GameBanshee Forums

Re: More fundraising ideas

Originally posted by HighLordDave
Someone on the thread linked above by Mr Sleep mentioned PBS's fundraising techniques and I wanted to put in some suggestions for raising money. Two advantages that PBS has are its government subsidies and the fact that any donations that you make to them are tax-deductible. I am not sure if Buck can secure 501c(3) tax status as a non-profit organization, but let's assume that will not happen.

I work in advancement services at a university, and am familiar with some techniques in fundraising. The first thing Buck might consider is establishing giving societies and membership categories based on giving, both on an annual and a lifetime basis. For instance, if someone gives $25 (US) or its equivalent, their title changes from Exalted Member, to GameBanshee Partner. If that person makes a gift of $50, they become a GameBanshee Sponsor, and so on. Then on a semi-annual or annual basis, post a special recognition section at GameBanshee for everyone who has made donations in general giving categories ($0-25, $26-50, $51-100, $100-250, $250+,etc.)

One other thing that PBS does during its pledge drives is to offer premiums for certain giving levels. Maybe GameBanshee could give out stuff for giving a certain amount of money. For instance, if someone gives $50, they would get a GameBanshee coffee mug. If they gift $100, they might get a GameBanshee shirt.

These suggestions sound very good to me. One thing I worried about, before my initial response to this thread, was whether or not I should admit that I had made a donation. I worried that by announcing my contribution, I would seem to be asking for acknowledgment from Buck - whereas I want nothing of the sort.

Then I realized that it might be better to let people know that contributions are, in fact being made. It might be good to have a system that recognizes contributors and contributions, similar to the way that public organizations do. This way, others can see that a majority of people contribute low amounts, and that they should not feel badly that they can’t give a million dollars every month. Ten bucks in a year is good too.

The problem I have always had with NPR or PBS pledge drives is that they always seem to happen right when the mortgage and child care payments are due. Because they only happen twice a year, I never seem to have the money to make the donation that I want to. This time, Buck’s message came out just when I was feeling a little wealthy, and it was easy to make a donation. A Recognition System would serve as a constant reminder to me and to others, and I would be free to make periodic donations whenever finances were good.


On a slightly more humorous note, I would like to nominate HighLordDave to host GameBanshee’s first ‘Spamathon’! I suspect he can do as good a job as Jerry Lewis, and I understand the French already have several fan clubs devoted to Dave. I imagine there will be plenty of SYMers willing to participate as ‘Dave’s Kids’ all vying for the coveted position of Gamebanshee’s Poster Boy/Girl.

Hmmmm. I could see having a GameBanshee coffee mug here on my desk….

Re: Re: More fundraising ideas

Originally posted by Gwalchmai
The problem I have always had with NPR or PBS pledge drives is that they always seem to happen right when the mortgage and child care payments are due.

Ironically i have the same problem now at the moment, i have my insurance payments next week and other commitments financially, so this month or so it is out

I have donated in the past, not largely but a little, i would be more than happy to have a reward type system

@HLD and Gwally,

Good points. I always had similar sentiments about making a donation vs. asking for acknowledgement. As one of the gainfully employed, I've just made another contribution (instead of the coffee mug, I'd prefer some digital photos of the E3 'booth babes' sent to me since I don't drink coffee).

I also strongly agree with HLD comments concerning subscription based content. We definitely don't want to see that happen.

Not to sound elitest, but those of us who do post here and check in every day have helped to build this site and its' forum into what it is. It really means something to said people or they wouldn't be back here day after day, myself included. All of us who post thousands of times consume host bandwidth and server hard disk space. It certainly isn't asking too much to give a little back.

The concept of the Spamathon is pretty good also. What a riot it would be with beldin, eerhardt, and ode working the phones stumbling their way through contribution after contribution.

I will be making a donation in 5 days time peeps, I get paid then and I will finally get my backside into gear and send some money to Gamebanshee.

Re: Re: More fundraising ideas

Originally posted by Gwalchmai
The problem I have always had with NPR or PBS pledge drives is that they always seem to happen right when the mortgage and child care payments are due. Because they only happen twice a year, I never seem to have the money to make the donation that I want to.

On a slightly more humorous note, I would like to nominate HighLordDave to host GameBanshee’s first ‘Spamathon’! I suspect he can do as good a job as Jerry Lewis, and I understand the French already have several fan clubs devoted to Dave. I imagine there will be plenty of SYMers willing to participate as ‘Dave’s Kids’ all vying for the coveted position of Gamebanshee’s Poster Boy/Girl.

If it will advance the cause and keep GameBanshee operating without having to resort to either subscription content and/or corporate sponsorship, I would be delighted to host a Spamathon once a year. It will give me an excuse to buy a new tuxedo . . .

