Well, if we DO go to "avatars" for donors, I nominate this one for dalereed
(I actually get a kick out of your replies, to be honest. You say what you think!)
| Free Republic 4th Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 | Receipts & Pledges to-date: $11,664 | |||
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| Woo hoo!! And our first 14% is in!! 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.
Dittos
Well, if we DO go to "avatars" for donors, I nominate this one for dalereed
(I actually get a kick out of your replies, to be honest. You say what you think!)
Romney isn't the answer.
Come Tuesday, I'm voting Newt who I'm not all that wild about either. Maybe some miracle might happen.
Hooray!! The best we can hope for is Gingrich keeping Romney from getting 1144. Maybe a brokered convention is the answer. *praying!*
Btw, I do like Gingrich. Maybe sometime we can talk about him. This thread isn't the right place though.
Welcome to the Bell family's monthly budget. I really do know how rough it is out here.
One time we were so broke, that we thought we'd be kicked out of our house any day. It was Freepathon time, and I happened to let it spill via Freepmail to someone who was working on the fund drive. That kind person got someone to donate on my behalf. That anonymous Freeper's generosity touched me deeply, and I won't ever forget it.
My suggestion to Jim about an alternative funding model is just that. A suggestion. I know that the generosity of good Freepers wouldn't be affected, no matter what model he eventually goes with.
That said, kudos to you and the rest of the 'up all night gang' who keep this thing rolling. Bless you!
Why not continue with the FReepathon fundraising model and offer FR merchandise?
Likely more like a solid $35K year round which is still excellent, given the Marxist’s economy. $40K is our ideal. We already have 32 New Monthly Donors thus far during this FReepathon and some are New Dollar A Day Donors!
Ask the site owner. He knows. But all he could give you is the pledged amount.
To your point, why donate to a cause that doesn't support you? For years the bannings have occured, it is clear to many that at any time this place will pull support from loyal posters.
Almost forgot to add....Jim could always decide to make the Basic membership free. Those folks could participate as normal, except they’d see all the ads.
Thanks! I get cat naps on the night shift. It’s commonly called “nodding off”. LOL
The bad thing about ads is they also come with a measure of lost control. As it is, we can bash liberals to our hearts content. Ads could change that. It would change a lot of things. Like what content we could post. I think it’s just too much of a hassle.
Thank you!
Really, really Thank you!
We are not all up all night. We take turns and we are
World Wide!
Freepers are the best! :)
Jim, you never disappoint. I can't say that I'm surprised that you've been working on something like that in your 'spare' time. Good show, my man.
It would be interesting to see how the model you mentioned works. It sounds very much like the Delphi Forums network. At their Premium membership level, one can create their own forum with all of the bells and whistles. Even Basic members can create a forum, but they're limited in functionality and glitz.
Do keep us posted!
Next time, please remind me to ignore her.
You’re right. There are a few hours when there’s no one on the thread. But not many. :-)
My Two Cents:
Set up a Member program on levels of donation. For a premium you might be able to add storage that can hold our pictures instead of typing html. Maybe just click on to post.
The more the donation, the more the storage space if you can do that with more servers.
Since almost all websites today have at least some ad blocks, Drudge is minimal, it is a viable option. Maybe only allow ads from conservative sites or sites that promote your, and our, vision.
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