I will write or (copy-edit) grants if someone finds the ones we should go after and arranges to send me the grant kit to go after them.

I would also suggest press coverage of this site if it has not already happened. If it has, pls point me to info about it. If not, pls indicate ideas/interest in working on this.

As a non-profit, is there a Mudcat board that has as one of its jobs the raising of funds or planning of resources? Does Max get any organized help like that? Our Red Cross chapter now has bylaws that allow for board participation via e-mail. I would attend an in-person annual Mudcat "business" meeting to back up e-meetings, with any of you, wouldn't many of us?

Here's a FR idea some of us might apply in our own backyards:

In our small community we help people via spaghetti suppers. There are several each week, in a county with only 14,000 households. It's where you go to see and be seen, catch the latest news, take the kids out cheap, get a bite... Normal activity. What if big name performers in some of the larger cities would help Mudcat by appearing at a benefit dinner the night of or after a local appearance? They would not play, they would just visit. The 'catters organizing this, and all their friends, would play at it, In our church, the town's Mens' Chorus raises thousands by hosting a Pizza Party. Pizza is free or cheap from all the local pizzerias, tickets are sold, and long tables are set up. The men of the Chorus serve and bus tables, and every half hour they suspend serving to sing a few numbers. It's so popular they turn people away. They also sell raffle tickets along the tables all evening for drawings on donated door prizes. If this were a town with a folk market big enough to support a couple of clubs, this would work easily. It would also work for a smaller market with a peformer who already has a large local following and a bunch of creative opportunities to organize. It would promote everyone's music. And if half the proceeds are to go to a local charity, that charity might take over the details of food, paper goods, and publicity.

Variation--

The annual Mudcat Banquet, in whatever area has the most 'Catters, whenevr Max can be there to speak. Big-ticket fancy affair. Top local leaders invited (radicals under the gray suits, many of them).