Clear goals will also skip the need to check back with donors and tell them where their money goes. They will almost instantly know :)
On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 7:48 PM, alex diavatis <alexis.diava...@gmail.com>wrote: > As an alternative idea, which I am not sure you would really want to > follow, > you can try small and often campaigns over specific highly anticipated > features > > For example, we need $3.000 to create folders-application within Shell > overview. > > Then you can contact a student to work on it the same way that GSoC works. > If the feature won't get completed, just refund the donors. > > This way you will also save time from the main developers which can spend > time > to work on other things, that you would cover in a less "attractive" > campaigns. > > Additionally you can involve more people on GNOME Project, which they > might continue contribute afterwards. > As it actually happens with some GSoC students. > > But my opinion is that campaigns should have very very clear goals, and > not be as general as "privacy". > > - alex > > > > On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 4:00 PM, Karen Sandler <ka...@gnome.org> wrote: > >> On 2014-04-24 05:13, Allan Day wrote: >> >>> Oliver Propst <oliver.pro...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> When we are doing a campaign we tend to be very focused on it (thus >>> busy), and not have the resources to focus on more long term planning. >>> >>> Thus its a a good time for us now to think about how we can improve >>> our fundraising efforts [1]. A great start is to learn how from how >>> other free/open source projects have conducted their fundraising >>> campings. >>> ... >>> >>> Thanks for getting this started, Oliver. I've been thinking about this >>> a bit myself recently, and I'd like to do some work on Friends of >>> GNOME if I can find the time. I wanted to discuss it in a team >>> meeting, but the mailing list works. >>> >> >> yes! The best time to think of this is when there's nothing pressing >> going on. >> >> >> So, some general thoughts: >>> >>> * One of my main issues with Friends of GNOME right now is that we >>> don't do enough to engage with existing donors. If people donate, the >>> least they should get back is regular updates about how we are >>> spending their money. Right now, Friends of GNOME is a black hole - >>> people make their donations and that's pretty much it. This is not an >>> effective way to encourage people to keep donating or to get them to >>> donate more (see below). One obvious thing we should be doing is >>> sending regular updates to donors, probably as an email (I wonder if >>> this could be tied in with the annual report somehow - eg. quarterly >>> donor updates could be used as the basis for each annual report). >>> >> >> I like the idea of a newsletter - the main thing is that we actually >> commit to write something on a regular basis. Given how hard it was to get >> quarterly reports together I think this is non-trivial. >> >> >>> * We ought to be looking to existing donors as the potential source >>> of additional cash. If someone is making a regular donation, the >>> chances are that they will also be willing to donate to periodic fund >>> raising campaigns. This is the way a lot of charities operate - once >>> you are a donor they will contact you about their campaigns. One thing >>> we need to do here is separate Friends of GNOME and our fund raising >>> campaigns into different entities. >>> >>> * It doesn't seem like the adopt a hacker postcards and the t-shirts >>> are being tracked and distributed very effectively, and I'm not >>> convinced that we have the administrative capacity to do a good job of >>> these. I wonder if we should drop them in favour of other incentives >>> that don't have the same administrative burden. Ideas: discount >>> vouchers, vouchers to spend on GNOME merchandise, freebies at >>> conferences, membership badges you can download and print at home. >>> >> >> Actually, thanks to Tobi, this has gotten much much better. Reminder >> emails are reliably sent. I know that at least for the postcards I'm asked >> to send, I get nagged periodically until they are sent (though I usually >> send them right away - I swear!) >> >> >> * It's time to be thinking about another campaign. When that happens, >>> we need to be certain that we will be able to use the money fairly >>> quickly - this hasn't happened in the past, and that is potentially >>> damaging. (Again, people need feedback about how their money is being >>> spent, otherwise they might not donate again.) We should think about >>> what we actually need money for, and I'd like the board to provide us >>> with some advice here. There are outstanding sysadmin tasks, for >>> example, like upgrading Bugzilla, or maybe we need to improve our >>> infrastructure in some way. >>> >> >> I like this a lot, but we should also consider that the campaigns are >> also a way to state our ideals. I think this has benefited us in the past. >> Also, I think maybe just keeping people posted about the plans would help. >> We don't really have an informal way to communicate officially. The closest >> we have is the GNOME Twitter feed, I guess, but there's nothing on the >> website where we can post small updates and musings, etc. >> >> >>> * Aside from the funding campaigns, we don't actively promote or >>> publicise Friends of GNOME. This is a basic error - we should be >>> routinely inviting people to join, posting about the scheme, and >>> advertising what we are doing with donations. This should be part of >>> the Engagement Team's regular activities - not just when we happen to >>> have a campaign running. A good way to start here would be to come up >>> with a plan for what kinds of posts we should be making and how often >>> we should be making them; this is something we can check ourselves >>> against at each team meeting. >>> >>> * It seems to me that the Foundation's money goes into a central pot >>> - I don't get the impression that particular income is earmarked for >>> specific uses. I wonder if the finances could/should be organised in >>> such a way that we can definitely say where Friends of GNOME money is >>> going, or even channel it to areas that we think are more interesting >>> to donors. Again, that's something for the board. >>> >> >> The money technically goes into a single account but the funds are >> tracked. For example, I'm pretty sure the GF is still spending down the >> Sysadmin FoG campaign amounts. >> >> >> * Finally, we need data about our existing donors. There needs to be >>> a system where we have email and postal addresses so we can contact >>> them. We need to know how much they donate and how long they have been >>> members for. We need to know how many people are joining/leaving over >>> time. We need to know why people are joining/leaving. This will >>> require new infrastructure, and we need advice from the board about >>> what is technically required and how we can get it. >>> >> >> We started to implement CiviCRM, but there were a few reasons why this >> wasn't a great solution for GF, including the fact that we have indefinite >> donors. Tobi's scripts are capable of generating this data. For example, he >> was able to generate a list of donors who had been giving for two years or >> more. Perhaps it's not the most ideal solution but it's something and he's >> surely work with us to create regular reporting scripts if we want them. >> >> >> Sorry for the long post! >>> >> >> This is great, and thanks to Oliver for starting the discussion! >> >> karen >> >> >> >>> Allan >>> _______________________________________________ >>> engagement-list mailing list >>> engagement-list@gnome.org >>> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/engagement-list >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> engagement-list mailing list >> engagement-list@gnome.org >> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/engagement-list >> > >
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