CA Emergency Fund - Feedback please

[macms]

I'm asking for feedback regarding this idea to provide emergency assistance to our brothers in need. In the coming weeks/months some of our brothers may experience hardship. There is a principle that says, you must give it away to keep it. In this spirit I hope that this idea will provide us the opportunity to practice this.

Gifts could be cash or pre-paid gift cards for grocery stores, etc. or direct payments for utilities, etc.

The committee members alluded to have been selected and will remain anonymous for the time being.

Thank you for reading this and providing your feedback. After reviewing your feedback and in consultation with our moderators, a decision will be made if will we proceed with it.




CA Emergency Fund

The purpose of this fund is to provide a one time monetary gift to our unemployed brothers in need who are nominated by a member in good standing of CA.


How to nominate a brother


The candidate must be unemployed a minimum of 45 days.
All nominations and awards will remain anonymous.
If the decision is made to award a gift to a nominee they will be contacted directly by the committee.
The person nominated will never know they were nominated if a gift is not awarded.
The committee will never disclose who nominated a recipient.
The person nominating a candidate will never know if a gift was granted.



NOMINATE (#) A BROTHER HERE


Governance

A committee comprised of members of CA will administer this fund.


The committee will provide an accounting of donations and distributions for our members here (#).
The committee will determine all recipients of the relief funds and the amount of the gift.
Committee members and their families are not eligible to participate.



PLEASE DONATE (#) HERE


You may donate a minimum of $1.00 up to any amount you wish at any time to this fund.
This is an informal effort therefore your donation is NOT tax deductible.

[massphatness]

Love the concept, Fred.

Question: what if one of our brothers or sisters is in need for a reason other than job loss? What if he or she is having a hard time because a spouse is unemployed or there's a child in the house with an illness, etc.? Can they be nominated?

I apologize if I'm muddying the waters.

[bvilchez]

Fred I love the idea!!!!

I was once told that one man's dollar is another man's hundred dollars.

[DPD6030]

I agree and love the idea. Might as well be CAMS (cigar asylum member supporters)! The donate link isn't working for me.

[shilala]

I think it's a very worthwhile idea, Fred. You're a genius.

[macms]

Love the concept, Fred.

Question: what if one of our brothers or sisters is in need for a reason other than job loss? What if he or she is having a hard time because a spouse is unemployed or there's a child in the house with an illness, etc.? Can they be nominated?

I apologize if I'm muddying the waters.

This is the kind of feedback that's very helpful. Will consider this as well. Thanks.

[macms]

I agree and love the idea. Might as well be CAMS (cigar asylum member supporters)! The donate link isn't working for me.

I like CAMS! :tu

[G G]

Sounds like a winner to me.

[loki]

that's a freaking awesome idea, i love it

[chippewastud79]

Fred, its a great idea.

A question, how will it be determined the amount of the gift and what type of gift will be given (gift card, bill payment, etc.)?

A statement, not that I am one to judge, I do believe the people here are good, honest people, but similar to giving money to a random person or charity and not knowing whether they are buying something they need (food, clothes) or a luxury item (booze, or something else). I have experienced this misappropriation of funds in my own life when trying to help out a family member and it feels like you have been cheated. :2

[Mikepd]

This is why we as a community stand apart from other groups. I'm all for it and am proud to call you guys my family!

[68TriShield]

I'll get on board Fred. I'd like to see the member in question kept anonymous if its desired.
Good idea Sir :)

[macms]

Fred, its a great idea.

A question, how will it be determined the amount of the gift and what type of gift will be given (gift card, bill payment, etc.)?

Excellent question. I'm thinking the committee will make this decision based upon the details of the request (nomination) and communication with the nominee. There can be no hard and fast "rules" as each situation will be unique. The committee will make a good faith effort to address the need of the recipient and the good will of our members. :2

[bigliver]

Count me in as well. I am fortunate enough to be employed and have no danger of losing my job. It would be my honor to help out a friend in need.

[Emjaysmash]

VERY good idea!

[av8tor152d]

Excellent idea !

[bvilchez]

The donate link isn't working for me.

Me neither......:confused:

[macms]

The links are not functional at the moment. This thread is only to discuss the feasibility of this idea. If the decision is made to move forward then a new thread with a functional post will be provided. Thanks

[bvilchez]

The links are not functional at the moment. This thread is only to discuss the feasibility of this idea. If the decision is made to move forward then a new thread with a functional post will be provided. Thanks


Good to go.....well you can DEFINITELY count me in....we're family on here....:tu

[GrumpyOleTroll]

Count me in as well. I am fortunate enough to be employed and have no danger of losing my job. It would be my honor to help out a friend in need.
:tpd:

I am in as well.