I think our friend Gwalchmai's concerns about having or not having money are typical of a lot of people and why I think that pledges are important for GameBanshee's fundraising efforts. If people get into the habit of writing a check or having a credit card charge into their monthly statement, then they will build their GameBanshee donation into their budgets and won't miss the money when it's time to make their pledge payment. $5 a month isn't a tremendous amount of money for most people, but as I said before, if 50 people give $5 per month on a regular basis, that's $3,000 per year that Buck can count on and not worry about whether or not he's going to having to dip into his own pocket (again).

I just thought of something else: It needs to be stated implicitly that no matter how much anyone contributes, they are still subject to the same rules of forum conduct as everyone else. So, when I win the lottery (and I intend to) and can afford to contribute thousands of dollars, I’ll still get banned as soon as I get out of line.

For those of us that can spare, something like $5 a month is not a lot - over the year probably amounts to the cost of a pc game. Considering how many hours some of us spend in here - that is good value for money IMO To Buck $5 per month from even only 2.5% of GB members will make a huge difference - though I do not know how much additional revenue he needs to raise. For those who can't donate, if you click on his ad banners, or when you buy a game use Chips n Bits, that also increases his revenue. This is a great site - it will be a shame to see it go.

Originally posted by Yshania
This is a great site - it will be a shame to see it go.

I cannot reiterate this enough!

I must admit I had slacked off in my donations, I switched ISPs and therefore switched my automatic reminder calendar. I find that it's easier to add it in as an automatic reminder to pay.

Originally posted by Gwalchmai
So, when I win the lottery (and I intend to) and can afford to contribute thousands of dollars, I’ll still get banned as soon as I get out of line.

I see you haven't paid much attention to the way things work under Bush & Blair @ Gwally.

it will be a shame to see it go.

LOL. I love the 'it will be' rather than 'it would be' here, just shows how much confidence Ysh has in GB .

BTW, @ Nips etc. How are you paying? I'd feel a bit dumb putting a tenner in an envelope and posting it to america...

I usually pay through Amazon. As someone else said, if you don't have a credit card otr feel uncomfortable using it online, I'm sure a p.m. to Buck will come up with a viable alternative

Originally posted by frogus
LOL. I love the 'it will be' rather than 'it would be' here, just shows how much confidence Ysh has in GB .

BTW, @ Nips etc. How are you paying? I'd feel a bit dumb putting a tenner in an envelope and posting it to america...

I'll be using Amazon when I do it, they accept Visa Electron (I've bought goods from Amazon.co.uk with it) so I assume it works the same way...

Originally posted by Gruntboy
What's $5 - a PC mag that you'll use a couple of times? A packed of cigs or a pitcher of beer? (don't tell Eerhardt and Beldin I said that!!).

Don't worry, I don't think we smoke (ciggarettes, anyway )

Originally posted by Ned Flanders
The concept of the Spamathon is pretty good also. What a riot it would be with beldin, eerhardt, and ode working the phones stumbling their way through contribution after contribution.

This is both a very good and a very bad idea.

I really had no idea that any of this was going on... I feel a little bad that I was so oblivious. I will be happy to contribute as well.

If we have a spamathon, I think we should have a booth where Viv gives virtual hugs. This will certainly draw a crowd and be way better than an old T-shirt.

Is there any way to have links to non-American companies? I don't want to buy from US companies for the reason 1) I have UK English version Windows, and 2) there's no way I pay import duty + VAT on top.

How about company like Amazon UK? AFAIK, it's free to set up, and pay up to 15%, and I use there quite often (just ordered £50 + books). Or Dabs.com which is often recommended by Mr Sleep as well. It doesn't need to be a big ad, but just link for us to use.

Just a thought. I'm not sure how web advertisement works.

Originally posted by Minerva
How about company like Amazon UK? AFAIK, it's free to set up, and pay up to 15%, and I use there quite often (just ordered £50 + books). Or Dabs.com which is often recommended by Mr Sleep as well. It doesn't need to be a big ad, but just link for us to use.

I recall that Buck suggested that the percentage isn't good enough, but you are right to say that we could have an affiliate progam to Amazon.co.uk, i buy nearly all of my music from amazon so Buck would get a fair amount from that. They do not pay up to 15% to my knowledge it is more like 0.5%, my company had some affiliate links to amazon and bol but we didn't make hardly anything from them, the latest affiliate we have is to a company called Gardner's books, their percentages are exceptional, it might be worth Buck looking into them.

5 bucks a month is good for me, even though i don't wrok.
I will pm Buck for a mailing address, as i don't have a credit card.

I'd gladly donate some of my income to this site, if I was old enough to own a credit card.

But I have to ask, is there a way I could send Buck some money by mail? I think it was CM that just asked this question in the last post. If somebody knows a mailing address I can access, could they please PM me? Thanks a bunch all.

I did have the address, but not any more since I got Amazon to work. Maybe if Buck sees this message he might let those interested know - or you could always PM him...