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The committee's accomplishment for the year was the correlation of a questionnaire sent to everyone on the Brotherhood mailing list. Its purpose was to locate and identify all existing study groups and to learn the format of their meeting (as to whether they are open to newcomers, their meeting times, and dates and places, for example), so that new readers could be referred to the most suitable nearby group. A collateral purpose of the survey was the updating of the Brotherhood mailing list.

To correlate the results, the USA was divided into 200 zones along state and county lines, based on geography rather than population. Our assumption was that distance is the limiting factor in whether a person might be able to attend any particular study group. Within each zone the study groups were listed, along with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of people having indicated a willingness to be contacted by inquirers.

Sometime this summer we hope to have all this finished, at which time we expect to mail out the results to all respondents for their respective zones, with the expectation that this will enable like-minded individuals to get into contact with each other, and thereby facilitate the growth of study groups. Our survey indicates that there are now at least 218 functioning study groups in the USA; attached hereto is a brief summary of the zones and the study group activity within each.

Our other major project for the year, Library Book Placement, was derailed due to an absence of funding. I hope that I will be excused for using the vehicle of this report to make another pitch for it. The purpose of the program is to make The Urantia Book universally available in the libraries of municipalities, colleges, high schools, prisons, and other institutions. The angel of a man in Oshkosh is unlikely to create a revelation for his subject out of thin air, but if one were available in the local library, he might well be led to it, as many of us were. I see our job in expanding the fellowship of Urantia Book students as primarily one of the physical dissemination of the book itself, believing that the angels of our supervision have endless ways of introducing the book to a likely believer if it is once available. Even though adherence to the teachings of The Urantia Book is what we are ultimately striving for, I am satisfied that the teachings will never gain wide support until the book itself becomes well-known. Bits and pieces of Jesus' teachings can be found all over the landscape, but only in The Urantia Book do we see them in all of their compelling symmetry.

The program's approach for accomplishing this is to enlist a group of volunteers around the country, individuals interested in seeing the book placed in libraries in their areas. We already have about 100 of such likely people in mind. The cost to the Brotherhood of the program is a contingent one, namely that if the volunteer cannot persuade the librarian to purchase a book, that the volunteer could, on behalf of the Brotherhood, donate one. Such a program would be a great inducement to the volunteers, for they could be reasonably confident that each trip they made to a library would result in the placement of a book.

All of us agree on the desirability Of placing the book in libraries, and I am convinced that the approach I have outlined would be most successful due to the personal interest shown by the volunteer. Any other approach such as mailing out brochures would prove less satisfactory. From conversations I have had with librarians, it appears that they read hardly any of the 50 pounds or so of brochures that they receive in the mail each week. Similarly, books that are simply mailed out to libraries as gifts often end up in their spring-cleaning sales rather than the stacks. If the librarian sees that someone cares enough to make a special trip on behalf of the product, that places the product in a far better position to be accepted.

This approach would capitalize on the efforts of our volunteers I read, last week, that the average cost for an industrial sales call is about $153.00. This would include all expenses such as salary and transportation. Therefore, even if our volunteers were only exposed to 15% of the average costs for such a visit, the cost to the volunteer would still exceed the cost of the book to the Brotherhood. For that reason we need to offer the volunteer an inducement to help. The willingness of the Brotherhood to donate the book should be sufficient, since the volunteer could be confident that, one way or the other, a book would be placed as a result of his visit.

On a more general level, I believe that the Brotherhood should devote far more of its resources to outreach. For 1981, out of total budgeted income of $107,850, only $395 went to the Domestic Extension and International Fellowship committees, the committees specifically, charged with outreach. That comes to less than 4/lOth's of one percent. It is odd indeed for our organization to be spending so little on what is supposedly the key purpose of its existence. Over the past few years many charitable foundations have been severely criticized for having as much as 50% of their income chewed up in administration, but our record is pathetic even by that low standard.

Whether the money goes to my pet project or not is immaterial, but I believe that the Brotherhood should so arrange its expenses so that at least a tithe is dedicated to expanding the fellowship. I predict that if this is done, the extra support which we would pick up from the new readers would more than make up the money spent. It would be an investment in our own future. We are now in the uncomfortable position of asking our members to sacrifice for us while are spending virtually nothing in reaching others in the world hungry for the life-giving truths of the Urantia teachings. Said Jesus to Peter in the garden of the Mark home, "...now must you cease to think about yourself and the troubles of the hour while you prepare to carry the good news of the gospel to those who sit in darkness."

Respectively submitted Harry McMullan Chairman