View Full Version : Donations to No More Panic - a breakdown
nomorepanic
24-08-15, 20:05
I have been asked to inform members about the donations I receive to help fund NMP.
This is a totally accurate breakdown for this year. I have no reason to make the figures up.
The cost of the server that hosts NMP is £106 a month so as you can see below, sometimes there are not sufficient donations to cover this and other month's there are enough to cover the shortfall and the same month.
Most donations are sent via Paypal which incurs a charge to receive the money and some are sent by cheque or direct bank transfer.
January: £55 donations - fees £2.67. Total = £52.33
February: £158 donations - fees £7.42 Total = £150.58
March: donations £135 - fees £7.22 Total = £127.78
April: donations £244 - fees £10.53 (one really generous member donated £200 of this amount!!) Total = £233.47
May: donations £45 - fees £2.37 Total = £42.63
June: donations £249 - fees £9.88 Total = £239.12
July: donations £55 - fees £2.87 Total = £52.13
Aug: (so far) donations £55 Total = £55
Easy fundraising donations since Jan 2015 = £24.31
Total this year is £977.35 over 8 months
Cost of server = £106 x 8 = £848 so I have £129.35 in the "kitty"
So without the one generous donation, you would be running at a loss. And none of these figures include the time and electricity used by Nic and the admins.
Can we have a vote for how many people would pay a membership fee?
nomorepanic
24-08-15, 22:05
We won't go down the membership route and for now we are in the black with donations so some month's will be up and some down - that is ok
What about some games with prizes donated or from the shop?
Is it not possible to just buy a product for The Chat Room as opposed to what amounts as a monthly rental, or do they all work like your example,Nic.
Unfortunately this brings up the question of membership or not and I believe in your experience you would prefer to keep it an open site.
It is practically impossible to find a solution whereby members would pay a fixed amount monthly or yearly and members come and go and one is left with a hard core, and put it to the vote if members would pay or not.
How many members are on line in any given 24 hour period multiplied by 365 days ? You see it gets so complicated, it really is a poser.
How many members are there? Wouldn't a really cheap membership (like 1£ a month) cover it? Surely everybody could afford that? X
MyNameIsTerry
25-08-15, 08:33
How many members are there? Wouldn't a really cheap membership (like 1£ a month) cover it? Surely everybody could afford that? X
Yep, thats what I agree with. I know some people like to pay more and there is the option for donation anyway but when you consider membership you have to consider how things look to new business, not us existing members and the competition.
Some people may be scratching their heads over that but it's simply a matter of looking at a list of places to join and deciding if one offers an advantage over the others. If there isn't this, new business may go elsewhere.
I think it is commendable though that Nic is willing to resist a trend towards a closed site as well as likely astute too because it may also just turn into a club. I offer my thanks for her showing us the impact we can make and also it's amazing that someone felt so committed as to give £200 and then there was the guy who gave them his Vbulletin licence (was it a licence)
Nic doesn't want a closed site, she has mentioned it before.
MyNameIsTerry
25-08-15, 09:05
Yes, I know it says above about membership. But the problem is if you charge people the question they will ask is what do they get over the people watching. So, some forums have gone closed and what some do is have an open forum but with some members only closed boards. Maybe that would be middle ground there.
The answer is that people joining could having posting rights but then that takes it back to all those forums out there that don't charge for that. What are they like? What is the competition? Or are you only looking to preserve something with the people here already out of goodwill as as opposed to really applying a membership?
Maybe Nic just prefers not having the hassle of membership management?
MyNameIsTerry
25-08-15, 09:23
:ohmy:
venusbluejeans
25-08-15, 10:09
I am pretty sure that when Nic started NMP the idea she has was to give people support whatever background and financial status they have and that it shouldn't be restricted to only those who can afford the support.
I get what you are saying about making member only forums but which ones would you make members only? not sure there is many that would be suitable.
MyNameIsTerry
25-08-15, 10:21
I'm not sure, Venus. It was just something I noted on OCD UK's forum when I was searching for some information a while back. Looking at theirs it seems to be more the light hearted stuff, a bit like what your chat room would be used for I guess but with something that is there all the time like the games threads on here. The obvious question is, what is that worth? I guess it would look like Misc, Games, Pen Pal, type boards. It hardly seems worth it though looking at that. I wonder why they do it?
venusbluejeans
25-08-15, 10:39
yeah I have seen other forums do it too but totally agree with you about it doesn't really seem worth it.
