6 thermometer segments achieved.. $3,000 from 155 people:
                                                             
Go go thermometer cody!

Thank, colin!

7 segments achieved ($3,500 from 189 donors!)  

fixed it

Donated a tiny bit yesterday.

Will try to do it more often.

I was trying to think of some ways we might get some attention for the fundraiser..

What about having a random drawing for any donor/supportingmember to win some something special like a SMALL custom app designed to their specifications -- up to say 20-40 hours of dev time?  I'd be volunteering to do the coding.. Could be an Android app, Desktop App, Web App..  So folks would enter by submitting their idea -- and only those I thought I could do within 40 hours would qualify -- which will eliminate a fair amount of entries I'm sure.

Not sure it's worth the effort if most people don't have a (qualifying) idea they want coded.. In other words most potential donors may not be attracted to the idea, so maybe it's a stupid idea.

A huge thanks to ghacks for writing up the fundraiser: here.
And to Gizmo's (TechSupportAlert) for writing up the fundraiser: here.

We are honored to have the support and encouragement of these two wonderful software sites.

What happened??? I've been away for a few hours and the $5000 mark is passed

I was trying to think of some ways we might get some attention for the fundraiser..

What about having a random drawing for any donor/supportingmember to win some something special like a SMALL custom app designed to their specifications -- up to say 20-40 hours of dev time?  I'd be volunteering to do the coding.. Could be an Android app, Desktop App, Web App..  So folks would enter by submitting their idea -- and only those I thought I could do within 40 hours would qualify -- which will eliminate a fair amount of entries I'm sure.

Not sure it's worth the effort if most people don't have a (qualifying) idea they want coded.. In other words most potential donors may not be attracted to the idea, so maybe it's a stupid idea.

That is a brilliant idea!! I love it & would absolutely participate.

While I'm on the idea bandwagon (and Lord knows I am full of it, er I mean ideas):

Have you considered posting this (the Fundraiser) as an Indiegogo campaign? The Perks could then be various # of hours (max) for a custom coded app?

It would probably be a good idea to lower expectations by calling it "prototyping".

Tons of people should be willing to pay $99 for 10 hours, $199 for 20 hours, $299 for 30 hours, & $399 for 40 hours. Imagine, they get a custom job for $9.99 per hour. It wouldn't take many to smash that thermometer. And perhaps fill your Dance Card for the rest of the year.  

Followup offer to those who are close to completion within their time. They can choose to accept a working prototype with some functions working and others merely displayed as dummy buttons, or you can offer them an upgrade to finish for a fixed fee (or at your option) even a small royalty.

This idea is scalable with various coders contributing code snippets in their areas of expertise.

This could ultimately be made into a generic app where people chose which modules they want. But that would be outside of the Indiegogo campaign and likely far in the future.

Let me know if you have any interest. I have done an Indiegogo campaign, so can help with the setup mechanics.

You might want to "bend" the curve a little.

The "value" comes holistically. And I think you can get more with a couple more tiers. Something like $40 for the first 10 hours, because mouser/someone can smash together the ultra raw visual framework with maybe 2 buttons half working, and let the customer then sit there and "ponder" it. Sometimes once you see something, you realize "oh! I didn't know I wanted/didn't want X!" And then you hit a period of rework. I have direct experience with this commissioning stuff. I've long remarked that this site has one small flaw software wise, which I'll call a "Cliff Pond effect". You can get "snacks" for free - funny little app-lets that do something small and cute. But the minute it drifts into a "coding lunch" like this thread's ideas, suddenly it falls into a black hole and the customer doesn't know what to do. This fundraiser is one way to address that.

(On Cape Cod in Massachusetts USA, there's a pond in one of the state parks. It's all nice and sweet and safe for eight year olds, like 4 foot water... for the first 50 feet. Then it drops off the cliff literally, hence the name! It goes instantly to something like 15 feet deep!! So that means parents better have put an hour into planning ahead or there will be trouble!)


But once you raise your sights into a "coding lunch" your vision increases. But if the initial part isn't as bad on "sunk money", there's less of a "threat" against changing their minds to change up something. Then let's say they really get going, and hit the main coding stretch.

But then on the other side, they should get a "volume discount" because they've committed to X decent sized chunk of money. So then they get a bigger batch of hours at a value price.

To clarify -- I cannot afford (mentally or monetarily) to take on work at those kinds of rates
The idea I was proposing was like a raffle, so that if many people donate, only one would win a prize of having their custom app created.
But i think the main problem with this is pretty real -- that  very few people would care about or have need for this "prize".

We just broke the $7,000 mark with donations from 383 people!
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This community seems pretty healthy by those numbers.

- Oshyan