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Urantia FOUNDATION November 18, 1982 John W. Hales, President, and Members of the Executive Committee RE: Distribution of The Urantia Book Dear John and Members of the Executive Committee: Thank you for your letter of September 14, 1982 with which you transmitted the recommendations of the Executive Committee of Urantia Brotherhood regarding changes in the policies of Urantia Foundation for the distribution of The Urantia Book. The Trustees of Urantia Foundation have thoroughly reviewed the reports of the studies conducted by the Domestic Extension and Special Projects Committees together with the Executive Committee summary of reports and the recommendations formulated from these studies. We deeply appreciate the effort put forth in this undertaking by the Brotherhood. Your recommendations have been given full and serious consideration and a majority have been adopted. The Trustees are sympathetic to the proposition of making copies of The Urantia Book more accessible to bookstores and distributors as well as giving individual students and Urantia Societies enhanced opportunity for service projects and personal ministry by having some copies available at a reduced cost. However, in weighing your recommendations, we have considered the consequences these proposals could have on conceptual approaches which the Trustees hold as important to the long-range success of this revelation and the viability of the Foundation. These concepts are: 1) at this time and for the foreseeable future, the book industry should remain the primary outlet for the distribution of The Urantia Book; 2) the sale of the book is a primary source of financial maintenance for the Foundation until other avenues of support such as contributions show a significant increase; 3) current conditions require that Urantia Foundation must maintain its status under the law as a "public" foundation and avoid the financial and legal consequences of being determined a "private" foundation. As a result of the above considerations, the Trustees do not wish to undertake any policy changes which would endanger our support fraction, drastically lessen our base of financial support or challenge the role of bookstores and distributors as outlets for The Urantia Book. Toward the goal of balancing all the considerations discussed above, the Trustees have formulated a set of policies that we believe are fair to all points of view. Following is a presentation of the policy changes together with explanatory comments (for convenience, a statement of Just the policies is attached): 1) Payment methods a) Policy (1) Urantia Brotherhood Corporation may use its beat business judgment in offering open accounts to any bookstore, distributor. or library. (2) All others must send payment with their orders. b) Rationale (1) open accounts are an incentive to the book industry to do business with us, but all others should prepay. (2) Urantia Brotherhood Corporation, as Sales Agent, is directly involved with dealing with the book industry and is therefore in a good position to determine who should have open accounts. 2) Returns a) Policy (1) Returns are allowed from bookstores and distributors. (2) Returns are not allowed from other sales unless defective. (3) Urantia Brotherhood Corporation may use its beat business judgment in determining a minimal time period (if any), who pays postage. and other such factors relating to the handling of returns. b) Rationale (1) Returns are an incentive to the book industry to do business with us. (2) Urantia Brotherhood Corporation. as Sales Agent, is in a good position to determine the procedures for handling returns. 3) Discounts a) Policy (1) Bookstores and libraries may buy any quantity of books at a 40% discount. (2) Distributors may be given a discount of more than 40%, but not more than 50%. Urantia Brotherhood Corporation may use its beat business judgment to determine the discounts and can individually negotiate discounts with the various distributors. (3) Individuals pay full price on 1-4 copies, but may purchase 5 or more copies at a 25% discount if sent to one address. (4) Urantia Societies may buy at a 40% discount for 10 or more books but may not exceed a limit of 245 books in any calendar year. b) Rationale (1) A 40% discount for bookstores on any quantity of books should serve as an incentive for the book industry to do business with us. (2) The use of distributors should induce more bookstores to carry the book. (3) No convincing philosophical or practical reason has been given for allowing any individual to buy at 40% discount. Such a policy would allow an individual or group to compete with the bookstores and be an additional drain on our revenues which we are potentially reducing in view of the previously mentioned increased discounts. The in crease to a 25% discount for individuals for 5 or more copies and selling to Urantia Societies at a 40% discount will allow for service projects and personal ministry. Although we are aware of the argument that all these increased discounts will actually bring in more revenue by a dramatic increase in sales. such assumptions are highly speculative and no real evidence has been presented to support such a claim. As a result, we must act prudently realizing that these changes in policy may take several years to increase sales to any significant degree. It is hoped that readers will respond to these changes with greater contribution support to help compensate should any immediate losses in revenue take place. However, there is no reason to assume that this action will automatically occur, so, again, prudence is required. (4) The discount to Urantia