Funding A People's Blog: Let's Do This
I want to talk about the need and the opportunity that has been presented to us as a community, to take the community itself to the next level. I'll begin by summarizing what we've received. Caucus99percent is a place which allows people to present what they wish, and to disagree with what they wish, as long as they do it civilly and without busting copyright. It lives up to its motto.
It is pretty clear that dozens if not hundreds of us members understand how unique and how precious that is, and how it required a special kind of multi-talented (techie & people) person and group to achieve such a thing. The long-term stability of this model of peoples' forum is validated by the site's ability to make an exponential size jump without changing its character. The need to address 'side' issues caused by the expansion is what gives us an opportunity as unique as this website.
We are fortunate that the artist who conceived and built both the site and his team is willing to give up his other professional work to maintain this expanded opus. I am delighted but not surprised that an artist would make such a sacrifice. I'm also not surprised that the dollar amount JtC said would be acceptable for him to continue to devote all his efforts to c99 amounts to sub-minimum wages for this family man. That's also typical of artists; it's why most of them need agents.
In any event, even those artists who have no problem asking (and, by gum receiving) fair value for their soul's work have to interrupt the production of their actual art while they put on their businessperson hats. If one stops to think of any enterprise with a membership and expenses above the family-and-friends level, one finds that the minister of a church is left free to minister while the membership sees to his financial needs. That's just one example, present in every culture.
There are other reasons why a people's blog worthy of that designation should have non-administering and non-moderating users take the initiative in insuring that the lights not only stay on but don't flicker; we can all come up with one or two. The most important one is that it allows users who don't write at all (even comments) to be just as much contributors to our community as those of us who talk. You do NOT have to be able to contribute cash to raise it.
Our big opportunity is to show that a people's blog can self-fund. In 2016, I don't think I really need to elaborate on that to this audience. I'd guess the only question in most of our minds isn't whether we should but whether we can. We won't actually know the answer to that without making a trial of the premise; let's make that trial. I invite us all to join in some piece of the effort. Let's centralize our efforts by forming a group, the c99 expenses group.
Having a group will enable us to schedule fundraising drive essays, arrange donated-item advertisement and auction, etc. It will also be a strong community builder, in an area which doesn't impinge at all on the authority of the owner/administrator, or on the functions of the admins and moderators. We need to know the monthly total cash-from-subscriptions.
The group also has to insure it doesn't promote fund obtaining which would fly counter to the stated mission of the site. Mandated subscriptions and pay to write are both counter to an all-access peoples' platform mission. Other than that.. if your donation is from funds received from the sale of a particularly obnoxious relative, just spare our feelings and the details.
DallasDoc has kicked off the fundraising essay push in a big way, Mimi has some interesting observations and suggestions, CA Democrat has posted a dynamite set of graphic tools, and those are just some of the happenings in the past 24 hours, off the top of my head. Post others in the comments and I'll add them to the essay.
UPDATE at 6 PM:
JekyllnHyde has posted the following links in a comment below.
Kossacks For Sanders - TAKE ACTION! Funding A People's Blog: Let's Do This -
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kossacks_for_Sanders/comments/4xpejj/funding_a_...
Way of the Bern - ACTION! Funding A People's Blog: Let's Do This -
https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/4xpewf/funding_a_peoples_...
LaChien Harry raised a point which Mimi clarified, and I think their thoughts belong in the essay for discussion. Their suggestion is that one-time donations be reported as part of or along with monthly subscription totals. I feel that the one-time totals can distract from and mask the need to bring monthly ongoings up to a minimum $4K. It is the ongoing subscription level which will tell both us group members and JtC whether he can rely on continuing to put food on his family. It is that total (which will fluctuate up and down monthly as members join and depart) that we'll need to focus on.
The one-time donations will be a cushion against our inability to always sustain the level of monthlies and will eventually provide a nest egg for whatever expansions and branching out JtC and the others decide on. Still, as I write this, I can see we're perfectly capable of distinguishing one number from another, as long as they aren't mingled.
UPDATE TWO at 9 AM on 8/15:
My apologies to everyone; the internet at my building went down last night at about 7 PM and has just been restored. I will go to the comments that came in during that time and answer them, or include a summary if appropriate.
11 AM: Here are three comments which should be read. DallasDoc's final tally is $855. Mimi has some excellent, concrete suggestions which should be considered by us all. LeChienHarry has done some helpful research and elenacarlena has created a graphic tool for us to use in our fundraising essays. JtC will write something later today, so I'll make this the last update. After we hear from him, I'll start working on a summary of where we are and share it, first with p-ms to group volunteers and then (with additions from them, if any) in an essay.
