DonationCoder.com Forum
News and Reviews => Official Announcements => Topic started by: mouser on February 11, 2011, 09:22 AM
-
So we are going to have a fundraiser/celebration for DonationCoder.com in the month of March 2011. The last fundraiser was 2 years ago.
My question is, can we think of any special events or things we could do to make it funner for existing members, and for new visitors who haven't heard of us?
I know giveaways are always popular, but my preference would be things that reflect more the spirit of the site, and are more inviting of long-term participation by new people, etc. Yes we want donations during the fundraiser, but we'd also like to welcome our arms to new coders and new forum participants, etc.
Any ideas?
-
Some dangerous ideas:
- Could we pull together enough DC coders to do a Coding-Snack-A-Day throughout all of march?
- Could we pull together enough DC mini-review writers to do a mini-review-a-day throughout all of march?
-
Fine idea!
Could we pull together enough DC coders to do a Coding-Snack-A-Day throughout all of march?
-mouser
I'd be willing (and hopefully: able 8)) to help out there
-
Another unusual idea might be to make one blog post per day about another website that has been kind to DC (by writing a review of one of our programs, etc.), just a way of saying thank you to the great websites out there that help indie coders.
-
I will contribute to both the review-a-day and the coding snack.
I had a few ideas:
1. "Who gives a buck about DC?" whereby every member vows to donate at least $1, and earns a badge.
2. Sponsor a DC-er to do something crazy. Zany members offer to maybe get photographed dressed as Cody in the mall, or go to work in a silly hat or have a cody "tattoo" if a certain fundraiser target is met.
And one general suggestion:
An ".... of the month" round-up. This can be purely subjective, but a small round-up of the forum's activity would interest me greatly. For example: "Topic of the Month" ~ "Rant of the Month" ~ "New Software Release of the Month" ~ etc.
My favourite: "Member of the Month" to celebtrate a DC-er who's been particularly helpful, or released something really good, or even ironically celebrate someone who just got on everybody's nerves... ;)
-
1. "Who gives a buck about DC?" whereby every member vows to donate at least $1, and earns a badge
.
I think your idea of encouraging everyone to donate (at least) 1 dollar could be the most important basic idea. As we've often discussed, the problem for sites like ours that depend on optional donations, is that people cannot get past that initial stage of resistance that prevents them from donating. I don't think the issue is the money -- i think it's the work involved, and the general unwillingness to perform a financial transaction unless they have to.
If we could just find a way to get people to take the leap of faith to make a donation, regardless of the amount, i think it would be so healthy for the site, but also bring many people in from the shadows who would enjoy being part of something and enjoy being one of the people that actively support the site.
But getting people to make that leap is hard.
-
or even ironically celebrate someone who just got on everybody's nerves... ;)-timns
Now who could that be? :huh:
-
Some dangerous ideas:
- Could we pull together enough DC coders to do a Coding-Snack-A-Day throughout all of march?
-mouser
Could we get pledges per the NANY event (coding snacks, whatever) ... and people pledge support to the ideas?
i.e. you have pledge 1...n ... and if someone likes pledge 1, they pledge a certain amount towards its completion to go to DoCo.
A sort of code-a-thon.
Just an idea...
-
I like it. Where do I pledge?
Another idea: can we do some sort of auction for goods or services? I'd be in for that.
-
Indian freelancers (non-credit card holders) are getting screwed by both paypal and government (https://www.paypal-apac.com/india/). This is the last month for me to buy,donate anything online using paypal stored money (unless i get credit card which is not possible because i'm doing freelancing). So instead of next month, i'll consider making donation this month. :) Keeping problems aside, is there anything i can do from graphics side ?
I mean designing stamps, envelopes, mug or ipad skin design for DC shop on cafepress or zazzle ? That is also one good way of raising funds. I don't see any zazzle store, mouser can you create one ? I'm sure existing cody logo and graphics can be used on some seasonal items for sale at zazzle.
