As I have mentioned, I am embarked on an effort to recapture
and organize a lifetime of writing. As I
started working through a file drawer of unpublished papers, I came across a
copy [misfiled] of a fund-raising letter that I mailed out on January 25, 1991
for my newly created charitable organization, University Scholarships for South
African Students [USSAS]. My principal
gimmick for getting USSAS started was to buy the mailing lists of a number of
American academic organizations – The American Philosophical Association, the
Organization of American Historians, the English and American Literature branch
of the Modern Language Association, and so forth. Then I rounded up big names in those fields
to co-sign a letter I drafted [Jack Rawls declined], and sent out appeals to
all the members. By the time I was done,
I had sent out 85,000 letters.
Considering the distinction of the letter signers, I had high hopes, but
folks with experience in the fund-raising business warned me to expect no more
than a one or two percent response, a caution that proved quite accurate.
The letter I stumbled on yesterday went to all the members
of the American Economics Association.
Let me tell you who signed it: Kenneth
Arrow, Alice Rivlin, Paul Samuelson, Amartya Sen, Herbert Simon, and Joseph
Stiglitiz. Five Nobel Prize
winners! And only about 2% of the
economists who got the letter mailed in some money. Don’t be fooled by the likes of Sheldon Adelson,
the Mercers, and the Koch brothers.
Raising money is hard.
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