Forum Donation Function
- Jamie
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Forum Donation Function
I'd like to introduce the 'donation' facility on the forum.
It is (hopefully) fairly subtle. I hate it when sites have DONATE stamped all over them! Its a fine balance between giving people a gentle nudge, while at the same time, not alienating anyone who are unable to donate.
To that end at the top of the forum there is a new link:
At the bottom of the index page there is a donation bar to show how much we have raised so far. I think £1000 is a realistic limit given that is a healthy proportion of our yearly costs.
When you use this method to donate, it should also add you automatically to the forum's sponsors group.
I welcome any feedback.
Thank you.
It is (hopefully) fairly subtle. I hate it when sites have DONATE stamped all over them! Its a fine balance between giving people a gentle nudge, while at the same time, not alienating anyone who are unable to donate.
To that end at the top of the forum there is a new link:
At the bottom of the index page there is a donation bar to show how much we have raised so far. I think £1000 is a realistic limit given that is a healthy proportion of our yearly costs.
When you use this method to donate, it should also add you automatically to the forum's sponsors group.
I welcome any feedback.
Thank you.
- Jamie
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Re: Forum Donation Function
All working correctly now
- Jamie
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Re: Forum Donation Function
Thank you!
- Jamie
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Re: Forum Donation Function
Sadly they are separate to the totals bar. I was thinking id do a monthly update to the bar (manually) to try and make the bar more representative of the "actual" donations.
Its always the way, I make one improvement to save work and it just generates another task instead
Its always the way, I make one improvement to save work and it just generates another task instead
- Coeur de Lion
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Re: Forum Donation Function
Very cool, Jamie!
Though, what's wrong with setting the target amount to what you want to raise, ie the total running costs plus that which enables Havoca to be able to afford a little more? (Maybe for next year?)
I get what you're saying about work begets work!
Though, what's wrong with setting the target amount to what you want to raise, ie the total running costs plus that which enables Havoca to be able to afford a little more? (Maybe for next year?)
I get what you're saying about work begets work!
- RyteWrite
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Re: Forum Donation Function
Jamie,
Could you also state near the donation bar that this is per year costs?
You stated this here in this topic yet it's not clear that bar represents that.
I like the bar.
Sure wish there was one for monthly donations. That might be a little too much though? Just a thought.
Could you also state near the donation bar that this is per year costs?
You stated this here in this topic yet it's not clear that bar represents that.
I like the bar.
Sure wish there was one for monthly donations. That might be a little too much though? Just a thought.
- Lisa_Lisa
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Re: Forum Donation Function
Just a quick reply to say, it's quietly comforting to see that the amount is going up rather quickly, already over 12% of goal. I hope it continues at this rate.
As a monthly donor, I don't mind that monthly donations aren't included in the goal, as I can understand that what's being asked for here is the deficit that you anticipate having to fill after the regular donations have been accounted for.
The message I'm seeing is that all donations, however small, regular or irregular, can make a big difference.
As a monthly donor, I don't mind that monthly donations aren't included in the goal, as I can understand that what's being asked for here is the deficit that you anticipate having to fill after the regular donations have been accounted for.
The message I'm seeing is that all donations, however small, regular or irregular, can make a big difference.
- Lisa_Lisa
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Re: Forum Donation Function
I might be assuming wrong, but I kind of thought that as we're approaching the end of 2022, maybe the £1000 goal was set because funds were looking to be running short by about that sort of amount by the end of the year ie 31st Dec.
I also noticed you don't have to be a forum member to donate, as the donations bar is still visible when I'm logged out. Hopefully this helps attract donations from all the visitors who "pass through", not just the main forum users.
I also noticed you don't have to be a forum member to donate, as the donations bar is still visible when I'm logged out. Hopefully this helps attract donations from all the visitors who "pass through", not just the main forum users.
- Jamie
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Re: Forum Donation Function
Hi Guys, sorry I havent replied.
