Raising funds - how should we?

Teetonetal

Anyway you could make a donate button popup on every thread, like a signature?

Emp_Fab

mudslide73 said:

Dealer raffle prizes. Businesses that benefit from the forum voluntarily donate prizes for an annual raffle bonanza. 18watt.com did this a few years back to great effect. 

I think there's definitely mileage in this - even if we had to buy the gear to raffle.  The forum is full of people who are riddled with GAS and would jump at the chance to own a (insert desirable object here) for the cost of a raffle entry.  Those who lose still feel good about helping keep the (well loved) forum going, those who win... er.. win the desirable object.  Maybe we could continue the 'raffle by dog' method.

It's certainly worth a try - there are no drawbacks to raffling a few items just to test the water.  You never know - it may just resolve the funding issue simply and easily.

@mudslide73

EricTheWeary

Although we've had raffles ( I won one) and the response wasn't huge.


This is a clearer explanation of the kind of thing I was on about, although I was talking more about a direct cash donation:

stickyfiddle said:

I haven't read every comment, but has the TDPRI model been mentioned? 

http://www.tdpri.com

They have links to a handful of relevant partners on the home screen, which aren't regular banner ads as my blocker doesn't block them (i don't have it whitelisted). Every year they run a big sweepstake raffle thing, the prizes for which I'm  assuming are often donated by the partners, possible in lieu of direct payment for the ads. I'm not sure how they structure it payment-wise, but could be worth looking at.

mellowsun

It's hard enough already to get a sale on the classifieds atm, so I wouldn't restrict buyers with an access fee. However, charging sellers a fee (flat annual fee or % of sale) makes a lot of sense.

Roland

The internet is full of people and organisations trying to make money by fair means or foul. The charm of this forum is that it doesn't. We must recognise that anything other than a straightforward donation, with no strings attached nor medals given, will change the nature of the forum. 

Charging sounds simple. It brings workload in agreeing pricing, collecting payment, and policing dealers who pose as private individuals to avoid payment. It also brings management tasks such as accounting for the funds, and agreeing how it should be spent. 

There's been talk about charging commercial organisations for their participation. @guitars4you @TheGuitarWeasel @GSPBASSES ;;;and others can vouch that forum exposure brings sales, and I'm sure they'd be happy to pay a small amount for access to a commercial classifieds section. 

Ultimately it's not going to bring a large income because we're talking about small businesses. If we get funding from larger organisations who can pay more then we need to consider how we avoid the being manipulated by our funders.

So for the moment I'd be happy to use donations. Knowing how much the 2017 running costs are likely to be would be the first step in a donations campaign. 

As the forum continues to grow we will eventually reach the point where current servers cannot cope. I guess that upgrading will require a significant amount of money, and a different funding model will be needed.

John_P

Donations.    I've not been so great at buying all of the t shirts and calendars because o didn't want them so it's easier for me to just send some cash when I remember.   

A supporting member or whatever badge would be nice and help remind me to send some cash over but I think there are enough regular posters to get a steady income of cash. 

axisus

octatonic said:

I vote for a yearly access fee for classifieds.

I'm only in if we move WTB to it's own place!

horse

I think an annual fundraising drive could work. Once a year email out to all members as thorpy suggested, and start a fundraising thread where we can leave a message to let you know we've donated and to say thanks for making the site available etc... I'd join in with that, but am unlikely to ever buy any fb merch tbh

Grunfeld

Roland said:

The internet is full of people and organisations trying to make money by fair means or foul. The charm of this forum is that it doesn't. We must recognise that anything other than a straightforward donation, with no strings attached nor medals given, will change the nature of the forum.

This.  Not least because it's quick and easy, just like Wiki do a couple of times a year so we all know how it works. 
Sometimes I'm more flush than others so sometimes I give more; other times, less, but always something -- because I use the resource daily so I appreciate it.  Kind of exactly like this place. 
And if a semi-annual whist drive didn't work then you know something more elaborate is needed.

Handsome_Chris

@TTony , what has happened to that £2 that I got fined last month?  You haven't burnt through that already , have you?!

Bridgehouse

Having read all the posts up to now I have to say I'm veering towards a sticky thread that explains why donations are needed - and maybe a PM once a year to everyone.

However I'd love to see merchandise continue - tee shirts, calendars, picks, mugs etc.. As I love that kind of crap..

@TTony - just like the calendars I'd happily manage a 'shop' of fretboard stuff to top up - but with the idea of a sticky thread and annual PM reminding people to donate taking the pressure off the merchandise being the main fund raiser..?

Bridgehouse

Just to add - one off raffles would be good to continue as well - however the goods are attained...

GSPBASSES

I would have no problems with giving the forum say 5 percent of any sales I get directly from members of the forum, when I have my clear out sales or when I'm selling off "B" grades. I always buy the merchandise to help finance the forum, even if I don't really need or want them. I think last year's mags are still in the box they were delivered in. 

