General Information
About CAAT
For information about CAAT and its goals go to our about CAAT page.
Involvement in organising and participation in CAAT's demonstrations and protests is conditional on accepting the need to remain non-violent at all times. This principle is at the core of our guidance for involvement in CAAT. See our action guidelines.
Arms trading
If you're coming face to face with the general public whilst fundraising, you might find it useful to have some handy facts about the arms trade up your sleeve. These will help you convince people that CAAT is a cause that's worthy of their support. You can familiarise yourself with the issues using our introduction to the arms trade. There's lots of information and statistics on our website, and it's a good idea to get yourself up-to-date on our campaigns before your event. Some key statistics for you to use are given below (all figures were correct as of April 2009).
Arms exports
- The UK is currently the world's 3rd largest arms exporter behind the U.S.A and Russia
- BAE Systems, the UK's largest arms company, is the world's 3rd largest arms dealer. 93% of its sales are military sales
- Companies like Boeing and Rolls Royce, who people may be familiar with for other reasons, also make millions of dollars each year through arms exports
- Although arms companies and the Government defend UK arms exports by emphasising the jobs they create, just 0.2% of the UK workforce currently rely on arms exports for their job security. In fact only 1.5% of all UK exports are arms exports
- Each employee working in the UK arms trade is in effect subsidised by the Government, using taxpayers' money, to the tune of about £10,000
Consequences of the arms trade
- Selling arms to a country in conflict makes the fighting more deadly and likely to last longer
- The UK government continues to approve export licences to the great majority of countries involved in major armed conflict. In recent years these countries have included Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Russia, Sri Lanka and the USA
- In the first half of the 20th century, about 50% of all conflict-related deaths were civilian. By the end of the century, this had risen to more than 90%
- The recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been accountable for almost half of the world's 11 million refugees
- The UK Government continues to grant arms export licences to countries which its own Foreign and Commonwealth Office classifies as having a worrying record on human rights abuses - countries like China, Israel, Russia and Saudi Arabia
Why fundraise for CAAT?
Unlike many organisations raising money to fund their work, CAAT's campaigning activities prevent it from registering as a charity. This means that we can only apply for 'charitable funding' (money from charitable trusts) for the research and educational parts of our work. CAAT is also unable to take advantage of government schemes like the National Lottery or Gift Aid. We therefore rely on individual supporters to a higher degree than most organisations. We currently need around £300,000 per year to sustain our work. Without our supporters we simply could not exist.
By organising a fundraising event in your local community, you will not only help us raise vital funds, you will also help raise awareness about our work, which in turn will bring us new supporters and donors to help keep the campaign going. What's more, fundraising with a group of friends, colleagues or members of your local CAAT group is great fun and really rewarding!
However much money you manage to raise, your efforts will be greatly appreciated and help us continue our vital work.
Where will the money go?
People making donations to any organisation have a right to know how that money will be spent and want to know that it will be put to good use.
The money raised by local fundraisers will go into CAATs unrestricted funds. This means that it might be used to fund the cost of producing campaign materials such as postcards and petitions or to pay for our National Gathering for supporters. It might help us stage demonstrations or protest actions but it could also be used to help cover staff salaries and our office running costs. CAATs annual accounts are available to anyone who wishes to read them just call 020 7281 0297 or email our Fundraising Co-ordinator to request a copy.
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