Comments
Katchen, I look forward to your presence in this group.
Your compliment yesterday about the idea made me blush with pleasure -which ain't easy.
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Thanks for Doing This, David
I posted brief articles about your essay in both Reddit Groups. If you and others belong to either group, please 'Upvote' in Reddit and post your personal comments about why JtC and caucus99percent are deserving recipients. Thanks, everyone.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
Thank you, JekyllnHyde, for spreading the word
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I was afraid you thought that was goofy...
because it was.
You can count on my help. I hope the fact that I don't do twitter, FB, or other social media won't be an impediment.
By the way (ready to blush again?), you write gorgeously.
~k
Not goofy at all. It was a nice and whimsical way of letting us
all know that the idea gave you a "Yes! That!" moment. In all-out sustained fundraising, community communication and people skills are more important than knowing how to use the latest technology. You'll be invaluable.
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I sit on my ass enough to be part of a fundraisers group,
although that has never been part of my quiver of skillsets. we can do this!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
We sure can. Being retired, I also have time, which is the most
necessary component of getting something like this started. I expect that several of us will have to engage in round-robin private messages at first, and that's time consuming. Once we're up and rolling smoothly (let's hope by Labor Day) it should take a lot less time per person to maintain the effort.
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The donation page says you don't have to have a PayPal account,
BUT the credit card line is "powered by PayPal." I can set up recurring donations with my credit card through ActBlue and Doctors Without Borders, no problem, and I shop online a lot, but anything PayPal touches requires a 30-year-old long forgotten password or a 30-year-old email account which no longer exists. PayPal owns you forever, whether you want it to or not (and I've discussed this with them at length). That leaves me with remembering to snailmail a check every month.
Maybe I'm not the only one with a PayPal issue? Would it be too complicated or expensive to have a credit card option that's independent of PayPal? I don't really want to have to get another credit card.
In agreement, something besides PayPal
Because I have had an account in the past, PayPal insists I use their account. I tried 3x yesterday to set up small monthly donations. So another donation platform would be greatly appreciated.
I had the same experience with PayPal. JtC is checking
into the issue of recurring donations with PayPal. There could be a solution, but it might also be time to consider alternative providers.
"All Life is Problem Solving" - Karl Popper
... how about one of the other on-line services
that manages billing/invoicing for on-line software companies? (I am thinking DigitalRiver, or something similar -- https://www.digitalriver.com/) --
When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.
Hi, I can't speak for JtC but it looks like tomorrow he is
Looking into bank to bank account transfers. Several of us have asked for such a feature and it would by-pass the % of the take of a third party money mover.
I would also be interested in POPmoney which only requires the recipient only needs a cell phone number or an email address (I think), and we send directly from our bank. We provide POP money the info and they do the rest. Not sure about recurring payments via this service.
I am hoping, there will be a visual of how we are doing as in a thermometer for the monthly target. And it would be nice to know at some point how much one time donations have amounted to.
Thanks Dave, JnH, DallasDoc the friends at Reddit Kossacks for Sanders/AmericanSpring. We seem to all have the same goals.
I published a little comment with several links back here on the original K4S and to MO. They are most interested in helping and see overlap in the missions of both sites.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
Bank account transfers would be great; I've had my problems
with paypal and I'd rather do a direct payment. If you could do the research about POP money and get back to us (p-m me or post an essay) that would be a big help. I agree about the visual; I believe it to be necessary to our efforts.
I'm kinda split on whether the one-time donations should be regularly reported. I guess I'd better add those thoughts to the essay, and I need to post JnH's links in the essay also.
We do all have the same goals. This is the year of the people taking power for their own efforts; it's the natural next step after Occupy.
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May be just at the end of each month the sum of money
that had been donated via a thermometer or other way. So, people can see, if it's close enough to the goal the group had in mind reaching each month.
I prefer bank to bank
transfers. Otherwise I set up my bank sending a cashiers check each month which then requires a trip to the bank to deposit. Bank yo bank eliminates that undue. I have okay pal but don't want yo set up recurring with them. Thanks for doing this, david.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I uploaded a funding thermometer bulb. Please feel free to
use whoever and whenever the mood suits. It's in the picture list as "Funding c99 image". It's all yours. Everybody's. Just download, it's a jpeg, should be easy to add red to areas as we fill them up. And/or let me know and I'll update it.
