Arnold Wrote:-
Can you possibly publish multiple donation denominators.

Possibly $1, $2, $5, $10 and $20. This will cater for various generosities people are able to afford. I for one support your site and feel a monthly $5 to $10 is within my budget. Others might have more to give, others less.

Hi Arnold,
Are you serious? You’d support my site with $5 per month?

You’re the 2nd person to say that.

Ok, let me add some more thoughts.

I am thinking of running a monthly raffle for people who put in an SMS or paypal donation and I want to give some small prizes (e.g. an eBook or a physical object of some kind – like that rare pack of playing cards from Zimbabwe).

What I’m thinking of, is giving people entries/tickets according to the value of their contributions and then I’ll have a computerised draw at the end of the month.

I want to work out some sort of system so I’m not just taking, but also providing incentives, etc for people to subscribe.

For example, I did some calculations and thought that maybe I should award “one ticket” for a R3 sms. And TWO tickets for a R5 sms… and also TWO for a $1 Donation. So if you donate $5 you get 5 entries in that month’s raffle.

If this system proves popular, and I can get a couple of hundred people participating… then I could rev it up to some nice prizes and presents.

But the first thing is to establish if this is economically viable…

I did not want to ask much, hence I started with low amounts. To be frank, if I could get people giving me R10 or $5 per month… I could do some pretty neat stuff.

I wanted to make the competition so that anyone anywhere in the world can take part. So let’s say the prize is a book – then I’ll post it to the winner anywhere in the world.

But I was wondering if I could get enough supporters, if we could do something awesome like… award a 1 year’s armed response service to the winner – if the winner is in S.Africa? That would be something that could help someone since people worry about crime. Or, if the winner is not in S.Africa I pay out a cash-equivalent or give some other prize?

What do you think?

I’m trying to find a way to draw regular funding… in small bits, from a wide group of people so that I can start doing things.

The raffle idea was interesting because at least some people can walk away with something in their hands.

I’m open to ideas… and throwing concepts around.

Please give me an idea of something that would interest you, or others… that I could do in return for support?

I’m trying to figure out a way of slowly taking TALK and turning it into some kind of ACTION… even small bits of action… because maybe through small beginnings, we can build up something that eventually is powerful.

I really want to create an organisation and after that – even larger – almost a Virtual Community – literally a “Virtual Country” – which is composed of people both inside and outside SA. One could call it a club of sorts… but a club that’s not for fun, but for a purpose – to promote our values, etc…

But we need to start somewhere.

The talking/writing/promotional side is going well and I’m delighted, but I want to find a formula to grow this.

With these donations, all I’m doing is building up a kitty of funds. I’m not spending any of it.

I want to engage in worthwhile projects over time. I want to introduce a business/capitalist angle.

Volumes are too small to make big money out of advertising… but tiny amounts of adverts could work.

This SMS idea led me to think of trying to integrate cell phone SMS’s from S.Africa with paypal donations from America.

So this is all experimental… and I’m looking for ideas… I want some brain-storming… etc.

One guy has said his company would advertise on my site. He suggested that people bid for advertising on AfricanCrisis for a week. The highest bidder wins.

I don’t want to be a shark. I want to give people value for money. But if people have ideas… let’s discuss them… I’m searching for a formula, or a set of processes which can slowly lead us to building a proper organisation which is self-funding and can exert an influence in our world.

I’ve toyed with the Virtual country/club type of concept too. But I’m not sure if that’s too early. I actually think… if one could get thousands of people involved… then that could work. You create in essence a type of “Virtual Country” that is global in extent… Some time back I posted the links to a virtual country set up of modern ROMANS – I kid you not. A full country… with 3,000 members… a bunch of geeks who are in love with Rome. The site was wild… they speak in english and latin, have meetings, elections, the lot.

My stuff isn’t a game though… its to engage in serious things and to try to make a difference whereever it can – and it must be broad. I was thinking of paying people to do stuff. e.g. gather together enough money to send a farmer in S.Africa on a self-defence course – paid for by AfricanCrisis – for example.

I was toying with crime/life-saving stuff.

I really want to DO SOMETHING that has a benefit for someone. Even if I can only help one person each month. Then at least together we can say we did something. We didn’t just sit around and talk.

But whatever we do… must be self-sustaining and we must grow it… into something ever bigger.

The guy who came to me with the SMS ideas is very much into the marketing and competition stuff. He pointed me to this South African website: www.SmsAuctions.co.za – where a guy is making over R50,000 per month profit on a car he auctions by cell phone! Now he auctions lots of stuff.

So I’m all ears for ideas and brain-storming.

Thanks for your support,
Jan.