-
I don't see any zazzle store, mouser can you create one ?
we could create a zazzle store but we already have a cafepress store. perhaps some high markup items on that would be an alternate way of accepting donations.
-
How about a badge for donating X amount;
$1-10 gets you Badge (A)
$11-20 Badge (B)
$21-30 Badge (C) and so on.
--------
The Zazzle store sounds like a good idea, especially with thier shipping times being 1/2 that of CafePress (Been waiting 2 week for my NANY Mug, which apprently shipped 15 days ago...)
------------------------
Also, how about creating a special user rank for people who donate certain amounts (Like atm we have "Supporting Member" and such) you could have something to show the level they have donated.
------------------------
I think the visual representation bar is a must...especially if you can link it so its totally live and we can see it going up every moment!
------------------------
Also...I think there should be something like "If We Raise $10000 During the fundraiser, Mouser will strip to his underwear and run through the streets screming 'I LOVE CODY, CODY IS THE BIRD GOD'" (This has to be recorded and uploaded to the website for all to see as proof!)
-
Also, how about creating a special user rank for people who donate certain amounts (Like atm we have "Supporting Member" and such) you could have something to show the level they have donated.-Stephen66515
The Supporting Member label/rank is subtle, and I think better for it. Making too much of a hub-bub about who donated what tends to hamper the relaxed feel of a place.
Also...I think there should be something like "If We Raise $10000 During the fundraiser, Mouser will strip to his underwear and run through the streets screming 'I LOVE CODY, CODY IS THE BIRD GOD'" (This has to be recorded and uploaded to the website for all to see as proof!)
-Stephen66515
Should probably limit that to something that would leave the man with at least a shred of dignity... :)
-
I think the visual representation bar is a must...especially if you can link it so its totally live and we can see it going up every moment!
We used the Cody Fever Donation Amount Thermometer which shows the progress towards our donation goal last year and it was a huge hit, and we will use it again.
As for the suggestions about dif badges or status based on donation amount, we have a longstanding policy not to do anything that favors or gives status based on the amount you donate. Everyone who donates is equally appreciated (some people have more money to spare than others).
-
... but can I still get a badge for giving a buck?
-
How about donation special episode from 'head in the clouds' crew to encourage donation ?
-
... but can I still get a badge for giving a buck?
-timns
Ah, you want an extra badge :) apparently the NANY badge you currently have isn't enough :o
mouser could introduce a new badge like the current NANY badge: Counting the number of fund-raisers you participated in?
That would require this event to become at least yearly, ofcourse :up:
-
How about donation special episode from 'head in the clouds' crew to encourage donation ?
-mahesh2k
The boys will definitely be involved! Thank you for mentioning it.
-
I'd be willing to split the proceeds from people buying my autographed pics at $10 a pop:
Me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BradPittBAR08.jpg)
Seriously though, most sites I'm on don't even let you put a url in the sig. Makes it tough to promote stuff(which is generally the idea.)
-
Me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BradPittBAR08.jpg)
-MilesAhead
You could have gotten a better shave that mornin' :huh:
-
I love the idea of a fundraiser.
I pledge to create one blog post per day during March. But which blog shall it be: mine (http://nrrd.de/) or more a forum post turned blog entry on blog.dc.com?
-
I'd be willing to split the proceeds from people buying my autographed pics at $10 a pop:
Me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BradPittBAR08.jpg)
-MilesAhead
Judging by the hat, I assume that's actually worstje? :)
-
Me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BradPittBAR08.jpg)
-MilesAhead
You could have gotten a better shave that mornin' :huh:
-Ath
There's an idea! I'll let a babe shave me with one of them Gillette Fusion razors for $100?
-
This has to be recorded and uploaded to the website for all to see as proof!
-Stephen66515
I'd donate a significant sum to avoid seeing that!
-
my autographed pics
-MilesAhead
You pogoniate devil, you!
