Report from the Ad Hoc Friends Concerns Committee

7/8/2007

We were appointed at the June Business Meeting to “explore ways in which we might communicate among ourselves and express through various means our individual and corporate engagement with other groups and organizations.”

We believe that

A. The primary focus of our process should be to share information about Quaker-

related organizations and support one another in our involvement with these groups.

B. Linking this sharing of concerns so closely to the budgeting process has not worked well. It has cast the issue as primarily a financial one, engaging only to those interested in the Meeting’s budget. Further, some have seen those trying to share their concerns as “lobbyists,” which is highly destructive to the spirit we want to nourish. We should separate the budgeting issue from the deeper issue of our moral and spiritual support for organizations and individuals carrying out Friends’ concerns and testimonies.

C. For this process to flourish, it should be under the ongoing care and oversight of a permanent committee of the Meeting. The committee’s charge should include development of ways to share and learn about organizations carrying out Friends’ concerns.

D. Among those groups currently identified as “Friends’ Concerns,” we should distinguish between those to which our contributions are symbolic and those to which they are more substantive. Our support of groups in the first category expresses general affirmation of their work, while our support of groups in the second category (typically local and regional) is geared more directly to their financial needs.

We therefore propose:

1. That Peace & Social Concerns Committee be charged with overseeing the general process of communicating among ourselves about our individual and corporate engagement with Quaker-related groups and organizations. We ask the committee to create ways to enable Friends to share information about, and their involvement in, these organizations. We ask P&SC to report back to business meeting regularly on the results of this effort.

2. That we divide the current category of Friends’ Concerns into two groups – “Local Concerns” and “Other Organizations.” At present, the Local Concerns category consists of

AFSC of Western Massachusetts ($330)

Alternatives to Violence Project ($250)

Amherst Interfaith Service Council ($50)

Amherst Martin Luther King Breakfast ($50)

Woolman Hill Conference Center ($500)

(Figures in parentheses are our FY06 – 07 contribution)

As part of the regular budgeting process, the Finance Committee would be responsible for adding organizations to, or dropping them from, this list, and for bringing specific recommendations for our contributions to each such organization.

3. That the Other Organizations category consist of groups to which we would like to make a modest contribution to indicate our support for their work. The amount would ideally be the same for each group. It is expected that the bulk of the financial support from the Mt. Toby community for these groups would come from individuals among us. As part of our regular budget cycle, Finance Committee would specify a lump sum for this category. From time to time during the course of the year, Peace and Social Concerns Committee would come to Business Meeting with recommendations for groups to be included in this category, with a brief presentation of each group and its work, and a recommended contribution.

4. That we allocate the $1980 total approved for Friends Concerns in the FY07- 08 budget as follows:

- We contribute to the Local Concerns organizations the amounts used last year, listed above (in recommendation 2) in parentheses – a total of $1180.

- The remaining $800 be set aside for Other Organizations, to be allocated following the process in recommendation 3 (above).

Roger Conant

Margaret Cooley

Andrea Cousins

Ken Hoffman

George Levinger