Until we decide to work specifically on the long-range task of bringing about animal liberation rather than "fighting brushfires," there will be an ever-increasing number of animals exploited, and never-ending deluge of suffering. We have limited resources, and we can choose to use these resources to help end the cycle of exploitation and cruelty -- saving billions of individuals over time, with no more to follow.
It is also our hope that others will help support further distribution. We are facing inertia in people caused not only by peer pressure, but by literally billions of dollars, including explicit advertising everywhere one looks. We can't expect to counter McDonald's billions with the pocket change of activists (and they often do send us their pocket change).
Often, people believe that Why Vegan is an effective tool for many purposes (e.g., to use at fundraisers for other groups). However, relatively few people feel that donating to print and distribute more copies is a priority.
It is true that the work of Vegan Outreach might not seem "urgent" because we don't use pictures of individual animals saying "donate or this animal will die." But consider this:
Right now, it is probable that 10% of the US population would be willing to read and consider the information in Why Vegan. For each one of these people who do not receive a copy of Why Vegan due to a lack of resources, numerous animals will be factory farmed and slaughtered. To reach these 26 million people, we would need to print and distribute between 30 and 50 million copies (for reference, as of August 31, 2003, we have distributed 2,379,329), at a cost of $4.5 to 5.5 million. While a huge number relative to Vegan Outreach's current budget , this is a small fraction of the collective funds brought in by large animal rights organizations each year.