Keep me in the loop.






Shawn

[SilverFox]

Love the concept, Fred.

Question: what if one of our brothers or sisters is in need for a reason other than job loss? What if he or she is having a hard time because a spouse is unemployed or there's a child in the house with an illness, etc.? Can they be nominated?

I apologize if I'm muddying the waters.

I am all for this, I like the idea of broader nomination as well.

[tobii3]

Absolutely great idea.

I'm on board!!

[rhythm11]

I like the idea and would be a contributor to this fund

[shilala]

Our Local calls this our "Benevolence Fund".
It's in place to help brothers who have fallen on hard times, whatever the case may be. Works out real well.
They mostly fund the BF through tshirt/junk sales at our fraternal activities.

[CBI_2]

Absolutely Brilliant! Count me in as a yes vote.

[nozero]

Pretty sure you can count on me as well. I'd like to add that I'd be willing to pay up to say $20.00 for membership toward something like this, one time or perhaps even annually. It could be completely anonymous or those who participate could be identified by some sort of tag, CACA Cigar Asylum Contributors Anonymous. j/k on that tag...
:D

[ahc4353]

This is a fantastic idea. Here to support this effort anyway I can.

[Smokin Gator]

I am definitely in for this in whatever form it takes. I don't know if this is possible, but if when you set up the donate button there could be a choice for a recurring monthly contribution that was automatically deducted that would be great. If that was not possible I will just set a monthly reminder on my calendar.

Great idea!!!

[white_s2k]

Great idea Fred, and I like the idea of keeping it anonymous.

Let me know what I can do. :tu

[CigarDood]

If you guys want to set something up like this, you should probably consider setting up an actual charitable organization to provide limited liability for those in charge and tax-deductible contributions for donors. PM me if you want to discuss.

[macms]

If you guys want to set something up like this, you should probably consider setting up an actual charitable organization to provide limited liability for those in charge and tax-deductible contributions for donors. PM me if you want to discuss.

In a more formal environment a charitable organizational LLC would be very appropriate. IMHO, the liability of overseeing this fund would be no greater than the donations for the troops fund. While tax deductible opportunities may result in greater donations, this is not meant as a program of CA or ongoing support to the recipient. The costs to implement a 501 (c) (3) would be prohibitive at this time.

A program like this could be hosted off site by the committee if needed to remove CA from liability issues. Any attorney's on CA could respond via PM to me with there thoughts.

I may be foolish, but I perceive this as a non-formal, grass roots effort by members to help out a guy out if/when needed. :2

[Sailkat]

Great idea! You can count on us to help anyway we can.

[14holestogie]

I, too am in.

[bobarian]

This is a brilliant idea. :tu Just point us in the right direction and I am sure the donations will flow as generously as everyone donates for the troops!:salute:

[Darrell]

BOTL taking care of BOTL, sounds like what we are ALL about. I'm on board. :salute:

[CigarDood]

In a more formal environment a charitable organizational LLC would be very appropriate. IMHO, the liability of overseeing this fund would be no greater than the donations for the troops fund. While tax deductible opportunities may result in greater donations, this is not meant as a program of CA or ongoing support to the recipient. The costs to implement a 501 (c) (3) would be prohibitive at this time.

A program like this could be hosted off site by the committee if needed to remove CA from liability issues. Any attorney's on CA could respond via PM to me with there thoughts.

I may be foolish, but I perceive this as a non-formal, grass roots effort by members to help out a guy out if/when needed. :2

***THIS POST IS NOT INTENDED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE***

Maybe it's just the risk-averse lawyer in me, but I see a significant amount of risk in running a program like this. I'd rather not discuss the risks, etc. in an open forum, so if you want to discuss it, PM me.

As far as start-up costs are concerned, I could probably help you track down pro bono counsel to get this off the ground.

[ashmaster]

I'll do what I can to help. :tu

[hotreds]

A wonderful idea, but I too, would look before leaping. Thanks, CD for looking out for us! Hopefully we can get this off the ground with the "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed!

[smokeyandthebandit05]

Honestly I would help ANY BOTL in need.

[SmokeyJoe]

I like CAMS! :tu

Or how about:

Hardship Emergency Relief Fund H.E.R.F. ! :ss

Great idea, Fred. You are a good-hearted man. :tu

[Cenookie]

Great idea, count me in!!!