There has to be something that makes people want to join just for those bits I guess... maybe people just think they are missing out if they don't become a member or some bizarre reason like that
I still think that a blanket membership would not work.
a) There are other free sites available that people would turn to (we know this site is great, but how can a brand new user realise that?!).
b) If people are looking for a safe place, during a time when they feel vulnerable and need help, I personally don't think it is the 'right' thing to do, to ask for money.
c) Paid memberships for the majority of sites are almost a thing of the past in this day and age... The only places I (and most other people I know) pay a subscription to are music and TV services.
nomorepanic
25-08-15, 12:33
Ricardo - the new chat room will be a one-off cost of $199 and I guess the only other cost may be for upgrades but I haven't looked into that.
If you start charging membership fees then you can end up with someone getting disgruntled about what that fee is for and then having a bad day and asking for the money back.
If you are forced to pay for something you have high expectations of what is on offer and I don't think that would work well here.
Are you happy with that cost of about £125/130/00 Nic.
Membership fees will never work, so I agree as we could finish up with threads of "I paid more than you so there":mad:
nomorepanic
25-08-15, 13:59
Well I am trying to get a discount on it Ricardo but they haven't replied yet.
Greenman50
28-08-15, 21:59
Hi Nicola
Not been on for a few years as all was ok for me .
Back on and i must say this forum was a life saver for me (safe google) and full of advice from you and the members .
I really mean the above it helped in my recovery
Your a Hero as are all the helpfull members who continue to help out .
Donated a tiny "tenner" wish i could send more via pay pal but off work again .
A quid now and again from the massive user base would support this site i hope some peeps give as well a take .
Thanks Nicola
---------- Post added at 21:59 ---------- Previous post was at 21:43 ----------
Thinking out loud .....how many members are on the forum ?
Nicola
Would you have any objections of getting funding via posting this forum / awareness of elsewhere ?
1 in 4 people suffer from anxiety / depression ....surely a lot would donate .
The forum is at the top of most search results .
Just thinking of what i could do to help , please pm if needed i have a messed head but very good at making money ( not vast amounts ..lol ) but an awareness campaign could help support forum .
Mel
I know I personally forget to donate. Just seeing this thread was a reminder to do it again. I can't donate a ton, but once in a while can give a little for something that has been so helpful to me over the years. Every little bit helps.
Greenman50
29-08-15, 00:15
^^^^^
My thinking ...:)
How many members on here ? ...a quid a year from members would help and cover most things ? ....just a guess .
Any excess donations if it ever came to that could go in the kitty .
^^^^^
My thinking ...:)
How many members on here ? ...a quid a year from members would help and cover most things ? ....just a guess .
Any excess donations if it ever came to that could go in the kitty .
Impossible to answer but actually regular acting members is another thing.
Just look at the bottom of the Forum Page to see how many members are on line at any given time but also look at the number of guests which is far far greater.A I write this early in the morning there are 22 members on line and 1815 guests on line.
Therein lies the problem. My understanding but she will correct me if I am wrong is that Nic wants to leave things exactly as they are and will gracefully receive donations if people feel inclined to give.
So it's pretty clear that we aren't going to do a membership fee, which I definitely support and understand. I probably wouldn't have joined in the beginning if there was one, honestly.
Maybe something to consider would be having like a quarterly fundraising period or 2x per year where we raise awareness among members to help remind people to donate if they can.
Talking about fundraising, and not sure if it's been mentioned in any of the threads, what about a crowdfunding site, kickstarter or the like. There's one that i know raises money for nearly anything, but can't for the life of me think of the name. If someone can make £40,000 just to make potato salad, i don't think it'd be ridiculous to think money could be raised for this site.
Are you thinking of GoFundMe?
nomorepanic
02-09-15, 16:30
Hi Nicola
Not been on for a few years as all was ok for me .
Back on and i must say this forum was a life saver for me (safe google) and full of advice from you and the members .
I really mean the above it helped in my recovery
Your a Hero as are all the helpfull members who continue to help out .
Donated a tiny "tenner" wish i could send more via pay pal but off work again .
A quid now and again from the massive user base would support this site i hope some peeps give as well a take .
Thanks Nicola
---------- Post added at 21:59 ---------- Previous post was at 21:43 ----------
Thinking out loud .....how many members are on the forum ?