-
my autographed pics
-MilesAhead
You pogoniate devil, you!
-cranioscopical
My sesquipedalian attributes have atrophied. Now you gonna' keep making me use FARR define alias!! Sheesh! :)
-
I'd be willing to split the proceeds from people buying my autographed pics at $10 a pop:
Me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BradPittBAR08.jpg)
-MilesAhead
Judging by the hat, I assume that's actually worstje? :)
-timns
I shall announce that I feel absolutely no compulsion not to lie and thusly admit that is indeed me. :tellme:
-
My sesquipedalian attributes have atrophied.
-MilesAhead
Not to worry, half a yard is better than no yard at all :)
-
Keep the big ideas coming.. would be nice if we came up with something uniquely clever and fun to do.
-
It seems sensible to focus on the unique aspects of DC, which I think community features pretty high.
It would be great to have a Coding Snack a day, Mini-Review a day, and other ??? a days... organising it could be a bit of an issue... maybe we could just open threads and members can post and a moderator can select to publish?
I also like something simple like "a buck a day"...
Then it can all be packaged at the end of March in a Newsletter (it'd be pretty huge)...
Keeping it simple is key (I think)... "31 Days of Snacks, Reviews and News" type thing?
-
mahesh, check this out.
http://www.axisbank.com/personal/cards/easycreditcard/easy-credit-card.asp
I believe there are a couple of other banks that also issue similar (FD based) credit cards. Your credit is limited to 80% of your FD amount. As you probably know, Paypal won't let you deposit funds into your a/c, but making an overseas payment shouldn't be a problem.
-
Thanks a lot nosh. :)
I've IDBI/SBI bank accounts and debit cards from those banks are useless for online usage. Unfortunately there is no FD card facility with these two banks. SBI don't even allow 'auto debit rebill facility' for credit cards. I verified my paypal using VCC so never had payment issue earlier but from now on due to policy changes, i need to get card for overseas/online payments.
Thanks a lot of axis bank link. I think this will solve my problem because FD limit is low and and i can also use 'auto debit rebill' for credit card spending online.
-
Should we primarily focus on techy type stuff or open the doors to anything?
-
ok...I spent some time trying to think of something that could be non-goofball fun; but also be in keeping with the coding roots of DC.
I'm thinking maybe a small contest to see who can come up with the absolutely smallest program in (lines of original code) to do something that is unambiguously and generally useful. If you need an example, think of something like Steve Miller's PureText which weighs in at 12kbytes..
It could be broken into two groups to keep it fair: programs that are coded in a traditional language, and script language based programs.
I don't think you should penalize for taking advantage of a runtime or framework since the ability to leverage an available resource or existing codebase is the trademark of a professional programmer.
Groups could be further subdivided into "most useful" and "smallest size." Ideally, the "best" program would win in both categories.
Anyway, that's my suggestion. :)
-
I'm fan of solving real world problems that are bugging others. In this case, why not take coding snack idea to next level and solve some typical problems to raise fund ?
-
I'm fan of solving real world problems that are bugging others. In this case, why not take coding snack idea to next level and solve some typical problems to raise fund ?
-mahesh2k
Wouldn't that fall more under the heading of contract coding as opposed to fundraising?
Might not be a bad paid service to offer on an ongoing basis, although how you'd square a pay-for-requested-code system with the donation model espoused by Mouser is anybody's guess.
:)
-
A while back, we (my company) attended charity auction. Our bid won one of the services on offer: the designer offered 10 hours of design work in exchange for our donation.
If anyone here has services that they are willing to offer in return for a decent contribution to the DC fund, that might appeal.
-
Wouldn't that fall more under the heading of contract coding as opposed to fundraising?
Might not be a bad paid service to offer on an ongoing basis, although how you'd square a pay-for-requested-code system with the donation model espoused by Mouser is anybody's guess.
