

Josh Horwitz
Executive Director
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

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13 thoughts on “Small goals from small minds

  1. Talk about influence out of whack with real world support! I could raise that much on kickstarter, promisimg a youtube video of my dog chasing rabbits through the prairie grass. (that actually is fun to watch. You see nothing but tail)

  2. I’m sure at LEAST one of the “True Believers” dropped at LEAST $100…I wouldn’t be surprised if some of that money came from a cashed Joyce Foundation check.

    We all saw pictures of the Brady Campaign annual meeting, and I think we all noticed that a bulk of that small room was CSGV and Mom’s Demand Action people.

    I’m betting EVERY person that donated was sitting in that room, and several people who were their abstained.

    • I’ve always assumed there’s significant overlap between all the anti-gun groups’ “membership” rosters. Those “thousands of members” are really just a few hundred, most of whom belong to multiple groups so they end up getting counted multiple times.

      The Brady Campaign meeting is the CSGV meeting is the Moms Demand [something] meeting. Hand the microphone to the next person, and you’ve got the next meeting.

  3. Heck, probably a significant portion came from employer matching, assuming these are non-profits.

  4. “…Maryland, Colorado, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey and California all enacted significant new laws…”

    If that is what the anti-gun crowd can accomplish with such a weak, ineffective grass roots support I do not ever want to see what it can do with any real support, even temporary support, such as after a terrorist attack or a truly successful mass murder.

    How long and how much effort will it take to repeal those laws in 7 states, just to get back to where the law was a year ago? Years to decades, and millions.

    What plan is there in those states to promote gun rights? None that I see.

    How many more such victorious years can the pro-gun side have before semiautomatic firearms are banned nearly nationwide, “sniper rifles” must be stored at police stations, and ammo is doled out in single digits after a waiting period?

    Has anyone in the pro-gun movement heard of Pyrrhic victories?

    • Colorado is making good progress on repealing the law. Three of those who voted for it are now out of office. Others are in fear of the next election.

      Lawsuits are proceeding in California, New York, and other states. Yes, it will take time but we are making progress.

      • The federal courts in California just strongly rejected the state’s motion to dismiss a challenge to their 10-day waiting period law on gun purchases. As of yet, the challenge stands and will go to trial.

        In California.

        I can’t help but think that not long ago, we wouldn’t be getting anywhere near this stage with a challenge in that state.

    • That’s like lamenting you couldn’t stop a touchdown when it was first and goal with the ball inches from the line. Of those states, the only one that hasn’t been anti-gun for decades is Colorado, and as noted, there is already progress towards repeal.

      The fight in the rest is the long fight, and will probably take place in the courts more than the legislatures. They will be the last bastions to fall, and they won’t go easily.

  5. The people at CSGV are aren’t just totally clueless about the people and culture they want to destroy, they are totally clueless about basic human nature and what capitulating to a bully has as a consequence. They roll over for the mugger and murderer and they insist everyone else do, too.

  6. “And a goal of $7000? Wow!”

    Minor quibble: The $7000 is how far they are from the goal, i.e., the goal is $10,000. Still not particularly ambitious: I have close to that in my ammo storage.

  7. Pingback: Monday News Links | Shall Not Be Questioned

  8. $10K as a goal?
    We had a new member Orientation class for our range this weekend. With background check fees, processing fees and dues for 42 new members — the total was just over $10K.

    That was one of 6 Orientation classes we had this year. If the media wasn’t their allies, they wouldn’t not even make a splash in a small pond.

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