Re: RAISING MONEY for Loopers Delight

[David Gans <david@trufun.com>]

I agree with Rick on all points.



On Jun 30, 2010, at 1:36 PM, Rick Walker wrote:

> Rick Walker here.
> 
> Please forgive me for jumping protocol and starting a new thread
> about the subject of donations to keep Loopers Delight alive
> but I feel compelled to send a strong message to the community
> based on my past experiences raising money for events, festivals and
> organizations over the years.
> 
> Like lots of relatively anarchic digests (thanks, Kim for your vision 
>here), there have been a lot of suggestions made and
> everyone has come from the heart (which is very important to acknolwedge)
> Unfortunately, there are many contradictory ideas and some are coming 
>from a well meaning but somewhat naive place.
> 
> There are enough contradictory ideas that it's getting hard to sort 
>through or achieve consensus
> on this extremely important subject.  
> So, from a position of considerable experience on this subject I wanted 
>to
> post a few comments and make a suggestion for a good way to proceed (to 
>save Loopers Delight, financially).
> 
> 
> ABOUT RAISING MONEY:
> 
> A few things I've discovered:
> 
> 1) contrary to popular belief,  benefit CDs , no matter how wonderful 
>and heartfelt,
> are NOT worth the effort and don't make money (unless you are on the 'We 
>Are The World'
> scale) Period, Point. Dot.   They also require a lot of energy on the 
>part of the people trying to
> put these things together.  Ask anyone who has led a CT Collective CD 
>project.
> 
> 2)  Benefit concerts do NOT make money (unless you are on the 'FarmAid' 
>scale).
> 
> Additionally, though many generous people here for whom I am personally 
>grateful,  are willing to commit to paid subscriptions
> (I being one of them), 
> I STRONGLY URGE THAT WE  DO NOT ADOPT a PAID SUBSCRIPTION policy
> because it will have a deleterious effect on newcomers to our community
> 
> <okay, so much for the negative critiques, Rick, what's your solution>
> 
> 
> I've found it is far more effective to have DONATION DRIVES periodically,
> when funds are needed.   
> It raises a lot more money than subscriptions do and subscriptions will 
>definitely
> limit access by newbies to this community..............even 30 day trial 
>memberships
> are off putting to people who are just trying to lightly discover this 
>world.
> 
> I've found that when people feel that a beloved institution is in 
>danger,  they really do open their
> hearts more and they give far greater quantities of money than they 
>would normally with
> a subscription service.   Additionally,  drives are a lot easier to 
>maintain by the people organizing them
> and require much less work than ongoing subscriptions services, which , 
>again, don't raise nearly
> as much money.


David Gans - david@trufun.com or david@gdhour.com
Truth and Fun, Inc., 484 Lake Park Ave. #102, Oakland CA 94610-2730
Blog:  http://cloudsurfing.gdhour.com