Association seems to be ‘withering’ before it’s even got going
AT A public meeting [scheduled for last night] the ‘significant progress’ achieved so far by the Islanders Association [was to] be presented. This is the latest in a series of an initiatives taken since the Islanders Association’s launch by its founding members, deputies Meerveld, Ferbrache and Mooney.
The meeting, [it was claimed, would] demonstrate, ‘what three deputies, working out of a garden shed with little resources, can achieve when the bureaucracy of government does not hinder them’, giving hope that the ‘Islanders Association will bring this kind of effectiveness and efficiency to the States Assembly in the future’.
According to the Islanders Association’s fundraising campaign page it has collected £22,005 in funds from members in just over 60 days. The GoFundMe fundraising platform has cost around £570 to date according to their fee-charging formula.
The current total sponsorship from membership fees of the Islanders Association represents 14.7 per cent of the aspirational target of £150,000 declared by the founders.
Financial support for the Islanders Association has to date come from 99 individuals. This means that the total membership of the Islanders Association equates to 0.45 per cent of the voting public, which was recorded as 21,803 in Guernsey’s 2016 General Election (assuming all Islanders Association members are eligible to vote in the Guernsey general election).
Furthermore, 46.7 per cent of the Islanders Association’s membership made their contributions anonymously. The anonymous contributions accounted for £9,435 or 43 per cent of the donations in total.
Two thirds of the funding to date has been donated by just 23 members who each gave £500 or more.
The combined contribution of the three States members who founded the Islanders Association is £5,000 and represents just under 23 per cent of the total fund.
Contributions to the Islanders Association appear to have stalled. In the first quarter period of the 60-day campaign £13,050 was raised, in the second quarter £7,040, in the third £1,450 and in the last quarter £465.
In fact, in the last quarter no new sponsorship was received for eight out of the 15 days.
Given the above, the question has to be asked: Is the Islanders Association withering on the political vine despite repeated efforts at promotion by deputies Meerveld, Ferbrache and Mooney?
JON LANGLOIS,
Grandes Mielles Lane.