The finances just don't work: For every standard $15 membership the NAACP gets from an individual, the organization loses $2.10, said NAACP President Kweisi Mfume.
Mfume is seeking a $10 increase in the individual dues as part of a package of reforms that could meet stiff objections at the NAACP annual convention in Pittsburgh this week."History suggests we won't be successful on this dues measure," Mfume said at a press conference Saturday in reference to unsuccessful moves to raise dues by past NAACP leadership.
"But I think people trust me enough to know I won't lead them down the wrong path," Mfume said. "I'm sure we will have vigorous debate on it and I will play defense attorney for the change."
Meanwhile, NAACP Chairwoman Myrlie Evers-Williams endorsed school integration in an effort to quell debate over whether the group was abandoning its integrationist philosophy.
"We have worked and continue to work for an integrated society," Evers-Williams said. "There is no new story."
Evers-Williams didn't take questions from reporters but attacked as "creative writing" a recent story that quoted her as raising the possibility the group might abandon its support for programs like busing to achieve school integration.
Evers-Williams said she would go into further detail in her keynote address Sunday night.
Aside from raising dues, Mfume is seeking to compel greater attendance at local NAACP meetings and is seeking to remove officers from branches with few active members.
The NAACP, which Mfume has been leading for 16 months, is the nation's largest and oldest civil rights group with 2,200 local branches and 600,000 members.
This year's NAACP budget was approximately $12 million, and it was anticipating about $13 million in revenues. About two-thirds of the group's revenue is from "internal fund raising," including dues, the convention and various awards dinners. The other third comes from corporate donations and sponsorships.
The proposed dues increases are from $15 to $25 for a standard annual membership, from $500 to $750 for a life membership and from $3 to $10 for a youth membership.
If members support Mfume's changes, it would solidify his leadership and could help him towards his stated goal of returning national agenda-setting clout to the NAACP.