[Theforum] sponsorships

[Daniel J. Cody]

aardvark wrote:

> dan, do you really like paying for the hosting and bandwidth?  do
> we all like begging for donations?
>
> what sorts of sponsorships, or anything for that matter, are we
> willing to do as an organization to pay for this?
>
> frankly, i'm not willing to let evolt.org die just because we're too
> proud to accept money... none of us are, or we wouldn't ask for
> donations...

i dont mind it no, if i did, i wouldn't pony up. i hardly feel like
we're begging for donations either. i also don't feel like we're on the
virge of dying, or anywhere near it, or that we're too proud to accept
money. i'm just afraid of what we may have to give up to get some cash
from certain companies that we're not in dire need of. personally, i
trust people more than i trust companies and i'm not trying to be a
stickinthemud, but imagine the following scenerio:

macromedia starts shooting us $350 a month or free hosting for all of
evolt or X. we become dependant on that and start shying away from
individual help or self-sustaining things. six months later, MM says to
us, 'run this review from our marketing dept on your website which we
host/contribute to/X or else we yank our help.'

its not unheard of, and it happens all the time. even some linux
magazines(sorry, my experience) got caught up in this type of playola
deal in the last year. they got so dependant on the revenue of certain
companies, that they had to bow to the pressure of those companies
threatning pulling advertising, lest they go bankrupt.

i'm seriously trying to get us self sustaining adrian, and i think thats
evident, and a first step with these mousepads. i *KNOW* its not the
final answer, but its a step in the right direction.

if the 85 people on this list *alone* all just give $10 a month, we're
self-sustaining _period_ and you can tell me to get lost if thats all
i'm good for, which i'd like to think i'm not ;) as it is, and i
disappointed to report, only like six people have donated financially in
the last two months. (and thats not to say everyone else is evil or
doesn't love evolt, just some perspective) it also fills my heart with
joy to see someone like hugh (not to point anyone out) blair willing to
throw $100 for hardware/hosting.

there are a *ton* of things we can do before we start relying on
corporate sponsorship to make us self-suffiecent.