Petty peeve du jour
Friday, December 28th, 2007
OK, this is a petty peeve, but it happens often enough that I want to comment on it. Terry Dolan, the now deceased head of NCPAC (the National Conservative Political Action Committee) once told me “Nonprofits will spend three dollars to save a dollar.” So true. There’s a group that asked me to cut my rates by two thirds and cut the time that I would speak by 60%, and then decided to cancel. Why? Because they felt they’d rather save the money. Admittedly, I could point out to them that the results of just one board member increasing his or her donation because of my speech would more than cover even my usual rates, but it doesn’t matter. Why? Because they are the type of group that would rather save a dollar than raise three dollars. So, they’ll continue to struggle and will look around in a year and wonder why they’re still not ahead, and why every day is a struggle. But they will never hire me, because they’ll be too embarrassed to admit their error.
Oh, and whatever happened to Terry Dolan, the man who had a huge part in helping Ronald Reagan get elected? A man who was a key leader in the conservative rise to power in the early 80s? He died of AIDS. Not that his family will ever admit it. I think NCPAC’s gone, too.