Donations?

[Izret101]

This has been brought up more than once before.

I think it would be a good idea to set up a RFGen paypal and accept donations from members.

Those who donate would be helping to fund the site and then we could start running contests or having giveaways and taking some financial burden off those running the site.(Or they could just put money into the site as they usually do and strictly use this for other expenses...)

I am sure their are others who would be willing to put some cash into the site as it has been done before(unfortunately i was unable to be one of those people at the time).

If this were to get set up various contests or special events could start going on.

[bum-man]

I don't under stand the questions (as it is phrased!).

Are you for or against permanant "donations" link for the website?

So does a Yes vote say that Yes I am for it, or Yes I am against it?

I think the answers should be changed to For/Against to make it more clear.

[Tan]

I think it should. Mainly because there are a lot more people who use the collection tools than who post in the forums. A donation link put up for a couple of weeks could go by unnoticed to several potential donations from members who only stop by from time to time. Or even regular members on vacation or otherwise busy. That and with so many people from different backgrounds, countries etc etc we can't assume everyone can give at one particular time of year over another.

While we are at it we should discuss generating revenue from merchandise. I know it's traditionally been a small group of members fronting the cost of the server but if the site will have longevity it should be able to stand on it's own feet even if only partially. Even if the cost was once again carried by a few diehards extra revenue may even help to pay for future expansion and services as the site grows. Better to start now than be scrambling round trying to find cash when the bill comes.

Those who donate could even be eligible for a discount on merchandise. Long-term we could even start making appearances as a group at conventions or help publish homebrew games.

[UNFORGIVINGPAIN]

I agree with Tan. I think we should have a permanent donation link. Merchandise or at least t-shirts are a great idea. Also "making appearances as a group at conventions" would be awesome, but that may only work in Cincinnati.

[NES_Rules]

I think donations are OK.  But I'd hate to see this site turn into a site where you have to pay to use all the features.  I like the idea someone brought up a few months ago of selling merchandise like T-shirts (A F-shirts for those with 2 arms on one side )  That way the site still makes money and we would be paying for an object instead of site features. 

[TraderJake]

Our site runs very well currently. We've had our ups and downs in uptime and responsiveness but we have made improvements to the scripts and our host has made improvements to the backend (mySQL server). As such, for now, we are content with our current hosting situation.

When we did donations last year, we did it so that a few certain people would not foot the entire bill for hosting costs. It isn't as though the bill is huge right now, but for college students it is something that would be nicer broken into chunks.  That is the only thing the donations were used for, and it is the only thing we intend on using it for. We're not a bunch of heartless, money grubbing bastards, and our philosophy towards donations reflects that. We only will do donations when and if we need them, and right now the only time we need it is when the server bill comes. Contests, staff positions, and everything else is funded and done because we love the site, and we love the community. For this reason, it has been decided that while we will continue to do donations for server cost offset, it will likely be the only thing we do donations for. We intend on doing donations a bit earlier this year, since a lot of people wanted to donate but there was the holiday season approaching. As such, the donation button will likely appear in September, and will disappear once we have raised enough money to cover operating costs.

I appreciate your willingness to donate year round, but right now that is not something we need, and who knows if and when we'll ever need to do that.

[Tynstar]

As such, the donation button will likely appear in September, and will disappear once we have raised enough money to cover operating costs.

I agree with everything that Dave said.

[Izret101]

I totally understand what you guys are saying but its not like we would be using the money for personal use or hoarding it as an investment it would be going right back into the community and those who donated in the forms of prizes of one form or another.

I'd just like the upper echelon to dwell on it a bit longer and maybe see what others have to say too.

If the definitive answer is no i am fine with that.
It only seems fair though to give more of our members a chance to weigh in on it.

[ganonbanned]

dont care I wont donate.  I dont have the money anyway, so yeah.

[St0rmTK421]

I agree that from September through December should be plenty of time to raise the money needed for the server costs.  Heck last year we only had it up for three weeks before we met the goal, and that was during the holiday shopping season.

If members would like more money to be put towards contests or other items or events related to the site, we could factor them into the donations, but we would let people know that any money over the server cost is not essential for the site to keep running.  We could leave the button up over the few months we schedule, but would keep people up to date on how much we have raised and let them know immediately when we have reached our server cost goal.  Anything donated over that goal could be used for the extraneous stuff we do for the site.

As it is right now, the contests and other stuff we do for the site does not really cost that much money, so I'm completely fine with just using donations towards server costs. 

[Three]

that was during the holiday shopping season.

The truth comes out! :0

[Tan]

I really don't think people will donate if they think it'll be used to fund contests, only for the continued operation of the site.

My thing about having it year round is for pre-planning. Why not have resources available in case of an emergency? Should a site with 3 years of hard work put into it not have a contingency plan or a warchest for operating costs? If the site continues to grow as it has over the last 3 years this will become an important issue, so why wait until the last minute?

We have to think farther ahead than this year's server cost. Nothing wrong with having a rainy day fund IMO.

[Fighter17]

I don't mind donating to help pay for the server bills.

[Funk_Buddy]

dont care I wont donate.  I dont have the money anyway, so yeah.

If you can't afford $5 or $10... sell some blood or something else. 

[two_scoop_steve]

when i get my next check i can send some money in, we should have a warchest like tan said. we all know that that this site gets bigger and bigger every week.we never know when an emergency will come up?  i also would like to see rfgeneration tshirts. i would wear it quite a bit. if we are sending in donations wear should i send to?