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
That's terrific, elenacarlena, and thanks. I'll add the bulb at
the top of the essay as soon as I answer the other comments I missed.
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ok, still a bit confused, but I give in with regards to mandated
subscription fees, even the smallest ones. I suggested those, because I am trying to be realistic, but then ... now we we will have the "trial" and find out how it will work out.
ok, I want to be in that group. How do I do that?
ok, does that mean people, who have never said ONE word on the blog and who we don't even know per handle, can be member of that group? Independent if they can donate a million or two of their own funds or none at all, just working for the good of that group, helping to raise money? Is it kind of too nosy to ask to know who is on that group? Will it be public. Will it show who donated how much?
Ok, as I said before, I give up on that. $3.00 a month mandatory subscription fee is counterproductive to the mission of this site, I get it now. I don't believe it would, but heh, I am here, because I can say this without getting beaten up over my head. So I still love it here, even if I could convince absolutely nobody. It's hard to debate you guys.
Another thing, which may have influenced my thinking, is that I don't forget what my father said sometimes. He was a moderate conservative and never voted for the German Social Democrats after wwII as far as I know, he was also a business man in a family business with his brothers, that was founded by his grandfather way back before wwI. What he said, is this kind of proverb in German:
Just to defend myself among all you do-gooders of why I am so sceptical.
But you have to be a believer as a member of a congregation to take care for the minister's financial needs. That's a tough call, because ... hmm... as much as I love what people like JtC, Joe and many content providers are doing... they ain't ...
God./sOr may be my German character shows up, because they way we take care of the finances of the ministers in their churches in Germany is by paying taxes for the church on a volunteer basis. You can't be baptized and buried within the church by your local minister without being member of the church and pay "church" taxes.
Otherwise if you don't like to pay those taxes, you are just are not a member of the church and if you die you have to be buried "at the public mass graveyard for people who don't belong to the church". I remember that many US foreigners in Germany find that system questionable, but most don't understand that it is not a mandatory tax.
Ok that's just another of my feeble self-defense explanations.
So, will we be able to organize online something like a shop or auctions or is that not part of the new group's tasks?
Just asking? I guess you folks know how to organize the group and its tasks. Please let me know about it in detail whenever it's at that point. It's a general problem for all people powered community blogs, not only for this one. And it really would be nice to keep it floating.
Thank you for wrapping up all your thoughts and suggestions in this diary, daveincleveland.
Mimi, first, you will be a most welcome and useful member of the
group. Your perspective on things will always be of very real value in deciding how we set up and run this group. No, we don't (yet) know how to set up the group, and you're going to be a valuable part of the conversation by which we instruct ourselves. As long as we're running the group as a non-hierarcy we should have no trouble distinguishing genuine members from persons who want to take over the blog. They have to be signed-up members to join us in the first place and this joint is still small enough to get to know who's for real. As for getting all or most of the monthly moola from one or a few sources --that's the sort of easy money shortcutting which a people's blog and its expenses group must guard against because that, too, would be against the site's mission.
There is also no need to defend yourself for the German model perspective you offered. It happens to be a good one, and if this were an entirely European blog frequented almost exclusively by Europeans I'd be all for it. The problem is the actual level of availability for all citizens. I have trouble picturing a European mileau that invited both students and retirees to participate without ensuring that they all have or can afford access; your library card fee analogy was both a good and a telling example about the difference between Europe and the United States.
Allow me to use a true example: The grinding poverty and lack of support systems for Native Americans in Arizona and New Mexico has to be seen first-hand to really be grasped. I (and thousands of others) got to know an activist named Aji at TOP and our lives have all been enriched thereby. Aji was a member because she and her spouse, Wings, have a website where they sell his art. They couldn't have and wouldn't have been able to afford the internet otherwise.
I don't think the basic ability to reach out to their own community could or would be so starkly denied any European, however poor. As a people's site we must provide that equality of community participation that would otherwise be abrogated by the inequality of means.
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Oh, you convinced me now completely, I know Aji and remember
her well, also tried to help a little bit and bought something from Wing's handcrafts. I still cherish the handwritten beautiful "thank you" card from Aji.
Though I have never visited either the Pine Ridge or any other reservation, I got a taste through the many diaries on dailykos written by members of the Native American Netroots group. I think I once did a fundraiser for Okiciyap . I also learned about and was influenced by Meteor Blades' comment that he donates to NARF and I followed his advice and did for some time as well. It all came to an end for me in late 2013, if I recall correctly.
Lately I read that Aji and Wing had a fire in their home and I was thinking to reach out to her. But I am not anymore on dailykos, so the thought faded away. It shouldn't have. Sigh.
