We will have a threshing meeting on issues concerning SAYMA.

Kit needs the views of the Meeting prior to attending the rep meeting on March 14.

Here is what we are considering.:

1. As a meeting, we have been strongly called to improve our understanding of racial issues facing our local, national, and global communities. The pressing need for that better understanding necessitates that resources be devoted specifically to education and training on racial issues. Future SAYMA budgets addressing racial issues should have specific line items devoted exclusively to education and training. This line item should be limited to the actual provision of programming and should not be used merely to support any particular organization based on its mission.

2. We also feel called to provide assistance to those in need, both within the Quaker community and outside it. Budgets should provide adequate means for providing financial assistance, and we should remain vigilant to make assistance available to members of groups that have historically been underrepresented in the American Quaker community. The budget for assistance and support, however, should be separate from the budget for programming. 

3. We are concerned about practices that require individuals to decide whether or not to disburse funds to themselves or to organizations that they control. If SAYMA or an individual meeting wishes to support a person or organization, it should do so clearly and directly by allocating and releasing the funds in full to that organization, not by placing the funds in a budget that the recipient may or may not devote to themselves. It is untenable to put a person in the position of deciding whether they are an appropriate recipient of funds.

4. SAYMA will be best served by improving its budgeting practices going forward, not entering into contentious proceedings regarding the current budget. Decisions regarding how currently allocated funds should be spent should be made by the individuals entrusted with that discretion under the current budget, with the understanding that future budgets will function differently.