NYYM Pay As Led Model

What is Pay as Led?

Starting in 2019, New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM)’s Sessions have been funded through a spiritual process that relies on each of us to do our part to support the wider community. We call this method “Pay as Led.” NYYM approved this holy experiment at Summer Sessions 2017.

 

Pay as Led is a way of acknowledging that wealth is not distributed evenly among Quakers. It offers us a method of increasing the number of people who attend Sessions, as people who can afford to pay more can do so, enabling those who need to pay less to do so. We believe Pay as Led can enrich our community by allowing the inclusion of new gifts and perceptions, particularly from those who are financially challenged by geography, employment, or stage of life. These gifts strengthen NYYM.

 

We trust that Friends will be both generous and honest in their discernment on what they are led to pay.

 

The experiment continues. In past Summer Sessions, NYYM has provided Friends with three Pay As Led amount suggestions — the full rate, standard rate, and minimum rate — calculated using each Friend’s housing and meal costs. This year, housing and meal options are much simpler. Friends will be sent their standard rate — the actual cost of their selected meals and their lodging, if staying on campus — shortly after registering. Friends will be asked to consider what amount they feel led to pay, based on that standard rate. The following provides some suggestions for different situations. These are just suggestions. You can adapt them to your situation.

 

Read here for more details and a numbers breakdown for Summer Sessions 2023

 

Monthly Meetings & Pay as Led

Even though Summer Session participants can Pay as Led (PAL), monthly meetings continue to play a critical role in supporting the attendance of their members and attenders. Friends seeking to pay less than the standard rate are asked to approach their monthly meetings for aid, but it’s likely that some Friends may skip that step and just pay less. The PAL experiment may fall drastically short in funds if monthly meetings no longer help people attend. The solution is quite simple! Monthly meetings, worship groups, regions, and quarters are all encouraged to consider what funds they normally provide to members and attenders—and donate that amount to NYYM, with the memo “Summer Sessions.” If your meeting receives a request from an individual, please send the amount directly to NYYM with the person’s name in the memo. NYYM uses a combination of meeting aid, individual donations, and registrant payments to cover our final bill from Oakwood Friends School. For our planning purposes, it would be helpful if all donations were made to NYYM by June 15. Thank you for your kind consideration.

 

For more information, contact Helen Garay Toppins at [email protected] or  212-673-2285.