The achievement of long-term financial stability and independence by a nonprofit organization with an international mission is not an easy task. While CCSI is proud of its ability to achieve the levels of funding we have over the past six years, if we are to achieve long-term financial stability, we need to diversify our sources of funding beyond the foundation grants and consulting contracts we were fortunate to receive in the past year. These were important to us in 1997, but there is no assurance of this kind of support being repeated year after year. In addition, such awards are almost always for specific projects and do not offer core funding for the organization.

CCSI took a major step toward the goal of diversifying our funding base when we were invited in late 1997 by the Human and Civil Rights Organizations of America (HCROA) to apply to join their federation. We were well into the holiday season when this opportunity arose, but we put together the materials needed, submitted them on time, and our application was accepted.

CCSI's 25-word Mission Statement for the Combined Federal Campaign "We help people abroad build democratic societies by sharing American know-how in fields such as civil rights, environment, public health, consumer protection and accountable government."

This means that CCSI will now be one of the organizations included in the annual Combined Federal Campaign�something like the United Way, in the sense of being a workplace solicitation program�which reaches more than four million Federal employees in the fall of each year. Americans donate more than $2 billion a year through workplace campaigns, and if CCSI could raise even $10,000 a year this way, it would be of great benefit to us.

It is difficult to predict how successful we will be in this campaign�much depends on an organization�s name and its recognition, how well our 25-word mission statement resonates with those who read it, and other factors. But this was a step in the right direction for CCSI and our efforts to diversify our funding base. We are grateful to Marshall Straus, president of HCROA, for inviting us to submit an application to the HCROA federation; and to Mark Golubiec, Seattle friend of CCSI and skilled CPA, who on a pro bono basis carried out the audit and prepared the financial statements we required in time for the year-end deadline.