The rapid increase in the extent of the Citizen’s Basic Income debate has made some significant demands on our slender funds this year. Demand for our publications has required us to update and reprint both the introductory booklet and the student poster, and this year as well as last the amount of material available has enabled us to publish four rather than three editions of the Citizen’s Income Newsletter. We are of course extremely pleased that debate around the desirability and feasibility of Citizen’s Basic Income is receiving such increased attention: however, the booklet cost £1,025 to print, the posters £580, and each edition of the Newsletter costs about £100. The result is that by the end of this year our expenditure will have exceeded our income by about £2,000, and our reserves will be below £3,000.
We are enormously grateful to those of our readers who already help us financially. If others of you are able to do so, either with a single donation, or with a regular standing order, then that would be much appreciated. We’ve tried to make this as easy as possible: just visit the donation page on our website.
A second and somewhat different request
CBIT’s trustees are increasingly aware of the opportunities presented by the current state of the Citizen’s Basic Income debate, and of our inability to meet those opportunities because of a lack of resources. Until five years ago Citizen’s Basic Income was a minority interest, and running CBIT on a shoestring budget and the time that a volunteer director and occasional other volunteers could offer was entirely appropriate. The debate is now very different – but our income this year will still be about £3,000, and we continue to operate on small amounts of voluntary labour, so the resources that we have available nowhere near match the opportunities. We have lots of ideas for new ways to promote discussion on the desirability and feasibility of Citizen’s Basic Income, for doing the research now required, and for making accessible the research results already available. Money to employ staff, and a budget for events and research, are now essential. The problem is that there is no grant-making foundation with the promotion of debate on the reform of the benefits system as a grant-making criterion. We’ve tried.
If any of you know anyone who might be able to provide the Trust with sufficient money for paid staff, for events, and for research, then both the trustees and the director would be grateful to be put in touch with them, and would be eternally grateful if their interest were to turn into the regular substantial donation required.