Sponsorship

[Jamie]

It seems that my annual begging thread needs to start again. For some reason donations to HAVOCA have dried up recently - might be the time of year. I appreciate things are tough everywhere but I was wondering if people, who are able, would be willing to donate.

https://www.havoca.org/donate/

If you follow the link it gives you all the details.

We are not-for-profit so every penny goes into running the organisation. It doesn't take a huge amount of money to run but it certainly isn't free. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated and you will of course receive 'sponsor' status on the forum.

Sponsor status provides you with:

Can receive and store 1000 messages (2 messages for a normal member)
Can ignore attachment size and amount limits
Can email other users
Can use smilies in PMs
Can change default usergroup
Can change username
Can ignore flood limit on posting
Can choose to be 'hidden' while browsing
Can view hidden online users
Can post Flash in private messages
Can forward private messages
Have their own special rank and title bar on the forum

Thank you!

[Jamie]

I just wanted to thank everyone who has donated so far.

If you have donated and havent been upgraded to a forum sponsor, then please drop me a PM and I'll make sure I correct your status.

For everyone else, please please please consider donating.........

If every member donated £1 today we would be sorted for the next few years.......just a thought.

[Sigma]

Done - always happy to see Havoca thriving !

[Sunshine tan]

Donated xxxxx

[Jamie]

Thanks guys.

Anymore takers?

[Jamie]

[Bella28]

Done, thanks for this invaluable site x

[Jamie]

Done, thanks for this invaluable site x

Thank you!

[Jamie]

[Jamie]

Any ideas for ways to encourage people to donate/sponsor HAVOCA?

All ideas welcome.

[zepto]

I’m not sure.

I wonder if stating how much you’re short will help? Or give monthly costs of keeping this place going?

(Guess I tend to work better with numbers). Also I know it might seem a bit mean but I wonder if perhaps one off sponsorship should only entitle pink status for a limited time, maybe a year? Or maybe have amounts on sponsorship.

Just chucking ideas out there....

[Hovisg]

It's a ticky thing isn't it asking for money and also feelings associated with giving money

I will be the first too hold my hand up answer say I hadn't sent anything for a while ages actually and no real reason other than not on my radar or when I do see a prompt it ties into all sorts of thing around doing something now because someone said pathetic I know
I prefer the one off donations method but others make prefer the monthly

Anyway begging animal pics usually do it for me and then making the leap in time to actually do it -then balancing my finances in my head petrol, phone, food everything else la la la oh yes and then the least most important thing on my radar remembering Havoca that helped save me

Having been on the donate page perhaps we could make jiggle some things around a bit make some facts more prominent market ourselves a bit
Just wondering what % comes from people registered on forum and what comes from the main site visitors ?

Also there's always things going on like cake sales, jumbles , sponsored walks /runs /climbs but I guess people may not like to be so open about collecting for our cause in case they have to explain in too much detail

Also maybe just keep on asking is my suggestion , charity bags come through my door everyday, ads on the telly are relentless everything from cancer to animals maybe we need to be a bit more proactive -maybe I should make more effort I'm now thinking instead of leaving it to others

Hugs Hovis xx

[john100]

Standing orders seem like a good idea to me. I do one - a small monthly donation giving a small but regular income. I don't miss it much every month. If lots of people had standing orders it would provide a regular income.

Free fluffy kitten with each standing order perhaps?

[SunshineSmile]

I agree with Zepto, on the idea of stating how much you’re short of funds. Or give monthly costs of keeping Havoca going. It wouldn't be 'begging' - Havoca is incredibly valuable and we need to appreciate that there are costs in running it.

I think it's very likely that we all stare at a screen and type our posts without thinking about the costs involved in running a site/forum like Havoca - it's not exactly a 'visible' cost.

I also agree with John100 on pushing for standing orders - it's quick to do and then we don't need to remember to do it after that. It's easy to have good intentions but then to genuinely forget.

Also, it's easy to 'switch off' when we see a post with the title "Sponsorship" - maybe some people don't even click on the post as they know what it's about... no accusations there but it's easy to bypass certain posts... I don't know if this idea is workable, or even if you'd feel ok doing it, but is it possible for you to PM all the members? I don't know if there's a facility where you can send a message to everyone and make a direct appeal for sponsorship but it would be more of a personal request....

I do like the fluffy kitten idea.... Also you could use a heading like "Give us money or the kitten gets it".... that would get people's attention....

[SunshineSmile]

I came back to edit my post but I can't do that so I've added this post:

I don't know if this idea is workable, or even if you'd feel ok doing it, but is it possible for you to PM all the members? I don't know if there's a facility where you can send a message to everyone and make a direct appeal for sponsorship but it would be more of a personal request....

I hope it doesn't look like I'm saying that you 'have' to sort this all by yourself - I just meant if a message could go out to all members addressed from you. It might get more response as a personal plea rather than a more general appeal...