The Shit Storm that is the NRA Today & How We Got Here

[BillSWPA]

My own donation decisions are based on my confidence in the receiving organization to accomplish the stated goal. That confidence seems to have been shaken for many people.


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[fatdog]

If the NRA's fund raising survival is tied to one 70 year old man, that doesn't bode well for it's future. .

As you cited, I find this whole concept that a cult of personality is necessary for a successful NP "cause based" organization to be false, quite the contrary, the cause needs to be the central focus that drives the loyalty and giving. WLP is at the core of the problem right now at the NRA, nothing will get better until he is gone and my wallet won't open up again until he is gone.

Any cult of personality based organization will see their fortunes collapse once that individual is perceived to be badly tainted. Just ask Poppa John's.

[joshs]

If the NRA's fund raising survival is tied to one 70 year old man, that doesn't bode well for it's future. Surely there are fund raising methods that work and aren't tied to a given individual but to the organization as a whole. World Wildlife Federation raised 335.6 million last year. The American Red Cross raised 615 million (with a CEO who makes $500k a year) and I doubt the general public knows the name of their CEOs. I'm sure you know more than I on the matter, but media reports indicate in 2017 the NRA generated 378.1 million, which was a decline over the prior year. I get that pandas and blood for disaster victims aren't gun rights and training, but it does demonstrate that a cult of personality isn't a necessity, and may not be desirable. Especially if the supposed linchpin of the organization goes off the reservation in the eyes of many donors and potential donors.

I didn't say it was tied to, but the research we've done shows that messengers without adequate recognition don't do as well generally. I bet the WWFs CEO actually does have good positive recognition with their core donor constituency. Red Cross might be different because it is essentially a universally accepted good, but I can't be sure without access to their donor list and the opportunity to run a few surveys.

As I said, we are always looking at ways to improve, and I think more work with machine learning could make the single recognized messenger less important to overall fundraising.

[BehindBlueI's]

I didn't say it was tied to...

Perhaps you can understand my confusion, then, as the original statement was:

He's currently the only person with sufficient recognition to do the job.

Like others have said, I appreciate your willingness to engage and have a presence here. We are outsiders looking in, but the view from out here doesn't inspire me to continue to fund WLP's NRA.

[joshs]

Perhaps you can understand my confusion, then, as the original statement was:

I just meant that other messengers don't currently do as well in our testing. I'm not saying that we wouldn't be able to fund raise without him.

[blues]

It leaves a bad taste when you've got concerned NRA members worried about the future health of their rights under the 2A and they are treated to stories and / or images online that bring to mind "Moe Greene" cavorting with Vegas showgirls. Sort of makes folks wonder if their money is being well spent.

Nobody wants to be "Fredo".

[Glenn E. Meyer]

'Core constituency' says it all. That was my point. Trying to get the last dime from a shrinking demographic puts some short term money in the bank. It is not a long term strategy as the country becomes more urbanized. It is not a strategy when in the next decade, half the 18 year olds will be minorities. It is not a strategy when the leader appeals to the shrinking core but is seen as mildly unpleasant outside of the choir.

Would you put Wayne in front of a Congressional hearing on a bill to promote reciprocity or to negate state bans (both abandoned - yes, it was politics, blah, blah - by the supposed progun GOP)? He would be crucified.

Media presence is ephemeral nowadays. You could come up with someone who has more to offer than Trump Loyalty and Stop the Socialist Wave to the entire country and not just a smaller percent of the country.

College presidents and college football coaches are under scrutiny for making exorbitant salaries when they supposed work the the 'mission' at a nonprofit institution. The point that is made about them holds. When the NP leader leads a life of luxury, their motivations to the cause are secondary.

[Stephanie B]

I didn't say it was tied to, but the research we've done shows that messengers without adequate recognition don't do as well generally. I bet the WWFs CEO actually does have good positive recognition with their core donor constituency. Red Cross might be different because it is essentially a universally accepted good, but I can't be sure without access to their donor list and the opportunity to run a few surveys.

I don't know who the CEO is of the Mayo Clinic or the Shriners' Children Hospitals or the Salvation Army. They don't seem to be featured in their fundraising.

Sorry if this sounds like an echo chamber, but the NRA has been around for 150 years. It is an old truism that graveyards are full of people who thought themselves indispensable. WLP seems to have insinuated himself so deeply into the fabric of the NRA that nobody in the NRA can conceive of the organization existing without him.

The Chinese Communists thought the same of Chairman Mao. He's long dead. The CCP is not.

More broadly, if the politically-active 2A community is not expanded, we are going to lose everywhere, eventually. I don't see WLP as being the answer to the question of how do we keep our gun rights in the coming years and decades.

[blues]

Maybe WLP can become the face of Quaker Oats...after all, according to him:



"Nothing is better for thee than me!"

[OlongJohnson]

Wayne has always set off my creep factor. I was sure he was an asshole. And he seemed to be doing everything possible to piss off and make unwelcome anyone who wasn't in the "core constituency."

The last year's worth of news has confirmed my instincts. And it turns out he has been doing pretty much everything possible to piss off anyone who was in the "core constituency."

I'm not sure who you run your tests with; maybe Fudds who are totally committed and yet oblivious to what's actually been happening.

Wayne has been the biggest barrier to a bigger tent as long as I've been paying attention.

Not another dime.