Nicola
Would you have any objections of getting funding via posting this forum / awareness of elsewhere ?
1 in 4 people suffer from anxiety / depression ....surely a lot would donate .
The forum is at the top of most search results .
Just thinking of what i could do to help , please pm if needed i have a messed head but very good at making money ( not vast amounts ..lol ) but an awareness campaign could help support forum .
Mel
Thanks for the donation Mel :yesyes:
I am open to any suggestions for fundraising
nomorepanic
02-09-15, 16:30
I know I personally forget to donate. Just seeing this thread was a reminder to do it again. I can't donate a ton, but once in a while can give a little for something that has been so helpful to me over the years. Every little bit helps.
Thank You so much :yesyes:
nomorepanic
02-09-15, 16:32
If anyone has any info on the fundraising mentioned above please let me know
Thanks for all the donations peeps
swgrl09- I think that must be the one i was thinking of, for some reason i still feel there's another one out there.
Nicola- Here's a little bit of info about Gofundme
https://www.gofundme.com/tour/
ETA- It seems you need to give personal info, was going to try and set one up, if i could have done it anonymously. But it seems you have to create a profile which includes name, photo, social media sites and the like. I personally am not comfortable with this (plus i don't do social media) but if anyone else is then i say go for it. No harm no foul and all that. The site itself could set up a page, but i have a feeling that the ones that do best is one started by someone else to benefit another person/group.
I wanted to bump this thread as well as ask Nicola for details of sending a cheque to you Nicola. :) Can you PM the details to me?
Greenman50
17-09-15, 23:38
If anyone has any info on the fundraising mentioned above please let me know
Thanks for all the donations peeps
Hi
Missed your earlier post .
I have a few ideas , my work load drops off in a few months and it would give me something to do !
Will let you know of my ideas
Cheers Nic
I run races and every couple of years I do a more challenging one for charity. Next year I'm planning a hill run up Ben Nevis.
I am raising money for Maggie's centres but could split the money between Maggie's and this website. I just don't know how I would go about it. It is possible to do as I'm guessing this isn't a registered charity.
nomorepanic
15-10-15, 20:05
I wanted to bump this thread as well as ask Nicola for details of sending a cheque to you Nicola. :) Can you PM the details to me?
Thank You - I will PM you
I also need to update the donations amount on here as I since bought the new chat room so the funds have gone down.
Will look at that asap
nomorepanic
29-10-15, 18:52
Updated now:
January: £55 donations - fees £2.67. Total = £52.33
February: £158 donations - fees £7.42 Total = £150.58
March: donations £135 - fees £7.22 Total = £127.78
April: donations £244 - fees £10.53 (one really generous member donated £200 of this amount!!) Total = £233.47
May: donations £45 - fees £2.37 Total = £42.63
June: donations £249 - fees £9.88 Total = £239.12
July: donations £55 - fees £2.87 Total = £52.13
August: donations £65 - fees £2.50 Total = £62.50
September donations £20 Total = £20
Cost of new chat room £61.84
October donations £125 - fees £3.25 Total £121.75
November donations (so far) £0
Easy fundraising donations since Jan 2015 = £24.31
Total this year is £1040.45 over 10 months
Cost of server = £106 x 10 = £1060 so I have £-19.55 in the "kitty" (in deficit)
nomorepanic
08-12-15, 18:04
Latest update:
Thank You to everyone that has donated - it is really appreciated.
January: £55 donations - fees £2.67. Total = £52.33
February: £158 donations - fees £7.42 Total = £150.58
March: donations £135 - fees £7.22 Total = £127.78
April: donations £244 - fees £10.53 (one really generous member donated £200 of this amount!!) Total = £233.47
May: donations £45 - fees £2.37 Total = £42.63
June: donations £249 - fees £9.88 Total = £239.12
July: donations £55 - fees £2.87 Total = £52.13
August: donations £65 - fees £2.50 Total = £62.50
September: donations £20 Total = £20
Cost of new chat room £61.84
October: donations £85 - fees £1.69 Total £83.31
November: donations £5 - fees 0.37 Total £4.63
December: donations (so far) £5 - fees 0.37 Total £4.63
Easy fundraising donations since Jan 2015 = £35.52
Total this year is £1046.79 over 11 months
Cost of server = £106 x 11 = £1166 so I have £-119.21 in the "kitty" (in deficit)
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