The way I could see the group coming together is by first writing a short diary, in which the list of active members we have today is posted with the option to tally, who would be participating as a member (like a list with a yes / no answer option) in that new group. In the same way we know ,who are moderators and admins on the site, I think we should know who are the member of that new group.
I could imagine (but don't know how to write the html for such a diary), in which we would make a scaled list of money donations people can make.
Let's say from $5.00 in increments of $5.00 up go $30.00 and than just one category as "larger than $30.00 +".
It would have to be like a poll with a counter of clicks for people, who would check the category in which they will donate. That would give us an idea how far we right now and would get on a monthly basis.
I could imagine to have one webpage dedicated to show the total monthly donation made, let's say by the last Saturday in each month. If it's enough, ok, if not, someone of the group has to write a heart-breaking plea to help raise to reach the goal we set out to raise for the month.
Another thing I could imagine to have is a webpage, where people can post images or text for things they want to donate for a price that would go to the funds for C99p. But I don't know how the logistics would work for that. I think on dailykos I did this over private messaging or comments on that web page that showed the items up for sale.
Ads are too much work for JtC and too much pain to get distracted by, imo. But I am not the one who can judge it.
That's all right now. It would help to know how one can write a diary with a poll that counts the checks for a list of categories. We need to know where we stand with current pledges. It's not necessary to know who pledges what, but what has been pledged and by the end of the month, imo, visible for all.
Am I round about thinking on the same wave length you are?
Mimi that's more than the same wavelength, it's synchronicity.
Those concrete suggestions were just the sort of thing I was picturing and I was hoping others would start suggesting one or more of them. You've already put almost all my first thoughts out there in one comment. See why I said we need you?
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A tasty quotation:
"Hillary Clinton shouldn't have taken "a victory lap" after the FBI and Justice Department formally declined charges over her use of a private email server while secretary of state, former New York Gov. David Paterson said Sunday.
Clinton would have been better advised to have followed the agency's decision with humility, Paterson told John Catsimatidis on "The Cats Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York.
From FB. Tee-hee.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Mimi, I like
Your father's saying. It can be very true. Though if you want to keep a friendship, it can be better to specifically forgive a debt.
My guess is that many of those not able to contribute $ will, or do already, give to the community in other ways. And we want those people to stay. The 99% includes a big spread of people. This is a place for all of them/us.
Yeah, Granma, but that's due to the way the German saying
is translated into English. I think the true meaning of what the German saying is, would be that "With money things friendships (often) end". It's not related to debt or debt forgiveness. May be more that people have different views how money issues should be handled. I don't know, really, and I just threw it in because it came to my mind.
I get the site's mission and the intention to keep everyone one included. It tried my sales bid and it fell, so what? I am ready to go on. My intentions were well meant. Everybody is free to give or not to give.
I am trying to help raising money within the context of the group to be created, if I can.
I hope I didn't get too many folks upset with my stubborness.
it's tricky to translate
but the German phrase means "the bonds of friendship no longer matter when the issue is money" or
"money supersedes friendship."
I don't think this should be our motto : )
sure, but I think your translation is a bit "free-style"
I would rather say "the bonds of friendship are in danger to end when money issues come up between friends". At least the way you use it as in "money supersedes friendship" is not the way I remember German using it in context. It's not that harsh. To put in there the meaning of "superseding" is imo not a fair translation.
And of course that should not be the motto. Nobody has that as a motto, I would say. And paying a small subscription fee doesn't equate to "superseding friendships" among members, at least I hope not.
I would have read it as,
"With money, friendships end," or "when money is involved, friendships end." But Mimi is the native speaker.
let's not get into petty word interpretation, I just think
that there is a difference between saying "When it comes to money, friendship ends", which is used more as an exhaustion exclamation when people observe that friends get in fights over money issues rather than a motto or a guideline of ideals for a group to say that "money supersedes friendship", which means that as soon as money is involved the friendships must end or must be over. Money between friends can be dealt with amicably, it's not a rule that it destroys friendships. But often it can do that, so there's where the saying comes from.
What a strange thing to get into over my darn first suggestion to ask for a subscription fee. Really, I had no intention to get into divisive arguments over it. And I am sorry it did.
Goodness no!
I have Pay Pal for business purposes, and
use it for tax returns. Absolutely no way will I use it for anything other than for the business/tax purposes in place. I can send mail. A check. Every month without any prompt.