£1000/yr is just a target Ive set for this first round of fund raising. I'd love to make more. The cost of running the website/forum grows with the amount of extra services we can adopt. We are a not-for-profit organisation so any money we make gets re-invested into HAVOCA. It isnt a single bill, it gets paid in stages for all the different types of fees we are charged. There is a post about it somewhere, I'll try and dig it out. Last accounts post (2019) is here. I'd also love to be in a position where we have a slush fund to account for additional work that may need to be done around upgrades and crashes. Call it a security net!
The amounts arent 'whole numbers' because paypal take their fees. So if you donate £10, HAVOCA only receives £9.66. Hence why the total goes up in increments rather than in whole numbers.
The amount isn't in an interest gathering account. Paypal doesnt work like that.
The monthly subscriptions (which we are hugely grateful for) cant be part of the 'bar' because the donation bar addition is only wired into the forum database. If you have set up a monthly donation, this goes straight into the paypal account rather than via the forums database. Ive deliberately kept the various ways of donating as people have different reasons for donating and the more ways we can offer provides us with a bigger pool of potential donors.
I havent decided whether to reset the target each year or perhaps just keep a running total for members to see how much they have donated. I'm open to suggestions.
Some examples of this years costs (unplanned!) on top of those we expected - Newsletter plugin became unsupported and required a new system - this costs £89/year and a one-off payment of £399 to install - the latter is mainly a developer's time. This can vary depending on the problems they face once they start work. Fortunately we have a well trusted team of developers who do much of the work on a voluntary basis. I also like to dabble but some things are beyond me and hence why I need a professional to help.
The spam software is consistently troublesome and regularly costs money to sort out. This is a well known problem in the industry and unless you want to pay £1000s on a system that constantly monitors the traffic you have to make do with a cheaper solution that isnt as robust. It really is a minefield!
Anyway, having said all of that, our losses are covered by donations from the team. My aspiration is not to make any losses and continue to expand the services and the quality of the services we are able to provide.
£1000/yr is just a target Ive set for this first round of fund raising. I'd love to make more. The cost of running the website/forum grows with the amount of extra services we can adopt. We are a not-for-profit organisation so any money we make gets re-invested into HAVOCA. It isnt a single bill, it gets paid in stages for all the different types of fees we are charged. There is a post about it somewhere, I'll try and dig it out. Last accounts post (2019) is here. I'd also love to be in a position where we have a slush fund to account for additional work that may need to be done around upgrades and crashes. Call it a security net!
The amounts arent 'whole numbers' because paypal take their fees. So if you donate £10, HAVOCA only receives £9.66. Hence why the total goes up in increments rather than in whole numbers.
The amount isn't in an interest gathering account. Paypal doesnt work like that.
The monthly subscriptions (which we are hugely grateful for) cant be part of the 'bar' because the donation bar addition is only wired into the forum database. If you have set up a monthly donation, this goes straight into the paypal account rather than via the forums database. Ive deliberately kept the various ways of donating as people have different reasons for donating and the more ways we can offer provides us with a bigger pool of potential donors.
I havent decided whether to reset the target each year or perhaps just keep a running total for members to see how much they have donated. I'm open to suggestions.
Some examples of this years costs (unplanned!) on top of those we expected - Newsletter plugin became unsupported and required a new system - this costs £89/year and a one-off payment of £399 to install - the latter is mainly a developer's time. This can vary depending on the problems they face once they start work. Fortunately we have a well trusted team of developers who do much of the work on a voluntary basis. I also like to dabble but some things are beyond me and hence why I need a professional to help.
The spam software is consistently troublesome and regularly costs money to sort out. This is a well known problem in the industry and unless you want to pay £1000s on a system that constantly monitors the traffic you have to make do with a cheaper solution that isnt as robust. It really is a minefield!
Anyway, having said all of that, our losses are covered by donations from the team. My aspiration is not to make any losses and continue to expand the services and the quality of the services we are able to provide.