[steering] re: DRAFT - call for vote

[Martin Paul Burns]

John wrote:

>> I don't know what the financials are for f2o,
>> but I imagine that the front page price of $7 a month and up is not
>> there for show.

>Yeah, but they're actually providing hosting, not a corner
>of a site over which members would have little or no
>design control.  Which I think is a great community source
>but not a paying product.

>Ergo, locking it down to paid-for in the decision process
>now is I think premature.  I'll accept 'might need to be',
>obviously.  Just not, at the moment, 'will'.

>> > eouk is paid for by (iirc) 4 people.  Are there really not 8 people
out
>> > of our thousands who would do the same?
>
>> OK, you come up with the donations, guaranteed for a year, and we can
>> look at making it free to members.

>Unanswered Q2 (ignored for some reason):  Why aren't we
>actually trying to get donations?  You know better than
>anyone the difference between putting a sticker on a
>lamppost, and actually approaching people to ask for
>donations.

>[1] Secondary point: Don't you also need to be incorporated,
>    and not in the nonprofit sense, to sell things and
>    collect sales tax on them?

OK, how about this:

1) We don't charge a fee to join evolters
2) We do, however, strongly put forward a 'suggested minimum donation', as
done by a lot of museums for entry. The level of this is tbd, but likely to
be ~$10/month or $60/year if given in a lump.

This means:
a) We don't put too much of a burden on people from countries where the
economy makes ~$10 month unrealistic
b) People from countries where this is peanuts can feel like overpaying
c) It does the clear asking for donations we've been tentative around so
far
d) We don't have to worry about incorporation & sales tax
e) We can change the suggested level without causing a riot
f) We *still* get revenue from this to fund the rest of the org

However, in the voting call, I still think we need to express the principle
that the meo-volters service should be a net revenue generator. We can
leave the implementation of that (donations/fees/sponsorship/something
else) out of it for now.

Thoughts?

Cheers
Martin