I donate to about 10 charities, and have stacks of cards with baby elephant pics, and little puppies, and gorgeous eagles. The whole idea of picking out one of those cards and writing a personal note to a man I have never seen, never shaken hands with, is like my way of letting Jtc know I am with him, and to the extent possible, his friend.
I am so old school, it is pathetic.
But I am.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Old school is lovely
As long as you don't have to sharpen your quill before writing.
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On the cusp, you are definitely not pathetic! You are precious!
I 100% agree with Dallasdoc that you are lovely!
Dallasdoc, your quill comment is quite funny
I believe in the power of a hand-written (especially cursively written) note!
David, I'd like to be a member of the c99 expenses group (but, lol, can we brainstorm another name for our group, please
Ajaradom, I was hoping you'd join the group. We also need a
better handle. Expenses group was my quick tone-down of 'Ad Hoc Caucus99 Compensation Committee'..
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lol --- cute! David, thanks for your
inclusive spirit! You stated some very important philosophical principles in your essay!
I look forward to hearing from you and being part of the efforts we accomplish together!
P.S. You're one cute ass baby!
Old school is beautiful. I sent my first contrib by check, and
only switched to paypal when I saw how long it took JtC to deposit that check. It emphasized for me how little time he's left for himself or his family lately. Thinking on all that made me swallow my difficulties (ongoing) with paypal, because I could see how important it can be to know what's reliably already in the bank, month to month. But I absolutely love a person who understands how important it is to extend a personal 'thank you' or 'I appreciate you' with an encomium. Please don't change how your spirit moves you to respond. Our maximum response will properly entail many ways to reach our shared goal.
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Thank you for this wonderful essay David
and for the effort to get a fundraising group together. I completely agree with everything you wrote, and I love the way the community is rallying to make this work. I'm in, in whatever ways I can help.
Thank you, CS; I'm going to have to do a follow-up essay
summarizing our shared suggestions and providing a format where we can list skills and experiences, or something like that. I do know that what we want to do is big enough and complex enough to need every interested one of us.
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Thank you for the thoughtful and important essay, David
Having a fundraising and maybe financial group for the blog is an outstanding idea, and I thank you for bringing it up. I just did the last update to my fundraising diary from yesterday, and counted up a total of $855 in new monthly donation pledges in the comments (including my own). A few of these are to start next month, but I counted them anyway.
One of the first things an expenses group could do, it seems, is clarify and streamline the donation process. There were a lot of questions about how to set up monthly donations, especially since the PayPal monthly donation option doesn't appear on iOS or Android devices. Antipathy to PayPal is another barrier that should be easy to overcome.
elenacarlena mentioned in a message that she put together a funding bulb (I'm thinking a thermometer, as I'd call it.) I suggested she contact you with it once your essay came up, as it could be a very useful way of telling the community how we're doing.
I don't have the time to be intimately involved with the running of the expenses group, but I'm happy to help in any way I can. It was very surprising and gratifying to me (and to JtC) to see the response yesterday's initial fundraiser drew. This community clearly matters to a lot of people. It took this crisis to let us know that we all have to pitch in to keep it together. Thank you for what you're doing!
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Thanks for the report on yesterday's results and for
jumping out there and taking the lead yesterday.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Thanks, DD, and I'm adding your comment's link above.
$855 is a long first lunge at $4K and beautifully sets a bar which we probably won't break in subsequent efforts. That's a good thing, psychologically, because it will make us try harder and smarter.
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Hi folks...
sorry I haven't weighed in earlier but I've had a crazy busy last couple of days. You folks are so great that I don't know if I even have the words to express myself, except maybe, wow, just wow!
David this is an excellent idea and I'm not going to say anything more as I have a follow up essay planned for tomorrow to update everyone as to what is going on.
Thank you everyone!
Thank you, David.
Thanks for the essay and the reminder . . .
And appreciate the work that you are doing to keep the site up and running JtC. Made a contribution via PayPal just a few moments ago.
David, I have the time to be part of any sort of fundraising,
just add another familiar handle to a nascent subgroup of c99. At least I think I am a familiar...
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
You'll be most welcome, riverlover. I'm going to get back to you
and every other member who has volunteered, probably with a p-m summary of our shared suggestions, with an essay to follow after messaged people have the chance to respond with further input.
