As you may know by now, CASAA has always been shy about fundraising from our membership. It is a strategic consideration acknowledging that most people who smoke may not have extra cash laying around that they can give away easily. As a result, CASAA has relied on the bulk of our donations coming from the industry for several years. This has allowed us to continue our work without pestering our membership for donations, or placing CASAA’s resources behind a paywall.
But while our membership has grown, recurring, sustaining support has remained relatively flat and one-time donations have declined. CASAA is at a point where we must make difficult decisions. The most immediate concern is whether or not we can continue our level of engagement beyond this summer.
But even though industry support has historically come to CASAA with no strings attached, we knew there was always the possibility that our mission to maximize awareness and access to safer nicotine products would conflict with some of the industry’s financial priorities. We have reached that point and because of our position, support from some of the largest companies has dried up. Shareholders are calling the shots and they’re demanding market domination, even if it’s from outdated products that have an artificial foothold supported by broken FDA regulations.
We are looking at this funding crisis as an opportunity. The community that we all have built can seize this moment and fund its consumer organization to the point that we don’t need industry support. If just 4% of CASAA’s members commit to donating $2 per month we can sustain our efforts for as long as it takes. To put this into perspective, when we smoked we used to spend anywhere from $5 to $20 per day on cigarettes. Since we’ve switched to safer alternatives, we save way more than $2 per day. For just six cents per day out of those savings we can keep CASAA alive and representing the needs of consumers who don’t want to smoke anymore!
We’ve taken our seat at the table and if we want to protect our access to safer alternatives we have to keep it. Can CASAA count on your support to continue connecting consumers with lawmakers?
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A portion of the proceeds go to supporting our efforts!
Your generous support helps fund our work tracking legislation, alerting consumers, educating officials, and bringing you the latest news and research about tobacco harm reduction. Most important, your donations help us connect you directly with your lawmakers when the time is right to ensure your voice is heard!
P.S. We’re aiming higher than just sustaining our current level of service, so every donation counts! Even if your budget is tight, forwarding this message to a friend (or five) may be very helpful.