2016 End of Year Fundraising - A Letter from the Nisut (AUS)
Submitted by nisutAUS on Tue, 12/27/2016 - 3:12pm
Em hotep to the children of Netjer!
You may have noticed that both kemet.org and netjer.org have a little "donation tracker" widget on their home pages, and some other pages.
Each month, we need money to operate. Nothing that the House of Netjer does is free, with the exception of the time and effort donated by our priesthood and membership who help keep things running. This is also not "free": it's just unpaid volunteer work. It costs each one of those lovely people in time and effort, and sometimes money, to occur.
Since 1989, the House of Netjer has provided many things for people who worship our gods, almost always free of charge. Those few things that we do require money for (such as Wep Ronpet retreat admission, or RPDs) are done with as much care as possible. We do not charge fees for profit; we only charge at cost wherever possible, and we offer sliding scales and scholarships and payment plans where we can as well.
Some examples: Our beginners' class, of which we've done more than 45 since approximately 1998, has never cost any money to join, even though it involves 16 weeks of work on the teachers' behalves for each class, and classes have consistently contained more than 50 students for at least a decade now. We offer multiple online simulcast chats, ritual simulcasts, and events on almost every day of the week, at no cost. We do not charge dues or fees for any membership level, including our priesthood. We host this website and the netjer.org forum, again at no cost for participation. We host events offline as often as possible, asking only for donations to defray costs, and never turning anyone away if they can't afford it. We have trained priests, created Shemsu-Ankh through the Kemetic Orthodox mystery of the Weshem-ib, presented lectures and rituals at conferences, represented our people at international and interfaith meetings, created publications, and purchased and maintained two physical properties, one in Michigan from 2000-2003, and one in Illinois from October 2003 to the present, as temples to the deities of Kemet.
We've done a great deal, and much of it without requiring any financial payments from our members. We have done this all on generosity: my personal savings and the donations of our members and friends. Those who have donated money, from myself to priests to a body of very special people who believe in what we're doing, have been carrying that for us all this time. For a number of years, our biggest support was facilitated largely through two grants we received, which comprised $3500/month of our donation base. Both these grants unfortunately ended in 2016, due to an economic downturn that meant their benefactors were required to withdraw. However, we are a much bigger and stronger temple than we were when those grants began, and over time we have also acquired many more wonderful people who support the temple, whether through occasional gifts or monthly donations, of any size (our smallest donations are $1-5 per month, and the largest in the hundreds).
Together, we can keep this legacy going for the future, so that we can continue to worship the gods of Kemet and encourage and train others to do so as a nonprofit temple, without having to revert to a membership model where we charge mandatory dues, or have to ask for payment to participate in more of our offerings.
We need you to make this happen. If you find value in what we do as a temple and in what I do for you as Nisut (which I can do more of if I can do this full-time and not have to take other jobs to survive; another reason to consider donating is that once we reach a certain threshhold of donations I can receive a partial or full salary to work for you full-time), please consider joining those who already support us, with a monetary gift. Even the tiniest gifts make a difference, because they add up.
Thank you so much, to all who already carry us, and to those who will join us in doing this work for the gods and the people of our gods, everywhere. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be doing this work with you, and I hope that we continue to do it far into the future, with more and more people taking up the support as we go. Because that's how we build a thing and keep it growing. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being here with us as we continue our work for the future.
Much love,
(Hekatawy-Alexandros)|
Rev. Tamara Siuda
Nisut, Kemetic Orthodoxy
P.S. Through December 31, PayPal will add 1% to any donation made to the House of Netjer directly using this website:
https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/105865137050618816/charity/70429
This means that a $10 donation will become $11, etc. This also enables you to receive a 2016 tax deduction if it is received by the end of this secular year. Thank you for your support.
You may have noticed that both kemet.org and netjer.org have a little "donation tracker" widget on their home pages, and some other pages.
Each month, we need money to operate. Nothing that the House of Netjer does is free, with the exception of the time and effort donated by our priesthood and membership who help keep things running. This is also not "free": it's just unpaid volunteer work. It costs each one of those lovely people in time and effort, and sometimes money, to occur.
Since 1989, the House of Netjer has provided many things for people who worship our gods, almost always free of charge. Those few things that we do require money for (such as Wep Ronpet retreat admission, or RPDs) are done with as much care as possible. We do not charge fees for profit; we only charge at cost wherever possible, and we offer sliding scales and scholarships and payment plans where we can as well.
Some examples: Our beginners' class, of which we've done more than 45 since approximately 1998, has never cost any money to join, even though it involves 16 weeks of work on the teachers' behalves for each class, and classes have consistently contained more than 50 students for at least a decade now. We offer multiple online simulcast chats, ritual simulcasts, and events on almost every day of the week, at no cost. We do not charge dues or fees for any membership level, including our priesthood. We host this website and the netjer.org forum, again at no cost for participation. We host events offline as often as possible, asking only for donations to defray costs, and never turning anyone away if they can't afford it. We have trained priests, created Shemsu-Ankh through the Kemetic Orthodox mystery of the Weshem-ib, presented lectures and rituals at conferences, represented our people at international and interfaith meetings, created publications, and purchased and maintained two physical properties, one in Michigan from 2000-2003, and one in Illinois from October 2003 to the present, as temples to the deities of Kemet.
We've done a great deal, and much of it without requiring any financial payments from our members. We have done this all on generosity: my personal savings and the donations of our members and friends. Those who have donated money, from myself to priests to a body of very special people who believe in what we're doing, have been carrying that for us all this time. For a number of years, our biggest support was facilitated largely through two grants we received, which comprised $3500/month of our donation base. Both these grants unfortunately ended in 2016, due to an economic downturn that meant their benefactors were required to withdraw. However, we are a much bigger and stronger temple than we were when those grants began, and over time we have also acquired many more wonderful people who support the temple, whether through occasional gifts or monthly donations, of any size (our smallest donations are $1-5 per month, and the largest in the hundreds).
Together, we can keep this legacy going for the future, so that we can continue to worship the gods of Kemet and encourage and train others to do so as a nonprofit temple, without having to revert to a membership model where we charge mandatory dues, or have to ask for payment to participate in more of our offerings.
We need you to make this happen. If you find value in what we do as a temple and in what I do for you as Nisut (which I can do more of if I can do this full-time and not have to take other jobs to survive; another reason to consider donating is that once we reach a certain threshhold of donations I can receive a partial or full salary to work for you full-time), please consider joining those who already support us, with a monetary gift. Even the tiniest gifts make a difference, because they add up.
Thank you so much, to all who already carry us, and to those who will join us in doing this work for the gods and the people of our gods, everywhere. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be doing this work with you, and I hope that we continue to do it far into the future, with more and more people taking up the support as we go. Because that's how we build a thing and keep it growing. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being here with us as we continue our work for the future.
Much love,
(Hekatawy-Alexandros)|
Rev. Tamara Siuda
Nisut, Kemetic Orthodoxy
P.S. Through December 31, PayPal will add 1% to any donation made to the House of Netjer directly using this website:
https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/105865137050618816/charity/70429
This means that a $10 donation will become $11, etc. This also enables you to receive a 2016 tax deduction if it is received by the end of this secular year. Thank you for your support.
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