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Dave, I thought I would put some information out here so
anyone interested could see it.
popmoney is a service which enables bank-to-bank transfers. They take .95 cents per transaction, flat fee. You can set up recurring withdrawals. The recipient only needs to provide an email or mobile. We have used this service from Europe to pay US house sitters, landscapers, painters, etc. They get their money in 2-3 days. It is easy and doesn't seem to have problems.
https://www.popmoney.com/
Bank to bank transfers with direct routing would take even this step out and no fee. Routing number to routing number with bank which has direct deposit capabilities.
popmoney could be used when a bank does not offer bill payer or recurring payment.
What I'm thinking is that there needs to be a dedicated bank account or a way to aggregate small donations. We can't have JtC reacting to many small donations each month - another admin headache.
Maybe also, this would protect the JtC family personal bank account and act as a buffer. Friends of Caucus99% account.
I also looked into the non-profit angle. We have had one personally. They are a lot of work and offer very little benefit. The recipient does not gain much from tax breaks versus personal income. The only break would be for the givers to declare on the own taxes as a deduction. I don't see donators looking for that benefit so far.
Incorporation is another topic which may arise. However that is a long way down the road. As a sole proprietor, JtC has bankruptcy protection of house, car, retirement income (see your tax consultant or someone here with expertise in that area). The idea of incorporation would be to separate personal from business and offer liability protection. Someone with more expertise than I have could maybe address any advantage (I see another time sink) for this avenue.
Love the thermabulb idea and would love to see one on every essay published for the Caucus cause. Someone or two or three would need to tend it.
Just my .02.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
If JtC can start an account (preferably at a CU)
as "Friends of..." , or even in his own name, but declare it dedicated to the business expenses of c99, plus a wage, that would fix some anticipated accounting problems. That might require a financial person to set up, no idea how JtC is doing this now, I guess we may get some more info from JtC today (8/15). !!!8/15!!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Are there banks or CUs that don't do
recurring money transfers from one bank to the other? My CU does, I am not sure of how much they cost and how long they take, but it's not much and they even reimburse me for costs other banks charge for being involved in the transaction.
I don't quite understand what's the difference to set up a recurring money transfer with paypal (using your own bank account as payment option within the paypal system to reduce the costs that doesn't go to the recipient) or a recurring money transfer from bank account to bank account using just the service that your bank is offering.
What is cheaper, what is more safe, who profits how much from the transfer?
I feel it would be nice if JtC could set up an account for C99p as recipient for the community's donation transactions. Someone needs to monitor what came in on a monthly basis shortly before the last couple of business days of the month. That total should be made public on a webpage within C99p website. If the incoming donations are not enough, someone has to write a "Payday! Payday!Payday!" diary to make everybody feel thoroughly guilty to not have done their share to maintain the site under JtC's and Joe's guidance.
Bill Payer systems are from a bank account to a physical
address like a PO Box. These can be set up as recurring if your bank or CU offers the service. JtC would have to open the checks and make out a deposit slip. This would be adding work for him. I will wait to see how this works out before forwarding a monthly donation to a PO box.
Bank account to bank account routing is done routinely in Europe, but only large customers may have this ability in the US unless something has changed in the last couple of years.
If someone knows about bank-to-bank routing of recurring amounts and how it's done in the US, please add to this thread.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
Outstanding, and thank you so much. Depending on what JtC
thinks of these ideas, they all sound helpful. I'll add your follow-up research comment to the essay.
Please consider subscribing monthly, to help keep c99 going.
I do hope
that this place can continue.
There was a time I actually might have believed that it would be ok for progressives to just have a sub-forum on the the other place, but its been made very clear to me that this just isn't so. There needs to be a forum for progressives, no matter what the current political lean of the Democratic party is.
So far as I'm concerned, being a progressive means that you are for the people. You support the same practices that created the middle class in this country, and you oppose the idiocy that has clearly never worked.
Dave, your idea of a slush fund out of one time donations,
sounds good to me. Especially helpful for upgrades, contract help for cut overs, new hardware and software, yearly costs of other server services or virtual servers. There is much more than this brief list. But the idea is a good one imho.
Also, I have seen calls on various threads for large influxes of new subscribers. Is this what JtC and Joe, mods want? As numbers increase so will the need for admin, system size, moderation. There may be economies of scale, but just adding people to the blog does carry a set of additional costs.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
I added a second funding bulb for the 25% level, since I
think we're almost there. Ginger approves.
You can browse for it as "funding c99 image 25 percent".
You can also take the original image and modify it as you wish, of course.
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Incorporation provides liability/lawsuit protection.
The corporation can be wholly owned by JtC, but any liabilities would only affect the corporation, not his personal or family assets. And then JtC can pay himself a salary from his corporation.
Something worth a good attorney to set up, personal protection!