I was talking to Jonathan of Feline guitars a while back about this problem of financing the forum, he did mention something about trade members paying for their adds or having a special place in the classified, so the trade sales we pay for. Again, that wouldn't bother me one little bit, I will be the first to admit that a lot of my private sales ("B" grades) do come from forum members, so paying a fee to sell these goods would be fine with me.

TTony

Some of the suggestions seem to have general support;

• An annual "I donated" badge.  £10/yr is less than £1/mth?
• An obvious click-thru button to our PayPal, making donations easier.
• A "suggestion" to our business users that they donate an annual raffle prize, appropriate to their level of business via the forum.  That could generate an interesting mega-pot of prizes that could be drawn on a set day each year (theFB Raffle Day).  Better than Black Friday.
• Set-up affiliate schemes with sites like eBay, Amazon and the other retailers that frequently get referred to on here. 

Something else to consider;

• Perhaps we could have sponsored threads highlighted in the space used by the current banner image?  Available to businesses & "normal" members - get your thread featured in some sort of scrolling or carousel display at a cost of £5/wk (or whatever).  Perhaps we'd make that mandatory for retailers having blow-out deals?
• With a bit of Dev effort we could also set-up "mini-sites" for people like @TheGuitarWeasel, kind of like the old BKP forum worked, which gives the business a lot of value given all the traffic it generates and user-recommendation that it attracts.
• Similarly, with some work, we could look at pic hosting, using a host that allowed for easy embedding of images into posts across devices/browsers - which seems to be a bit of pita for many people.  That would come at a price.

The problem with us running a shop of consumables (strings, straps, picks, etc), is that we'd invariably end up being more expensive than some other site.  But we could look at some sort of deal with someone reliable (StringsDirect for example).  Similarly, we could look at referral deals with axesrus for parts n stuff.

We'll keep going with the merchandise.  Setting up one of the shopfront services doesn't really work due to the costs involved (ie the margin that we use), such that the merchandise then becomes unattractively expensive.  That's less about raising funds and more about a tangible expression of our community.

Imagine if ALL theFB members at the Guitar Show in Feb were wearing a theFB t-shirt?  That'd make it a lot easier to recognise each other, and be a great bit of marketing of the site!

fretmeister

I'd vote for a flat fee to put ads in the Classifieds.

The idea that it might damage total visits is a red herring. At the moment the visits are not monetarised and indeed cost money. Lower visits lower operating costs, but it would also mean that 100% of classified adverts generate income. 50 paying classifieds is better than 1000 money sucking expense increasing ones.

As long as the members report attempts to sell outside of the classifieds it will work fine.

But I can't see paying to read the classifieds working. People won't pay to just read about something they then discover they don't want.

Fee payable by the seller only.

TTony

fretmeister said:

But I can't see paying to read the classifieds working. People won't pay to just read about something they then discover they don't want.

Fee payable by the seller only.

It's probably got lost in the thread, but my original thinking re Classifieds & charging for use thereof, was;

• Keep the Classifieds *FREE* for sellers.  They are generating the content that is attracting traffic (albeit that they also ultimately benefit financially from the sale).
• Keep the Classifieds *FREE* for established members of the community.  Define "established" by the number of posts (and weed out all the "I agree" posts that are made just to generate post count).
• Charge for non-established members to be able to use PMs and to be able to post on a Classifieds thread.

So, the ad is still visible, the new member can establish whether they want to buy, and if they do, there's an additional £10 (say) fee that they need to pay before being able to buy.  

If they want what's being advertised, they'll be more inclined to pay.

Making that restriction clear to new joiners might also prompt them to get more involved in the other parts of the forum - actually, they'd have to get more involved to generate their post count.

Alternatively, if they're not bothered about contributing to the rest of the forum and just want to grab & go from the Classifieds, they pay a fee for the privilege.

The objective is 2-fold.  Yes, we generate some funds.  But we also generate more activity across the forum.

fretmeister

£10 to be able to open negotiations? Or even ask questions?

Good luck with that.

menamestom

What about an annual series of gigs, perhaps 3 -  London, Manchester and Glasgow. Bands chosen by voting.  The bands play for free but would have the benefit of a decent crowd. £20 a ticket and advertised well in advance. Each location would have a volunteer organiser who locates a cheap or free venue and arranges the logistics.   It could be called 'Fretfest'.  That's what Jim Morrison told me in my dream last night anyway.  Obviously this could be completely separate to any other funding method.  

axisus

The trouble with products is that I don't use calendars, the mug wasn't my cup of tea, and the shirts don't appeal (I dod buy the first one, but I've never worn it).

It's not easy finding things that enough people like.

I might have bought a mug with the mumsnet piss-take on it.

TheBigDipper

Once you start charging users to use the site, you move from being a self-funded community into being a "service", with all the user expectations that follow. Voluntary donations are something else. 

I'm going to work out how make a donation (and do it). I like this site and value being able to read other peoples comments and ask my own questions from time to time. 

I'm only interested in general posts though. I've never used the site to buy or sell anything. Is there a button I can press to stop seeing any of the Classifieds when I'm browsing Recent Discussions?