Hi, I did mention having a way of regularly donating to the project a long while ago but nothing came of it. I do like the idea of "One Hour for Haiku". People only need donate a small amount each and it can turn into quite a sizeable income for the project. I don't think sending out emails to a list of subscribers every month is necessary. As Michael mentioned you can subscribe through Paypal if its set up with a button on the site. Another thing I think people appreciate is some rough idea of how much money the project currently has and what its being used for. Maybe even set a goal to aim for each month like enough to pay for 1 developer to work on haiku full time. It was nice to see axel get paid to work full time a while ago. I think seeing such direct results would encourage people to donate. Navigation to the donation page seems pretty hidden as well. Could do with a link on the home page. Regards, Simon Porter > Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:54:38 -0700> From: czapla@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: > openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [openbeos] Re: "One Hour for Haiku" - > Coordinating Voluntary Cash Donors> > Hello, again.> > I'm thankful for the > generally warm reception that my proposal has > received.> > Several of the > responses have taken my simple proposal as a point of > departure, proceeding > to elaborate more general ideas about > organizational development and the > process of institutional maturation, > all of which is interesting and > hopeful and potentially fruitful for the > future of the project. Clearly, > Haiku has many dedicated and thoughtful > caretakers, most especially among > the core contributors.> > But it would be a mistake to pose these various > elaborations as > *prerequisites* to implementation of a simple membership > donation > program like One Hour for Haiku. I must argue that it would be > more > useful to think -- contrariwise -- of the membership donation program > as > part of a *foundation* that could ultimately permit greater > > organizational capabilities and maturity through improved financial > > wherewithal.> > Keeping it simple, what I am proposing is really just an > addition to the > Haiku website.> > Specifically: On the Donations page > > (http://haiku-os.org/community/donating_to_haiku), add a new paragraph > > between "Donating Electronically" and "Other Donations". Give it the > > heading: "One Hour for Haiku - Making Regular Donations". Offer a brief > > description under the heading and present a link to a registration form > (as > well as a link to a Current Donors page). The registration link > navigates > to a form which solicits this information from the new > registrant: Name; > Nickname; Email Address; Country. Successful > submission of registration > data leads to a "Thank You" page, which also > includes a link to the Donor > Listing page.> > On the backend, registration data is stored in a simple > database table > with perhaps six columns (IdentityKey, Name, Nick, Email, > Country, > Datestamp). The Donor Listing page would draw data from this table > for > its list of current registrants. Code that sends out automated emails > > monthly would draw recipient address data from this table. The email > body > content for the next mailing could reside in a text file somewhere > on the > server, accessible to whomever for revisions as desired. (Even an > > unchanging "form letter" would suffice for the email body content, > > certainly at the beginning.) Finally, some mechanism to permit > > "unregistration" could be provided for persons who wish to opt out.> > I > suspect that this isn't exactly trivial in terms of coding, but > wouldn't it > be worthwhile? Is anyone with web development skills > available and > interested in pursuing such an implementation? Do the > official gatekeepers > of the Haiku website agree that this would be a > beneficial addition to the > site?> > Publicizing One Hour for Haiku could come a little later. Stories at > > OSNews, HaikuNews, BeGroovy, and similar venues would help get the word > > out. I really do believe that there are many people who would be happy > to > learn about a new way that they can make a significant contribution > to the > future of Haiku -- even though (like myself) they cannot write > code (yet). > And nearly everyone likes to *belong*, so the membership > angle holds > considerable appeal in and of itself.> > I suppose that I am arguing for > focus at this point: Make a well-defined > addition to the Haiku website as > described above, and then spread the > word. That's all. When a more stable > revenue stream becomes established > as a result, then further organizational > development (hiring, bounties, > etc.) becomes more feasible.> > Best > wishes,> > Czeslaw> > > > > Czeslaw Czapla wrote:> > Home » Community » > Donating to Haiku...> > > > > > Hello, Haiku friends.> > > > I have a modest > proposal regarding fundraising that I would like to > > submit for general > consideration and discussion in this forum. My wish > > would be to see some > (likely improved) variation on the proposal adopted > > by the Haiku project > in the end and implemented on the Haiku website. I > > think that the > potential material benefits to the project would be > > sufficient to warrant > the investment of initial effort for the > > implementation.> > > > Here is a > bit of background to my proposal. Over the past couple years, > > ever since > Haiku Inc. obtained its tax classification status as a > > not-for-profit > corporation under US law, I have personally made a few > > cash donations, > but only a few, perhaps three or four. I might have made > > many more > donations than I did make if only I had *thought* of it more > > often. Many > of us are busy with our work, our studies, our loved ones, > > raising > children, etc., so that we fail to remember to support more > > faithfully > the public-good efforts that are close to our hearts, like > > the Haiku > project.> > > > My proposal boils down to this: implement an automated email > reminder > > service for voluntary cash donors to Haiku Inc.> > > > The > program would be called "One Hour for Haiku". The idea is that any > > person > who wishes to volunteer to become a regular monthly cash donor to > > Haiku > Inc. could sign up (through a link on the donations page on the > > website) > as a member of One Hour for Haiku. By signing up with One Hour > > for Haiku, > a person would be making a (self-monitored) pledge to make a > > free-will > cash donation to Haiku Inc. once each month in the amount of > > one hour's > earnings from paid employment. This figure (one hour's > > earnings) could be > calculated from one's own actual income, or from an > > assessment of > prevailing wages in one's industry or community, or simply > > from one's > best guess at an affordable amount that could be donated > > monthly by > oneself on a sustainable basis. The idea is that a donor > > would be > pledging effectively to work one hour each month *for Haiku*, > > hence the > name of the program. (Another way for non-coders to "work for" > > Haiku!)> > > > > (Etc., usw., ecc.)> _________________________________________________________________ Try Live.com - your fast, personalized homepage with all the things you care about in one place. http://www.live.com/getstarted