Posted by shelliR on November 20, 2001, at 0:54:13
In reply to Re: an idea?, posted by Dr. Bob on November 19, 2001, at 23:52:53
>
> > can you tell us again, Bob, how this site is being funded? i know it was brought up in another thread, but i think a refresher course would help put things in order.
>
> I pay for it. I do use the donations that I get:
>
> http://www.dr-bob.org/support.html
>
> I also get "referral fees" from Amazon. iGive has been a flop. The grand total since March? $2.80.
>Dr. Bob,
I confused about this:
If you go straight to the PB page, you don't see anything about contributions. I don't even know about igive. How would anyone even get to "support.html" to realize that contributions would be greatly appreciated.
Why isn't the suggestion of donations on both the PB page and the SPB page? I don't see it. (Am I missing something; it wouldn't be the first time?)I still think a fund drive would be a worth a try to see if it would work. We went around and around in circles last year with the net conclusions zero. I still think that charging is a bad idea, but I would be willing to send in a contribution once or twice a year. I would also be willing to help set up an early spring fund drive, if there's anything I can do. You give a speech on the board for a week (maybe two) and break it down. For twenty-five dollars a year, psychobabble is just costing you ____cents a day. For fifty, etc. etc. And you explain without the contributions of the members, the life of PB is always in jeopardy.
You said before that it isn't like PBS (in terms of their fund drive), because they have so many members. But they also have a much much larger budget, of course. If everyone gave an average of $35 dollars a year (some $10, $25, and up to $100.) would this be enough to be helpful?
Again it would be a lot easier to accept credit cards, but if that's too confusing then just use checks through the mail. I guess I feel that I don't want to be the only one contributing, but if it's a group project then it would make it much easier to fork over a few dollars. I think there are very few babblers (I do acknowledge there may be some) who can't afford to contribute a small amount and maybe some others who could afford a much larger amount. The amount of money could be tallied up each day and shared (anonomously as to donator) because having money seems to stimulate more money.
I think it's worth a try. Every time you bring up a charge, I think people get nervous, not because as Sar says we wouldn't pay, but because new people might turn away, even if they can contribute for a while without being charged.
By the way, since this is a nonprofit organization, it is should be eligible to be included in the United Way? I wonder how you become part of that. You don't have to be strictly a charitable organization. Both the boy scouts and NPR, and PBS are eligible for these funds.
I think the last round of deciding how to charge was so painful that I'd be grateful to contribute, just to avoid the controversy about charging for the site.
Shelli
poster:shelliR
thread:2305
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20010718/msgs/2324.html