No. I mean just take coding snack up for the event. If someone just posts only idea but don't think for donating then no worries. Like any other coding snack ideas, we just code for the idea we think are possible. Others can blog about this and based on that more donations and traffic/member is possible. It's not paid contract or like that. Same coding snack but chance of producing more apps in one month.
-
^ok. Now I get it. :Thmbsup:
-
Perhaps for the fundraiser we could have a special mug or tshirt for those lucky and generous enough to be able to afford a large donation, that shows Cody's banker-looking Uncle (never before seen on a DC mug) sitting on top of a huge pile of his gold coins, thumbing through his bank book.
Cody's Uncle: (https://www.donationcoder.com/cssimages/CodyUncle64.jpg)
-
Perhaps for the fundraiser we could have a special mug or tshirt for those lucky and generous enough to be able to afford a large donation, that shows Cody's banker-looking Uncle (never before seen on a DC mug) sitting on top of a huge pile of his gold coins, thumbing through his bank book.
Cody's Uncle: (https://www.donationcoder.com/cssimages/CodyUncle64.jpg)
-mouser
But you said earlier that the amount of donation doesn't matter... :-[ so this 'reward' should IMHO be a buy-only 'donation'-order?
I do like (to imagine) that image on a mug though :up:
-
It would just be a mug available for purchase at that very high markup, so people who wanted to "donate" by buying it could. Just another funny way to donate.
-
that shows Cody's banker-looking Uncle (never before seen on a DC mug) sitting on top of a huge pile of his gold coins, thumbing through his bank book.-mouser
Isn't that the image of everything we stand against...?
What if the existing donations system was leveraged to work both ways. So that donations between members are split (say 50/50) with the DC. So if say I gave 40Hz a $10 donation, he would actually get $5 and the other $5 would go to DC.
Granted it would have to be time limited and made very (very) clear as to why/what was happening. But it could be an interesting way of greasing all the wheels at one time (so-to-speak).
-
It would just be a mug available for purchase at that very high markup, so people who wanted to "donate" by buying it could. Just another funny way to donate.
-mouser
Oh, OK, then I'll prolly be aiming at that one :-*
-
Isn't that the image of everything we stand against...?
Well i thought it would be a kind of funny alternate reality mug, but perhaps it was in poor taste. i withdraw the idea. i didn't really see it as against spirit of the site -- it wasn't about giving treating people differently based on how much they give and giving the impression that the more you donate the better you are -- that's the real thing we want to always avoid. It was just an idea for a special private thank you that would make financial sense only for large donors.
Regarding donating-by-buying items like cafepress mugs, etc. -- this is an idea that has always been attractive, but has real drawbacks. One major one is that if people buy a $20 DC mug feeling like they are contributing financially to the site, and DC gets $1 of this and cafepress gets $19, its not much help :) So the only way it works is if this kind of donation-by-purchase is done on a huge markup item, like a $200 mug. The cafepress shop was initially set up for that purpose, but in effect we never used it for that and instead used it to give away mugs for special events rather than having people buy things directly.
As for donations between members and taking a portion of that for the site -- when the donationcredits systsm first went live -- some portion of donations always went to the site and the rest into the users account to do with as they please.
But what was found is that people so rarely get involved in giving their donations to specific people, that the far better and simpler solution is to just say that anyone who is willing to specifically donate to a specific user on the site, should just be allowed to do that purely, and no need to try to take some portion of those donations. People who are involved enough in the site to be making donations to specific people will already donate to the site if they feel like it.
-
What if the existing donations system was leveraged to work both ways. So that donations between members are split (say 50/50) with the DC. So if say I gave 40Hz a $10 donation, he would actually get $5 and the other $5 would go to DC.
Granted it would have to be time limited and made very (very) clear as to why/what was happening. But it could be an interesting way of greasing all the wheels at one time (so-to-speak).
