Help with fund raising ideas & a Prager Fan Gathering

[Daniel Crandall]

To my fellow Prager-ites, who miss Dennis on the radio and now have to part with about $6 bucks a month to get his podcasts.

I would like some suggestions on how I might organize a fundraiser. Here's the story:

I was talking to Rev. Johannes Jacobse, the founder of the American Orthodox Institute (www.aoiusa.org, you check out their blog at www.aoiusa.org/blog/) yesterday. The American Orthodox Institute' mission is as follows: "The [AOI] is a research and educational organization that engages the cultural issues of the day within the Orthodox Christian moral tradition." This is something of a departure for many Orthodox Christians who tend to shy away from cultural issues, embracing, to a far greater extent, the spiritual nature of their faith. Fr. Hans wants to bring the teaching of the Orthodoxy to today's cultural issues as many orthodox Catholics, such as Fr. John Neuhaus did at First Things, and Fr. Robert Sirico does at the Acton Institute (www.acton.org). John Couretas, who is Greek Orthodox, is Acton's Communications Director & Executive Editor of Acton's Religion and Liberty, is the Executive Director at AOI.

To get an idea of Fr. Hans positions please take a look at the links above as well as the website he started following 9/11: www.OrthodoxyToday.org. This website is where I first learned about Fr. Hans and his work. These websites have been a God-send to me, who is deeply concerned with cultural issues and who is also a convert to Orthodoxy, and who deeply cares about the role faith plays in the public square. Fr. Hans has sadly been attacked by many of his fellow Orthodox as something of a proto-Protestant because he cares so much about society and culture. It is a hard thing to admit, but Fr. Hans has found a much more receptive audience among Evangelical Protestants than among his own fellow Orthodox.

I had a long conversation with Fr. Hans on Tuesday afternoon and he floated the idea of doing a fundraising event in the Seattle area. If it can be organized, he would like nothing better than to come to our corner of America and do a presentation about AOI. I have committed to him that I would do everything I can to make that happen.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback from folks in this group on how I can make this happen for Fr. Hans. Fr. Hans presented a goal to me of raising $200K. I would love nothing more than to see a majority, if not all, of that money come from the Seattle area. If you have experience in fundraising or event organizing or have contacts for a possible venue, please let me know. Lets schedule a time to it down and brainstorm some ideas. I want to carry the ball on this, I just need some ideas on where I can carry it to.

Also I want to apologize to the group, since I said I would schedule a get together way back in November or December, I think. I failed to do that. I am sorry. In hopes that I can make up for that failure to follow through, I would like to propose a gathering at ye olde Third Place Pub at Third Place Books-Ravenna. This gathering would be on Wednesday, 2/18 at 6:30 pm.

I look forward to hearing from folks on both these topics.

Take care,
Daniel Crandall
Seattle's Maple Leaf Neighborhood