Societies is intended to offer an opportunity for service. For example, Societies may sell books at whatever price they determine at Society sponsored events such as conferences and business or informal study meetings; donate copies to libraries; sell at a reduced rate or give copies free of charge to readers with limited financial means; or put copies in local bookstores on a consignment basis to encourage local stores to begin to order the book from Urantia Brotherhood Corporation or distributors. This list is not exhaustive. However. it is recognized by all that Urantia Societies are not chartered for commercial purposes, such as selling books to book stores and book distributors. As it is not clear what effect selling to distributors will have on our support fraction, we are limiting the number sold per year to Societies to 245 copies so that they do not add to our number of "disqualifieds" for support fraction purposes. In a related matter. it will be necessary for the Foundation to draft an amendment to the Licensing Agreement in order for Societies to sell books. The Societies will be contacted regarding this matter. Finally, while selling to Societies is approved by Urantia Foundation, the Trustees will abide by the decision of Urantia Brotherhood should the Brotherhood deem it unwise to have -Societies selling books. Finally, you will find on the attached statement of policies some definitions as to what constitutes a bookstore and a distributor. As stated earlier, we do not wish individuals or groups to be in a position of competing with bookstores and distributors. Rather, we would hope that the 25% discount and the discount to Societies will serve as a channel for getting books to people for gift copies, loan copies and financial hardship situations. There has been a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and hard work put into the book distribution matter by Urantia Brotherhood and for this we heartily thank you. No doubt, in time these new policies will need to be reviewed and possibly revised. But, for now. these changes incorporate the major portion of your recommendations and are at the same time workable within the conceptual concerns of Urantia Foundation. The changes will be effective January 1. 1983. We hope that such cooperative ventures may continue in the future. In Fellowship, Thomas A. Kendall President TAK: kfm Attach. Urantia FOUNDATION 533 DIVERSIFY PARKWAY CHICAGO ILLINOIS 60614 Policies For The Sale of The Urantia Book and Translations I. Payment A. Urantia Brotherhood Corporation may use its beat business judgment in offering open accounts to any bookstore, distributor, or library. B. All others must send payment with their orders. II. Returns A. Returns are allowed from bookstores and distributors. B. Returns are not allowed from other sales unless defective. C. Urantia Brotherhood Corporation may use its beat business Judgment in determining a minimal time period (if any), who pays postage, and other such factors relating to the handling of returns. III. Discounts A. Bookstores and libraries may buy any quantity of books at a 40% discount. B. Distributors may be given a discount of more than 40% but not more than 502. Urantia Brotherhood Corporation may use its beat business judgment to determine the discounts and can individually negotiate discounts with the various distributors. C. Individuals pay full price on 1-4 copies, but may purchase 5 or more copies at 25% discount if sent to one address. D. Urantia Societies may buy at a 40% discount in quantities of 10 or more books but may not exceed a limit of 245 books in any calendar year. The discount to Urantia Societies is intended to offer an opportunity for service. For example. Societies may sell books at whatever price they determine at Society sponsored events such as conferences and business or informal study meetings; donate copies to libraries, sell at a reduced rate or give copies free of charge to readers with limited financial means; or put copies in local bookstores on a consignment basis to encourage local stores to begin to order the book from Urantia Brotherhood Corporation and distributors. This list is not exhaustive, however. it is recognized by all that Urantia Societies are not chartered for commercial purposes, such as selling books to bookstores and book distributors. IV. For the purpose of selling The Urantia Book and any translations of it, the following definitions will apply: A. Bookstores are licensed bookselling facilities which 1. have an actual commercial place of business where books are on display. 2. are open for business with the general public. 3. have as their main purpose the selling of books or are a book selling department of a larger retail outlet. 4. offer multiple titles for sale. 5. make payment on business checks. B. Distributors are licensed book wholesale outlets which 1. have an actual commercial place of business. 2. carry a supply of multiple titles for sale. 3. sell books to multiple bookstores at a lesser discount than what they receive. 4. make as their main purpose selling books to bookstores. 5. make payment on business checks. C. Urantia Societies are those groups officially chartered and recognized by Urantia Brotherhood. D. Individual is any person regardless of whether he or she is a member of Urantia Brotherhood. E. Others are groups or organizations which do not fit the above definitions such as churches, non-profit organizations with Federal tax-exempt status, private foundations, fraternal organizations, discussion groups* and religious study groups. This list is not exhaustive, but exemplary. TAK 11/18/82 |
A Service of
The Fellowship for
Readers of The Urantia Book