IAS Donations Hot

I had a staff and SO annual membership for years and just annual memberships between staff and the SO.

When I went to the Freewinds in 2012 it was mandatory on the routing form to see the IAS on the ship. They wanted $4500 from me which I did't have. My Freewinds trip and flights was already $10,000, which was what I had worked for a borrowed to have.
An argument ensued and that was pretty heated. I was on the ship for 21 days and the reg and I did not speak. He made me wrong, I made him wrong. Regging would take place 2-3 times a week on the Freewinds and was the one thing I hated about being on the ship. I liked everything else.
In other orgs, which has been over 8, when I went to IAS reg events they always had huge targets that I couldn't understand as we were supposed to be funding Ideal Orgs, so why both, in the same week, a 1-2 times each month?

I stopped giving prior to joining the SO in 2013 as I started to see my home cities on the events being "helped" by the IAS and it was always a lot smaller than I had actually personally seen. Videos will show 20,000 booklets. Really it just made more recycling of paper to the wrong publics.

When in the SO I was in anIAS office, not as a reg, just doing maintenance over a few weeks. I would listen to the make wrong in the conversations from the officer to her juniors. It was gross. "don't go after that person, they have no money". "You spent too much time talking. Don't get the life story just get the donation and get them to course". "Call that person back here. $500 isn't going to be enough, you didn't hard sell."
They only cared about getting money in. There was even this "game" to make $1,000,000 before xmas. If it was successful then all the crew would get a movie night in a cinema. It was not real and not even $400,000 was made despite compulsory regging on the phones for 95% of the staff of CLO. The CO CLO would not be on the phone himself despite his 25 years SO experience. He would be just product officering!

Basically I can categorically say that the IAS is Suppressive program and group the way it is run currently. There is no doubt in my mind. It prevents and inhibits bridge progress. All these people that have given $50,000 and they are mid objectives. Um... Outpoint?? They also claim to use the funds for tours for VMs etc. but they are minimal. Often volunteers pay their own flights there and back, it's a tiny crew and the VMs do jack all. It's really out-pointy and I wish the IAS transparent.

The use of great film-making makes it a Scam like the whole Kony 2012 ordeal(video on youtube about catching bad guy with 100 mill views), but on a much higher level.

HEAVY (aka crush) regging at every event makes one feel guilty for not donating to pay for everything that the slick marketing videos and layouts use to lure you in. Lots of events are disguised as something else which always end with a request for a donation. Go ahead and see how many events that you get invited to and then see how many of them do NOT at some point ask you to up your membership status or make a donation by the end. I myself was invited to these and initially not knowing they were really fundraisers went because I wanted to meet people and learn more. Boy was I wrong! When I mentioned this to my registrar he explained "That was a mistake, you should not have been invited." What?!

Note: I am not against donating to this or any church per se, however, it is one thing for a person to donate out of a sense of wanting to help and support their community from an internal drive and passion, while it's quite another thing to be pressured for more money at every turn with ads, while entering and exiting an org, and even through the mail and phone, until you finally donate just to get these people off your back! Yes, I get that it's a new religion and "needs to build" unlike many other established religions, but with reportedly over 1 Billion - yes it starts with a B - in assets, I am pretty sure that the Church of Scientology isn't hurting too bad anymore. And they could in fact lower their rates on all their items and services which would actually bring in more public to help - or at least pay their staff and the Sea Org members a decent living wage but intentionally choosing not to as helping staff, SO and public is not the real intention of the current management.

Furthermore, if the original lifetime HASI rate was really $30 in 1954, then if adjusted for inflation then this should be around $260 in 2014 not $5,000 as that is almost a 2,000% markup!! While $30 may not make sense anymore, the annual $500 rate should more closely reflect a lifetime rate to protect against inflation for many, many years down the road. But again, like everything in the current church management it is far over priced, not meant to help and one sees little in exchange for this, other than a certificate and a request to up your membership to the next level.

Source: http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

And the "savings" are almost nonexistent - both in terms of the monetary value and salvation of others. (See under "cons" below in terms of the myth of saving 10% on items once taxes are applied).

