Thread: Member Donations for Site Maintenance & Hosting Costs

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

The dirty little secret of SRP is that nobody gets paid for maintaining the nuts and bolts that keep the site running. That 'button' that used to say 'classifieds' but now says 'buy-sell-trade' didn't get up there by magic.

A systems administrator had to spend his time to install it, test it, and work out any bugs. Updating and bug fixes take time. Years ago there were a few qualified individuals who had the skills and the willingness to do the work gratis.

Now, and for a long time past, there has only been one individual, and for those hours he puts in of his spare time he doesn't even get a thank you. I forget what the going rate for a systems administrator is, maybe $30.00 per hour, $50.00 ? Whatever it is, if the site owners had the funds to hire an outfit to maintain the site you wouldn't see it down on Friday/Saturday for hours.

It is an admirable resolve to run a free site. But as Nelson Rockefeller (former Governor of NY, and Vice President of the USA) said many years ago, "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

We might be getting it for free, but someone is doing the work, and/or paying for it behind the scenes. In this case it is, and has been, one tired systems administrator.

Thanks Jimmy, like I thought, some awesome gentleman doing the work when they can. I know IT, it's 99.9% of the time people ignore you and take you for granted, the .1% of the time there's an issue, you're a complete arsehole to use a technical term...

So the question is, this doesn't have to be complicated, what would it take to set up and email address to PayPal funds to or a donate button?

Originally Posted by Phrank

Thanks Jimmy, like I thought, some awesome gentleman doing the work when they can. I know IT, it's 99.9% of the time people ignore you and take you for granted, the .1% of the time there's an issue, you're a complete arsehole to use a technical term...

So the question is, this doesn't have to be complicated, what would it take to set up and email address to PayPal funds to or a donate button?

You know the old saying, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing ............

Speaking with someone in the know, who enlightened me that there is more to it than meets the eye, it is more complicated than I thought.

I cannot go beyond that cryptic statement, but that is the long and short of it.

The one forum I am part of that takes donations through paypal the person has a business account to accept the donations.
But then again it is a much bigger forum and has about 2500 members that donate yearly
So yes it is a bit more complicated, but doable

It is more complicated.

No problem with setting up a paypal account and letting folks donate however if it is to be done right and have integrity one person has to be designated to receive the funds and there has to be checks on him. Since we become a member supported site there has to be some accounting as to where the funds go.

I've seen sites like that where someone uses the funds for their own use and eventually it comes out and those sites go defunct very quickly.

Of course you can do it like Wiki and have a year end drive and request donations like they do.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

if it is to be done right and have integrity one person has to be designated to receive the funds

+1 ! Everybody, PM me for my paypal addy ................. ...............

This sounds complicated but...

I don't know the legal ramifications in the US but how about setting up a Trust or a Non-Profit Organisation where all donations are received and recorded.

A team of 3/4/5 who are voted on by the forum members then disburse the donations as they see fit (obviously in connection with the running and maintaining of the site).

We could setup the PayPal account, or do the yearly donation drive with a funding target in mind or simply assign three Senior Mods to the PayPal account, give them all the passwords, and they self-audit expenses, each get's sent the transaction notification when something is paid for or received...doubt there would ever be enough to buy a Rolex and head to Vegas for the week.

Honour system and a couple of eyes on the account, and we could try that for 6 months...if it works great, if it needs tweaking, adjust as we go.

Key here would be to keep it simple, know what the expenses are to accomplish what the site needs and meet them...

Originally Posted by Dieseld

The one forum I am part of that takes donations through paypal the person has a business account to accept the donations.
But then again it is a much bigger forum and has about 2500 members that donate yearly
So yes it is a bit more complicated, but doable

you might want to check your numbers hand, we at this time of the day on a holiday weekend have 1345 members signed in plus and actual member count at over 45,000 strong I think that qualifies us as larger than the large forum Tc

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

you might want to check your numbers hand, we at this time of the day on a holiday weekend have 1345 members signed in plus and actual member count at over 45,000 strong I think that qualifies us as larger than the large forum Tc

Naa. We have mucho "members" but most are folks who haven't set foot on this site in years and never will. We also have a ton of lurkers.

I would guess we have less than 150 really loyal members who are here on a regular basis and actually have 100 or less real loyalists who might contribute to the upkeep.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Naa. We have mucho "members" but most are folks who haven't set foot on this site in years and never will. We also have a ton of lurkers.

I would guess we have less than 150 really loyal members who are here on a regular basis and actually have 100 or less real loyalists who might contribute to the upkeep.

Well, That makes me feel real special. I'm here a couple times a day at least. But, of course, Im new and trying to learn everything I can. BTW, I'd donate! Dont have much spare money to give but I would. What I have of shave gear I'd part with is none! And I dought anyone would want it if I dont.