Seeking Donations and Ideas
 

Hey folks. It's been a while since I ran the last donation drive. You'll be pleased to hear that I've cut our monthly bill in half and we now only pay $200 a month for our two servers. We also have a much higher bandwidth allowance. The TFP has been run through donations from the very beginning (over 5 years now) and I'm really pleased to make this adjustment, so people know that their contribution helps a higher percentage of the monthly dues.. or some logic like that. This means one thing that I'd like to talk to you about...

Assuming people are still motivated to donate, I expect to have a lot of money saved up in the TFP's account. Currently, we have another month left in the tank, and if this post inspires people, I hope to have at least 4 months in the account at all times. I could consider anything more than that "open ended funds."

So what will those open ended funds be used for? That's what I'm asking you guys.

Contest prizes? T shirts? Advertisements to get more traffic? New technology? A roaming masseuse?

Of course we're not getting anything fun if we don't get donations, but we can daydream.

DONATION INFO:

Paypal: develdevil@gmail.com

Snailmail:
Andrew Gonsalves
140 W 238th Street, Apt B52
Bronx, NY 10463

Make checks out to Andrew Gonsalves, my bank wont cash anything with "TFP" on it anymore.

I would suggest keeping the 'open' funds right where they are...I know that, personally, times are very hard and I can't make my usual donation(sorry, Hon) and that might come to pass for anyone here.
As for generating a bit more, have you considered selling tshirts, perhaps thru something like Cafepress? You could run a design contest, winner gets $20 or something...what's nice about Cafepress is, no outlay, just submit a design for sale through a seller's account. No fee, you set the price, get the difference after their cut.

Unless CafePress' quality has improved considerably in the last few years, I'd rather get the shirts through another source.

Seems it has, compared to what else I tried (Artpress-bleh!!). They use a direct print method, rather than cheapass iron-ons. I wear one of my own and have had it over a year with no fade or peeling-the colors are completely accurate; a car club I belong to uses them and the stuff is really nice. (And no color charges!)
I've looked around and they have the best set-up; holding inventory is not the way to go, I found that out the hard way. And color charges, printing charges, etc., can add up, raising the price you'd have to charge just to keep a positive fund flow.

I kind of agree with ng on saving the funds for when times are tough.

But if we do use the extra bit for prizes or the like, maybe something that supports our local TFP artists and is beneficial for other members. :confused: I don't know, it's early in the morning, and my brain isn't moving quite right yet.

Rather than use donated money for contests, I'd recommend using contests to raise donation money. E.g. a raffle of sorts for some donated goods or services. Donate and you get a "ticket." Then just use donated money to secure TFP's future expenses are taken care of.

As far as expanding the TFP community itself, I think that encouraging word-of-mouth advertising involving current members would go a long way. Perhaps a promotion of some sort to encourage / reward referrals with nifty forum-rewards. On another forum that I run, I use things like post-count and stylization of usernames as rewards for various board contests / promotions. For banner-design contests I have given out a Fleshlight and an Aneros, but those are once-a-year expenses. Ultimately the best way to get quality members is for current members to tell their friends. That way the new members have some sort of root in the TFP community, and aren't just people that heard we have a Titty Board.

i think this is a great idea. If you can make a ton of t'shirts and sell em 5-10$ more than the cost, then all that profit would go back to the site.
or give out tshirts to the ones who donate over a certain amount?

:thumbsup:
i say we start a drawing contest for the shirt in the art forum. :)

Problem is, when buying in bulk, you have to make sure you have the right sizes, the right amount and really hope they sell out as planned, since you've already paid for them.(I got stuck big time overestimating one size, underestimating another and generally thinking more would sell-now I have 14 car rags).
Since TFP is not a profit machine, that kind of outlay could bite Hal in the ass, hence, using a site that does all the work and sends out things only as ordered. If no orders, no loss.

Well the whole point of keeping 4 months in advance is to protect against those "hard times" ... nevermind the fact that I have a paycheck myself and can cover the cost of the site anyways. Don't feel constrained here.. let the ideas flow.

Well, if I know Halx, those hard times can be quite lengthy.

Hal, I'm going to snail a donation your way when I get home tonight. I'll PM details to you then.

I think we need to focus on more traffic. A t-shirt would be one more thing I wouldn't wear and would probably go in the charitable box at the next cleaning. Same with golf shirts or any other logoed apparel.

I'd feel bad about winning a raffle and would probably just donate everything back to the site. You want to look at that option very carefully since I expect it would affect your taxes. I know winning them has done that to me. That's reportable income, and you'd have to document it on your end too.

We always, and I mean always, need more people here. The Digg project has been great, and I hope that it continues to suceed, but you know me well enough to know how much I believe in Plan B, C, D.... If the Digg stuff dries up (or the site gets shut down because of the DVD code stuff), then how do we attract new members? I'm not saying we need a banner up on Yahoo or anything of the sort, but some well-placed ads would drive some more traffic our way, which is always good. I look at the new folks that have joined in the last 6 months and their contributions, and it makes me happy. I'd love for the next big problem to be figure out how to get through growing pains.

The only other thing that you haven't covered is taking the wife out for a nice dinner on us. I tell my assistants to do that once in a while just as a thank you/morale booster, and while our roles are most definitely reversed here, I think you should do it. But that's me, and I spend money like a drunken sailor most of the time.

after seeing the comments, i agree. Tshirt is out. but it was just an idea.

If you want more people to join, then we'll have to do some sort of advertising. Digg was good for that. Fark is out since they removed the link and the foobie page is not viewed by many. was the podcast idea going somewhere? i thought that was cool.

We need to put our logo on condoms.

Fuckin' A right!

King, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: no one wants to see your cock.

Ahem. :suave:

Speak for yourself :D

At least TFP does not run on Gas.

or crack =P

You'll need a bunch of massage therapists, since each state in the US has its own regulations. But I should be able to cover Connecticut in another month.

Don't be so sure about that.