Jul 24, 2018
People have asked us what we do with the donations that we solicit and very gratefully receive. Here are some of the expenses we use these funds for:
- Putting on Candidate Forums – This is by far our biggest expense. Each forum costs around $500 – $750 to rent a space. We have been using Tucson Unified School District locations, so our rental fees go back into supporting the schools we use. The cost includes the facility rental, TUSD personnel costs, and required event insurance.
- Printed Materials to hand out at forums – We usually spend around $150 on printing material for each forum, which includes items like the note cards and report cards we handed out at our most recent events. We love getting your feedback on the report cards. It’s a quick way for you to tell us what you want to see more or less of, and we absolutely use that in shaping future events. And of course, the candidates appreciate the immediate responses telling them how you thought they did at these events.
- Promotional Materials – Early on in our existence, we needed to let people know who we were, and what we are all about. We printed up bumper stickers, flyers and pens to share with folks at our own events and those of our partners and other gatherings throughout the community. We have spent about $750 since our inception on these items.
By the way, we always use The Gloo Factory for all of our printing needs. This local, community-minded Union print shop shares our values, and we are happy to give them our business, and this shout-out. ☺ - Normal Operating Costs – You know, things like PO box rental, rental space for our monthly meetings at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, our bank account, website etc. We work very hard to keep these expenses to a minimum, somewhere around $50/month.
One thing we NEVER spend money on – staff! We are all volunteers, and we give our time and energy to this endeavor because we hope that ultimately it will make a positive difference in the lives of our families, our neighbors, and our communities.
Hope this has given you an idea of how we put your hard-earned money to work. Because we are registered as a political action committee, we file regular committee finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. These are public, and you can find them at FEC.gov, under the committee name Representmeaz.