-Stoic Joker
Great plan SJ, That would be a nice addition to the standard toolset of DonationCoder :Thmbsup:
This 'split-the-money' option could be a checkbox or percentage-slider (with a loud and clear label describing it's function), so anyone making a donation could split his/her money between the direct beneficiary and DC, where the slider would normally be at 100% user, 0% DC, and for the fund-raiser at 50/50.
-
that shows Cody's banker-looking Uncle (never before seen on a DC mug) sitting on top of a huge pile of his gold coins, thumbing through his bank book.-mouser
Isn't that the image of everything we stand against...?
-Stoic Joker
the image, as is, - without the pile of gold coins - has a bit of a look of a leprechaun about it ;-)
Could make a nice mug with a hazy rainbow (or maybe rainbows are a bit overused these days...)
-
As for donations between members and taking a portion of that for the site -- when the donationcredits systsm first went live -- some portion of donations always went to the site and the rest into the users account to do with as they please.
But what was found is that people so rarely get involved in giving their donations to specific people, that the far better and simpler solution is to just say that anyone who is willing to specifically donate to a specific user on the site, should just be allowed to do that purely, and no need to try to take some portion of those donations. People who are involved enough in the site to be making donations to specific people will already donate to the site if they feel like it.-mouser
Understood, but if it's a fundraiser/for-a-good-cause folks tend to get more involved ... Because there is now a something to be a part of taking place. There are some folks that don't have anything to work with/funds to donate for various reasons from the obvious economy to just being to scared to stuff their CC info into a webpage.
Hell if I had to take money out of the house account right now I'd have to either skip a few meals or walk to work a few days next week. But! I do have a schekel or two in donations that could be moved around a bit without effecting household financed (or the wife's permission...;)) in the slightest. So...
I could either (say for example) donate $50 directly to the site, or I could donate $10 to each of 5 members and the site would get ($25) half of the transacted funds. But by doing it this way, it now allows the 5 members in question to "Get Involved" in the "Game" because they now have a string-less stake of $5 each to play with.
It has been said that the key to the economy is to get-the-money-moving ... So we just make a game out of it.
-
Totally +1 to Stoic Joker there.
-
Totally +1 to Stoic Joker there.
-timns
I'm in!
-
Is there somewhere that we can start pledging?
-
Is there somewhere that we can start pledging?
-timns
Aha, you want to start out as a pledgeling!
-
I shall post so many: pledgehog
-
I shall post so many: pledgehog
-timns
May you derive great pledger from it!
-
What about a special event for the fundraiser called "Stump the Cranioscopical".
For a 6 hour period, donors are invited to challenge Chris to come up with puns on demand to random concepts. If he fails you get your money back, if he succeeds you have to double your donation ;D
-
What about a special event for the fundraiser called "Stump the Cranioscopical".
For a 6 hour period, donors are invited to challenge Chris to come up with puns on demand to random concepts. If he fails you get your money back, if he succeeds you have to double your donation ;D
-mouser
I'd pay to put Cranio on the spot. (I mean this in a nice, fun way) :D
Can we have a pledge wall somewhere?
-
Is there somewhere that we can start pledging?
Should we start a new thread for "pledging" ? What are we asking people to pledge? To do "something" for the fundraiser? Or do we want to be more specific about things to pledge for?
-
I think a pledge would be a fairly solid commitment to do something tangible for the event. Otherwise the thread just fills up with wibble.
e.g.
"I pledge to shave my head if donations hit $x"
"I pledge to release a new app"
"I pledge to release a mini-review"
etc.
-
What about a special event for the fundraiser called "Stump the Cranioscopical".