As for IAS funds actually helping people, if one buys into the PR propaganda fed church members in the videos then one also believes that it actually makes a difference in the world somewhere. I have friends who work for the various non-profits partnered with the Church of Scientology, and they make very little money, work extremely long hours, and have told me that they feel more overwhelmed than ever! Yet I haven't seen any media articles that are outside of the church stating that the IAS, Church of Scientology or their related groups have made any difference or help, when it should in fact be turning the tide based on the promotional materials. (Though of course "everybody knows" that the media is suppressive that's the "real reason"). Let's not forget that these videos are often used to stir people up against a multitude of enemies - psychs, news media and other groups that are perceived as enemies but who in reality probably don't think much about the Church of Scientology other than as a joke or as a nuisance. So all of this adds a sense of urgency in the events to donate but also is very misleading (and if you have done the False Purposes Rundown, then you know that this is an old, but extremely effective tactic done by true Suppressive People who confuse, obfuscate and mislead a being with overwhelm and then give false stable datums for them to act on - if you agree to latch onto them of course. This to me is all the more evidence that the IAS and David Miscavige are suppressive or at least corrupted by their very nature).

There is some hope - If you made the mistake of recently donating and are still within your 6 month "trial membership" (which is odd as one is a member of Scientology by virtue of declaration, practice, study and investigation of materials rather than by a monetary basis let alone being a "trial member") then you can cancel now and get what you gave back. Just keep calling and writing in explaining that you are due a refund due to being a "trial member" and unhappy with the service and keep records of all communication.

Then keep the money and use it for far less expensive services in the indie field, or at the very least invest in yourself and take care of your health, pay off your debts and do what matters to you most in your life.

I was a "Founding Member" of the International Association of Scientologists because I signed up back in the day it was started. I really didn't ever give it much thought over the years, nor did my husband and I increase our "status" in the activity through donations.

Imagine my surprise when, shortly after my husband's memorial service in 2004, I was contacted by an IAS registrar who told me I should take out a loan on the equity of our home to increase my status in the IAS. The funds were needed because "COB has a really big situation." I said "no."

The introduction to this category about IAS Donations talks of a “special briefing.” My “special briefing” was the Tom Cruise IAS video. Fortunately I had already seen it so I didn’t have to go into the local IAS Office. I was asked by this registrar, “Don’t you want to be like Tom Cruise?” I said, “No, not really.”

There are no rating numbers low enough provided in this review form; they would definitely end up in the minus range. I've had to settle for the number 1 in each case but minus 30 or so would have better suited.

To this day I cannot reconcile an overly (overtly) zealous IAS registrar (and activity) who wanted money after the death of LRH's doctor, my husband of thirty years, with the beliefs of my religious preference.

I was a Patron of the IAS. Thought it would help. What a great mistake!

The IAS is a total ripoff project. There is already ample documentation that most of the money collected does not go to the programs being promoted but is instead going into David Miscavige's slush fund (now reported to be somewhere between 1 and 10 billion dollars). My own experiences with the promoters of this program could make a small horror film. Back in the early 90s I was already a "donor" to the tune of $20,000 when I paid a visit to Flag in Clearwater. I was in my motel room one night when 3 registrars showed up at my door demanding another $20,000 from me THAT NIGHT. Despite my protestations (I didn't have the money and was not going to borrow it) they would not back down. One of them in fact descended into a vicious tirade, screaming insults and obscenities. Like a good little cultie I gave them a check. To this day, not one cent of the $50,000 total I gave to the IAS has ever been refunded.

For all the pros and cons, the fact is the IAS is supposedly a membership organisation. meaning the members own it. Well, as a Founding Member, I would like to see a copy of the audited accounts, which is minimally a very basic right. I have asked yet have received nought. And for that alone, the IAS cannot possibly be an organisation to be supported.

I have been invalidated and brow beat and crushed many times by the IAS. Where is the transparency? Where is the paper tail to prove what the money is spent on? What we have been told is not true. It doesn't put books in libraries. It doesn't save the planet from some great SP and impending doom. It feathers David Miscavages palaces and tricked out RV's and motorcycles and buys expensive presents for him to give to Tom Cruise. All at the expense of SO members working without sleep for $7 a day or less. And now the OT VII's are told they cannot continue on the level to spiritual enlightenment and freedom unless they are a Patron of the IAS or higher. What is Patron now, a $50,000 donation?