[Dan Breene]

"I'm willing to complain, dispense patronizing advice, contribute vague and/or redundant information, and generally pretend to be concerned, but I'm not willing to exert myself in the slightest, physically, mentally, or financially." [

Due to this vivid word portrait of me
I'll pony up, ASAP.

There's a funny poem in there, Rose. You should write it.

[John Whitworth]

Come on you Brits. Forget all that paypal crap. Alex says you can just send him a cheque by snail. Of course, being beleagured brits it will be (as in my case) a small cheque. Is that beleagured spelt right? It looks funny.

[John Beaton]

I had hoped to avoid mentioning actual amounts on this thread, but others have and I’m worried that the guidance has gone in the wrong direction. Let me do some guess-timating.

Alex hasn't raised funds for some time and does not do it annually. Ignoring his time, the costs of running the Board must be several thousand dollars per year. So let’s take a target of $5,000.

There may be many registered and active members but only a small number will have a strong enough attachment and enough concern to contribute. Let’s say we get 40 contributors. And let’s say we can break them into 4 groups of 10 each:
A – strong attachment, can afford a meaningful donation
B – strong attachment but short of funds
C – more casual attachment, can afford a donation
D – more casual attachment but short of funds

Now let’s say that, based on the discussion above, they contribute as follows: A - $40, B - $30, C - $20, D - $10. The result will be $1,000, or one-fifth of the target.

To hit the target on this model, we would need to multiply the numbers by 5, i.e. A - $200, B - $150, C - $100, and D - $50. If we reduce the A and B donations to C and D levels, we end up with only 60% of the target, so some donation activity at A and B levels or higher is needed.

I hope this at least suggests that “reasonable” donations should be higher than the amounts mentioned earlier in the thread.

Alex, if you are able to give us some information, it would be good to know if the above analysis is close to realistic. For instance, can you tell us the annual Board out-of-pocket running costs, and the number of contributors and total contributions so far?

John

[Allen Tice]

If I accidentally seemed to guide anyone to a lesser contribution than affordable, I abase myself. John's breakdown above seems a good heuristic. Guess where I rank on it.

[R. S. Gwynn]

PayPal contribution sent this a.m.

[Jones Pat]

I gave quickly, too, because I love this board...read it off and on all day long...but I have no idea if the donation I sent was received.

Today I received an e-mail from Google asking me to rate my Able Muse "purchase". I fear I was not very kind. It was not a "purchase" that arrived in time for me to wear on Saturday night. It was a donation for which I was charged and paid the bill, but with no acknowledgement that it was received by the intended recipient.

I am old fashioned, perhaps, but I like to know when I give money that the folks I gave it to received it. If the Gaz can acknowledge donations by e-mail, PMs...surely Erato can, too...one would think.

Pat

[Joseph Bottum]

Google finally charged my credit card, so I assume the small donation I sent at last made it through. Good luck with this, Alex. A hard time for fundraising.

Jody

[Jones Pat]

I don't disagree that it is a very difficult time for fund-raising. Retired, I am busy writing grants every day for not for profits that I care about and they are mighty hard to come by these days, but I still believe that one of the basic rules of fundraising is to thank the folks who responded.

That nit aside, what would it take to make Erato, or any good poetry board, journal for that matter, eligible for an arts grant? We have lots of talented folks here in all fields ( besides poetry) who could donate time and know how to the effort...not to mention you guys could snow anyone with your language skills...and, truth be known, that's what all good grant writers do. : )

Just wondering...why not a grant for a respected online board?

Pat

[Julie Steiner]

The status quo of Eratosphere administration has several big advantages over incorporation as a not-for-profit entity, which is the only way to be eligible for most grants:

http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonpro...rtingsteps.htm

If it's a question of Alex spending his limited time on tech headaches or tax headaches, I think we'd all agree which gives us more direct benefits.

[Kevin Greene]

Well, I've enjoyed my first day here. Some of you seem rather quirky, but, then, so am I. So I'll pony up! Alex, a modest check coming your way. I wish I could do more, but we'll all chip in, won't we?