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For the 73rd Annual
NAACP Convention

[[image - logo of NAACP]]
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
NAACP Founded 1909

Join us in
Boston, Mass. at the Boston Sheraton Hotel
June 26-July 2, 1982

Continued from page 11

pose to enhance the magazine both in terms of format and content. We will bring back Battle Front, a compendium of outstanding branch and youth accomplishments, provide space for branch, legal and program departments news, include updates from the Washington Bureau and provide a forum for youth-oriented articles written by the youth themselves.

I believe that by increasing the circulaion [[circulation]] numbers from approximately 116,000 to 250,000 or 300,000 our ABC ratings will enable us to secure the ad revenue necessary to accomplish our objective.

I am aware that there will be those who will say that we should not be increasing the cost of membership at a time of high unemployment among blacks. If we are to have the means to challenge the root causes of high unemployment, this is precisely why we must now raise the necessary funds to fight this very problem. The oft-used cliche "freedom is not free" is more appropriate now than ever before. Unless we generate additional revenue from our basic product, memberships, we will be little more than a toothless lion with a pitiful roar. Everything from soap to the space shuttle has been affected by inflation since we last increased our membership-fee structure in 1977. The five-dollar adult membership is no longer ample to meet our financial needs in the decade of the '80s. It is clearly a time for a change. To continue to charge rates which no longer provide the NAACP the base it requires to run, much less improve or step up its efforts in these troubled times, would be damaging to the Association and to its "fight for freedom". These antiquated rates imperil our existence as a viable organization and ensure that there can be no future.

We further propose that those NAACP units who fail to maintain 100 members or more be dropped from our rolls as branches and be given authorized committee status. This would mean what we would not have to spend monies on mailings and stretch our limited resources to communicate with these units on an ongoing basis. Adult units with less than fifty members would automatically be dropped.

I am also recommending that there be a requirement for all NAACP units holding Freedom Funds affairs to include a minimum membership in the cost of the admission. I am prepared to assign our existing staff to work with our branches to show them how they can use souvenir journals, corporate ticket contributions and other creative mechanisms to help underwrite this inclusion.

I have tried to paint a picture for you which deals with the stark realities that we face. There is no doubt in my mind that all of our problems are surmountable. I belive [[believe]] we have enough dedicated, devoted and committed leaders to meet the challenges as we have in the past. The medicine being prescribed may not taste good, but it is necessary to cure our financial ills.


NAACP Executive Director Benjamin L. Hooks addressed a special session of delegates and alternates at the 72nd NAACP Annual Convention in Denver, Colorado, on July 2, 1981. This is the text of his remarks.

THE CRISIS, October, 1981

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