| Free Republic 2nd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 | Receipts & Pledges to-date: $13,140 | |||
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| Woo hoo!! And we're now over 16%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless. | ||||
Posted on 04/19/2012 1:22:35 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
I've checked with an ad agency. We can probably raise the funds we need to operate FR at our current level and at the current market price for online advertising if we run a banner ad at the top of every page and at least one rectangular ad in the above the fold body of the page and a couple rectangular ads in the sidebar. If that doesn't generate enough revenue, we can also run pop ups or pop unders and we can even run audio and video ads if need be. But of course, if we go full bore commercial, we'd have to insure strict copyright compliance with very brief excerpting of all articles to avoid lawsuits. And the agency would require that we install a filter to censor out any bad or unacceptable words in our posts.
Or, of course, there's always the membership model. We could setup a members only system where paying members get full access and non-paying members get throttled back, etc.
I don't like either of the above models and think we'd soon lose a lot of our readers and participants. Of course that may happen anyway if we can't fund it and if we cannot get our equipment problem under control, or if my refusal to vote for or support an abortionist/homosexualist/statist who has plans to install ObamaCare, er, I mean RomneyCare into all 50 states runs everyone off.
The donation model has served us very well since 1997 when we first started using it. It's very clean, uncomplicated and we attract participants who perhaps can't afford membership dues but do want to join the discussion and join our rallies, protests, prayer sessions, etc. And the advertising model would probably bring in the revenue, but it comes with strings attached.
I'm sure there are other ways and ways to combine features of various models, sell books, cds, gear, etc, offer no ads for paid subscribers, etc, even ISP services, but all of these also complicate matters.
I'm an old dog and I like to avoid new tricks, new complications, additional overhead, additional accounting, additional rules and regulations, etc, wherever possible. I like to stick to simplicity and with what works.
Thank you all very much for your continuing participation and support.
Caught it too late. I’ll try to do better. ;-)
LOL, must be liberals. They never bother to learn facts themselves.
You sound like people who never vote and expect people to listen to their opinions or take them seriously.
"Donate"......To present as 'a gift' to a fund or cause.
"Donation"....To 'benefit' a cause.
Donations are given 'without return consideration'.
Yep, I skipped past the insult, too. It won’t happen again.
Gee you’re screaming awfully loudly about the post. Are YOU the one freepmailing/emailing others while keeping up appearances on the board?
LOL. Thank you dear Fledermaus! Too trying to find the facts for herself. Sheeesh.
Produce the originals, if there is such a thing. You made the accusation, now PROVE it.
Now you're going too far. We mean spirited right wingers hug trees too!!
Well, that is, mostly when we're lugging them up to the cutting pile...
And if that doesn’t work raffle off some AR’s every quarter. That’ll get the viewership up! ;-}
What if we not only have to divulge exactly how much we donate, but how it was paid; cash, check, money order, credit card, debit card, Paypal, a joint account, proceeds from disability or SSA checks, etc., and when it was last paid. And we should also, on a yearly basis submit a personal financial statement including our most recent credit score, a copy of our last tax return and a criminal background check and drug screen, the passwords to our email and FB accounts and of course our voting record for the last 20 years before being allowed to post.
We would of course have to pay a “fee” to have all that information, including our sign up date analyzed; the proceeds of which would go to FR, but in return we would get a “FR Score” based on all the various factors. If our score was ranked high enough, that would not only give our posts priority and an automatic BTTT, but if really high, say the top 10%, that would also allow us to post a predetermined number of vanity and prayer request posts per fiscal year and the ability to arbitrarily Zot posters we don’t like for whatever reason. If OTOH our score was low, it would appear in a small and rather sad looking font. Only posters with a moderate score or higher would be allowed to post cute pictures of puppies and kittens. The posters with the very lowest scores each quarter would have their identity stolen and their bank accounts emptied with the funds transferred to Jim’s personal account. We could also make some $$ selling the info to the NSA : ),
I’m kidding of course, well sort of, maybe : ),
On a more serious note; Jim if you want to have ads; if you feel the need to do so in order to fund the operation, then go for it and let the chips fall where they may. You might lose some donors; then you might offset that by the income the ads generate. It’s your call. You shouldn’t make this decision based on emotion or by group consensus but by what makes sense from a business perspective assuming that FR is after all a business.
But personally, while I understand this is not a not for profit org and you are not obligated to do so; I’d and perhaps some others would feel a lot more comfortable donating and donating more if there was some more accountability and transparency of where and how the “donations” are being spent.
Yes, I’ve seen the posted budget (the very same one posted for years now) and no offense, but as an accounting professional, it’s rather lacking. And there’s no posting of how the actual expenditures met the budget from year to year. That I think would be helpful to bean counters like me.
For instance, extra funds were raised last quarter for equipment but now more funds this quarter are being requested for the same with no hard budget or estimate for that actual expenditure this entails, or what is actually needed. I think some folks like me would be more forthcoming with funds or additional funds if they had some real idea of where their money was going rather than some vague generalities and promises of improvements and equipment upgrades.
Of course you and others can and might tell me it’s none of my business and that I shouldn’t question, but then I would say to you and others that I have a limited amount of expendable income after meeting my personal obligations and taxes and putting aside funds for my retirement so that I’m not dependent on a government handout when I’m no longer able to work; my first priority. I’m very careful and very conservative with my money and only “donate” when I have a very high comfort level that I understand how my donation is being utilized.
Just my “two cents” for what it’s worth. I’m sending a onetime donation for this quarter, but I really can’t commit to anything more at this time until and unless I have a better understanding of where and how my donation is being spent.
*ahem* Mine are still all over the yard. We ain’t got no pile yet. ;-)
Define 'snobby', if you don't mind.
Did someone cause your conscience to cringe into a ball because they asked you whether you donate to FR?
Jim...I like things as they are. Not so sure it would be advantageous to you moving in any direction where you’d risk control or would have to abide by somebody elses criteria.
I think this could apply to Free Republic:
“My ardent desire is ... to keep the United States free from political connections with every other country,... to see them independent of all... and under the influence of none”
source:... Letter to Patrick Henry, October 9, 1795....’George washington’.
Nonflash ads would be fine.
I avoid sites with flash or popups. The blockers are unreliable.
Long as you stay with donations I’ll keep kicking in $5.00 a month.
Maybe the bloggers could be hit up for more help.
I will stand by DJ anytime.
Actually, I am praying for that. It would be a miracle.
You don't have to do any selling on Newt. He's got my vote :-)
I read the entire thread and there are some good ideas. I’m fine with any of them and have no problem with ads if you want to go that way. I really have no preference and I’m fine with whatever you want to do. It never hurts to try some new tactics, you can always drop them if they don’t work out.
Nahh. Just imagine that I sat and typed that all out by myself.
You can find it yourself. It’s ‘out there’. Have fun.
OW smeared our team and I’m ripping mad. These people work themselves to death, including you, and she posts anonymous tripe. I believe it to be a lie and there WERE no emails, only someones fevered imagination.
Freepathons have been running longer and longer, well before the current kerfuffle over zotting Romneybots. Per that evidence, I don't see that one has anything to do with the other.
Sure, some donors are going to drop off because they've been shown the door, but there are new Freepers being made every day, and some of them will surely replace those donors who've left.
The truth is, the straight donation model has been somewhat of a struggling funding method for a couple of years now. The economy has simply tightened, and that's a fact.
I don't think there's any shortage of Freepers - just paying Freepers. A three tiered membership model, coupled with banner ads, is a proven way to bring in sufficient revenues to a site such as this. That's my suggestion.
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