Do you have the anonymous method set back up? Or did I miss something?
Not yet. I'm going to keep trying, though.
I have kept trying, and although I figured out a way to donate using a credit card instead of PayPal, I wasn't able to make donors anonymous. . . much as I wanted to. So we're more or less back at square one. . . unless you take me at my word that I would never use your name, email address, and street address to stalk you, harass you, or spam you.
Two more generous individuals have donated $280.00 between them, so the remainder of our goal is:
$364.07
I appreciate you both so much! Heartfelt thanks incoming!
Make the goal $2000. There's nothing wrong with you making a little bit of money off hosting a discussion board!
Maybe not, but I'd like to preserve my integrity among potential donors.
Say something like, The annual cost of keeping the board online is around $800. I'm setting the fundraising goal at $2000. Anything above $800 will compensate me for the time I spend maintaining and moderating the board.
Asking for more money than we actually need feels, . . . perverse.
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"When the Mormon God requires a PR crisis to act moral, we've clearly outgrown him."
I have kept trying, and although I figured out a way to donate using a credit card instead of PayPal, I wasn't able to make donors anonymous. . . much as I wanted to. So we're more or less back at square one. . . unless you take me at my word that I would never use your name, email address, and street address to stalk you, harass you, or spam you...
Those aren't the only reasons people seek anonymity, but I appreciate your word that you would avoid those spcific activities.
Say something like, The annual cost of keeping the board online is around $800. I'm setting the fundraising goal at $2000. Anything above $800 will compensate me for the time I spend maintaining and moderating the board.
Asking for more money than we actually need feels, . . . perverse.
I don’t see an issue with holding funds that will be applied to future hosting payments. It doesn’t have to be that spare funds are immediately spent by the proprietor as ‘personal compensation’ as suggested upstream.
Maintaining a separate bank account for that would be the easiest and most ethical way to do this, but doing so might generate its own additional cost, depending on your bank. Mine allows at least one other account without a monthly fee.
Asking for more money than we actually need feels, . . . perverse.
I don’t see an issue with holding funds that will be applied to future hosting payments. It doesn’t have to be that spare funds are immediately spent by the proprietor as ‘personal compensation’ as suggested upstream.
Right, but I think the current way is slightly more ethical.
Maintaining a separate bank account for that would be the easiest and most ethical way to do this, but doing so might generate its own additional cost, depending on your bank. Mine allows at least one other account without a monthly fee.
Opening an entirely new account just to hold funds for future costs sounds like a supreme pain in the ass. It's just easier and a bit more transparent to only ask for what we need, when we need it, and refund any excess and let the donor decide what to do with it the following year.
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"When the Mormon God requires a PR crisis to act moral, we've clearly outgrown him."
Opening an entirely new account just to hold funds for future costs sounds like a supreme pain in the ass....
What it sounds like is an escrow account. Using escrow accounts to hold money for a specific situation is considered far more transparent than putting public donations into a personal account.
It's just easier and a bit more transparent to only ask for what we need, when we need it, and refund any excess and let the donor decide what to do with it the following year.
It's pretty easy and far more transparent to do that with an escrow account. But its certainly your right to not do that with something you control.
...but I think the current way is slightly more ethical...
Escrow accounts are set up in order to handle money in an ethical manner. I know we have a unique situation here, but using personal accounts to hold public monies is universally not considered "more ethical" than using escrow accounts. Just to give you a different viewpoint, Shades. It's like being asked by someone you really don't know to "trust me, I won't harass or spam or doxx you so please give me all your personal information when you donate." Is it really wise to do that? If you grew up indoctrinated in the lds church you might think so, but as a general rule you wouldn't.
