Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 21

Thread: Forum Financial Update, YTD

  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    1,039
    Quote Originally Posted by fidgiegirl View Post
    I've seen forums that use ads, and few do it well. I like our ad-free space, but of course, I'm not the be-all, end-all of the word on that.
    Ad-free is nice, is it nicer than possibly 36K a year or maybe even more? In ten years that is 360K that could go to the foundation, charity, whatever. I do not know much about forums but so maybe it would not be that much, but you never really know until you try the ads and affiliate kinks and then tweak them a little bit to see what you can do. It doesn't cost anything to find out.

  2. #12
    Senior Member lhamo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    1,625
    Alan tells me there were 20 individual donations so far this year, so I have increased my typical contribution by $20.

    It was very easy to send a check through ING, if anyone is considering that approach. You do not need to enter an account number, but it does ask for a phone number -- I just put in 999-999-9999 and it accepted that in lieu of a real number.

    It would be great if we could pre-pay the estimated cost of running the forums in 2013 (and possibly longer). Toward that end, I'd like to issue another donor challenge. I will make an extra contribution of up to $100 over my typical donation in January 2013 based on the number of contributions NRM receives from members in 2012. That means I am already in for at least an extra $20 based on contributions as of the end of September 2012.

    Come on people, make me pay! Maybe not as much fun as watching me fall into a water tank or something, but its something....

    lhamo
    "Seek out habits that help you overcome fear or inertia. Destroy those that do the opposite." Seth Godin

  3. #13
    Senior Member lhamo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    1,625
    I would not be opposed to an amazon link to YMOYL (and maybe Getting a Life), given the fact that NRF was developed out of the YMOYL work, but would not want to see other types of ads, especially computer-generated ones. If we go this route there also needs to be a very clear statement about why these limited resources are advertised here, and that we don't accept requests for other types of links or ads. It is likely we will still get more requests to add such links if we have even a few, but hopefully they won't be too numerous/time-consuming.

    lhamo
    "Seek out habits that help you overcome fear or inertia. Destroy those that do the opposite." Seth Godin

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    123
    My understanding about ads is that we would only make money if people clicked through AND actually purchased something on the site they clicked through to. You don't get much money merely from merely posting the ads, and you get a little more if people click through, but only substantial money if it makes money for someone through the consumption of products --- not likely to happen at a forum devoted to frugality and staunchly against the kind of impulse shopping that internet ads rely upon to be effective. I don't know where try2bfrugal came up with that $36,000 figure, but I suspect it's more likely to be $36 in revenue from allowing ads!

    A book sales affiliation program has been under discussion and I think a good idea. However, again it's still not much money, and would involve people buying books that this community already mainly has... unless we want to continually add NEW simple living books -- which would mean those books would have to be vetted by community members (which is a great idea even if it's just to provide more pertinent posts in the book review forum - hint, hint!)

    I believe this is not a community of I-want-everything-for-nothing kind of people, this is a group recognizing that community is something that isn't handed to you on a platter, it's consciously created with effort, and it's housed with effort and money. Not much money, I might add - if EVERYONE who posts gave $15 on average, that would do it. Less than $1.25/month, and how much money is saved through the support and frugality tips? Be a fun experiment for one of the new members to try to keep track of that! (But call me a econo-wonk!)

  5. #15
    Low Tech grunt iris lily's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    4,942
    ha, I was just having this discussion TODAY about clicking through your hobby group's website to purchase on Amazon. Folks, if would come to pass that I would actually ever do that, the SL site is not first on my list nor is it even second. Bulldog Rescue comes first, then North American Lily Society.

    So my point is, soon whenever everyone is doing it, everyone will be doing it.

    Still the North American Lily Society made $600 last year through their partnership with Amazon.

  6. #16
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    1,039
    Quote Originally Posted by rozie View Post
    I don't know where try2bfrugal came up with that $36,000 figure, but I suspect it's more likely to be $36 in revenue from allowing ads!
    Based on my personal experience as well as discussions with peers using the same programs and the Alexa ranking of this forum. I don't have experience with forums so I don't know for sure what the amount would be. The programs are free to try and the ads easy to install so it they only way to know for sure would be to just try it out.
    Last edited by try2bfrugal; 10-21-12 at 4:38am.

  7. #17
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    4,460
    OOps - Just realized I forgot to send in my annual donation before my last trip. Thanks for the reminder and the address. As they say...the check is in the mail :-)!

  8. #18
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    4,460
    Forgot to ask - do you guys take money order? How about cashiers checks? I think both can be cashed in at a bank the same way as a check can. One way to donate anonymously if you aren't comfortable sending a check with your "real" name and address on it.

  9. #19
    Senior Member mtnlaurel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    932
    Quote Originally Posted by Alan View Post
    Sure, see the address below. Checks should be directed to the New Road Map Foundation and donations will be credited to the forums if you list SLF or something similar in the memo field.

    New Road Map Foundation
    PO Box 1363
    Langley, WA 98260


    Alan, thank you VERY much for putting up these periodic updates of the finances.

    I have finally gotten around to putting a teeny-tiny donation in the mail.

    Thanks for everyone's hard work. I sincerely appreciate it!

  10. #20
    Senior Member leslieann's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Atlantic Canada
    Posts
    980
    Thanks for the reminder. I use this forum at least several times a week but don't remember to PAY unless reminded. Thanks again. And the PayPal thing still works for me with the messiness of currency exchange. Maybe by next year I'll figure something else out.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •