[Theforum] community vs. corporations (was: funding options)

Marlene Bruce marlene at members.evolt.org
Sat May 25 12:39:03 CDT 2002


Hi Lach,

>  > I agree. Creating a little bit of a barrier will help determine who
>>  really finds having meo useful.
>
>As long as it's not too much of a barrier.

Yes, and that will be a delicate balance to achieve. I think Martin
had some really valuable information to offer.

>  > that people give *something* in order to partake in the meo service,
>  > whatever they can afford according to their economic situation?
>
>I like this idea, but... I have barely any money (no job).

I hear you, and I think a lot of us have been struggling without work
(me included).

(As an aside: I've finally just got a freelance gig that'll keep me
busy until the end of July, but sadly it's probably not one I'll deem
wise to put in my portfolio nor even mention in my resume, as much as
I'd like to.)

>I also have no
>way of actually making a payment apart from mailing money over, which is of
>course, hardly practical.

Forgive me for prying into your personal finances, but does this mean
you don't have a bank account? One doesn't need a credit card to use
PayPal. I only ask because it raises an issue I hadn't previously
considered: How will people without bank accounts give us gifts? We
can't expect people to pay for a money order if they're only making a
small donation.

Additionally, PayPal only lets you specify money in US dollars. I
wonder how they convert currency if the sender is using a non-US
credit card or bank account?

Oh, I bet this takes care of it:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/fees-withdrawal-outside
and
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/fees-add-outside

Those URLs indicate that for non-US banks (only some countries are
listed) there are fees for withdrawing money and adding money to an
account. Those fees can get stiff (like $7.00 for Japan).

Ugh.

This also brings up a second issue, one of currency. Since we want
making gifts to be easy for people, I suppose we need to be able to
accept *any* currency, and have me (as the recipient) be responsible
for changing other currencies into dollars for our bank account. The
cost of changing money, especially small amounts, could really cut
into our net receipts. Any thoughts on ways to deal with this?

Also, if people want to mail us money (to our PO Box), that's not
always going to be practical for money coming from most other
countries (all except Canada, I think). The mailing cost alone may be
a deterrent, especially for people mailing small amounts.

I was just looking at PayPal, and here's the intro page on Donations:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/xcl/rec/donate-intro

I've downloaded the Donations and IPN Manuals and will read through.

>I believe we still need to support learners -
>especially since they'll be the next generation keeping evolt going. If we
>do go ahead with this plan, I believe we need to have some sort of patronage
>program, where someone unable currently to pay, asks for someones patronage,
>and can point to what they've done for evolt, for people to judge whether or
>not they feel that person is worth being a patron for.

This is an interesting idea. Is this like people who do a 5K run for
a charity ... sponsorship, except by only one sponsor instead of a
group of sponsors?

>One other idea, I had wrt to meo, is driving people towards the affiliate
>program.

Yes, this should definitely be one of our angles.

Cheers,
Marlene



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