For a 6 hour period, donors are invited to challenge Chris to come up with puns on demand to random concepts. If he fails you get your money back, if he succeeds you have to double your donation ;D
-mouser
Better budget for doubling your pledge if you take Mouser up on that one. ;D
-
In fact, I'd also be adding a 'request for pledge' too. Can we make something happen? I know it's going to require someone to moderate. I guess I could step up, clueless tho I may be :-[
-
I am a site donor during donation week/month/ whatever it is. I am a
coder donor if I buy a specific. I am a donor to whatever I feel I am
donating to and trying to hack it up takes away my feeling that I am
doing the most good in a specific area. I do not require a cup or anything.
Of course I am not too heavy in the pocket so that is why I feel good
about ANY donation to anything. I keep a pay pal account so that
I don't need to put my CC info out there.
Anyway, that's my lowly 2ยข :-*
-
Thank you Sugar. :up:
-
Getting back to an earlier idea on this thread, I don't mean to ignore the idea Stoic Joker had about encouraging people to donate to each other during the fundraiser -- in fact I want to really encourage it.
If you are an active member of this forum -- the VERY BEST thing you could do is take the opportunity of the fundraiser to send some donationcredits to other members of the forum whose participation you appreciate. Enough non-forum-regulars donate to the site fund. For the forum regulars -- send your new and old donation money to specific people on the site using donationcredits. It will spread the love and happiness around and be good for everyone.
And let's think if there is a way we can encourage this more during the fundraiser, perhaps with something similar to what StoicJoker was saying.
-
If you are an active member of this forum -- the VERY BEST thing you could do is take the opportunity of the fundraiser to send some donationcredits to other members of the forum whose participation you appreciate.
-mouser
I should have read that before I gave it all to the site. I just had it in my mind like "the site needs it" but in fact it is the community that is vital. It'd be nice to see 3.456 trizillion micro-donations on the site, going round and round and round, and eventually helping those fine individuals that can use the money but are way too modest to ask for it...
-
I should have read that before I gave it all to the site.
Nice thing about donationcredits is it only takes a second to send them back to you an let you send them out as you wish -- so go for it!
-
re donating via amazon payments -
it's set at $50 with no visible way of changing - is it possible to change this after logging in to amazon?
Thanks!
-
if you click on the link for "alternate payments" you should see a new page with more amazon amount choices.
-
Out of curiosity, where does the 6000$ value come from? (you probably already explained it elsewhere and I'm just not finding it).
Also, I think this explanation should also be here: https://www.donationcoder.com/fundraiser/
-
It's just a number really -- there is nothing magic about raising more or less. I picked it because it is about the yearly hosting costs for the site ($500 a month x 12).
-
That's what I thought, it sounds like a perfectly adequate number!
-
Are there any official buttons for Fundraiser to put on pages?
I would like to use one on mine!
-
Are there any official buttons for Fundraiser to put on pages?
I would like to use one on mine!
-fenixproductions
Ditto.
-
How big should it be?
-
How big should it be?
-mouser
Dunno but user bar would be good for starters. Although I've already created custom banner for my homepage (http://fenixproductions.pl) :)
And it would be nice to have Fundraiser event created on Facebook.
-
I'm due to post a mini-review tomorrow - shall I just upload sometime tonight?
-
Yep!
-
Will there be a special forum to put all special releases and stuff (like NANY's), or is it just to be put in the usual places? (My coding snack has grown a bit out of the usual coding snack size :-[)
In the latter case I was thinking of adding something to the title like "March2011 Fundraiser:", and in my case adding " release: <apptitle> <version>"
-
Am I going to have to hold Cody hostage again????
I track's eem, I take's eem, and I hide's em away's in a secret's place no one find's until we make an amount I determine :harhar:
And I thinking a number in the $12,000 mark ;)
Better tell folks to get dem funds in now....I am already hunting for our Beloved and Cute as Hell Mascot now!
Whahhaahhahaaaaaaa
Donations better come in or the Cute Cuddly (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/6Cody/cody1.gif) gets it (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/CHAIR.GIF)......whhahhahahaaaaaaa
Tracking now!!!
Regards
The Sarge
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1016357/Images/sgtevmckay_sunglass.png)