[Foundation-l] Re: NEH grant

Fri Jul 9 00:38:33 UTC 2004

--- Anthere <anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Christopher Mahan wrote:
> > I too wish to express my misgivings at getting the grant. There's
> > always strings attached, and targets have to be met, and so on.
> Who's
> > gonna run it? Who's gonna keep track of the money, the
> milestones,
> > etc...
> > 
> > I would rather mav publish a monthly budget and post that to the
> > front page, like this:
> > 
> > This month, we need $4000 to meet expenses. So far, users have
> > contributed $2800. Thank you!
> > 
> > If budget is met, then you write: 
> > 
> > This month's budget has been met. Thank you!
> > 
> > 
> > It needs to be updated daily.
> 
> 
> 
> I strongly disagree with this.
> A budget is not something you balance week per week or even month
> per 
> month. We must plan it. In advance. 

That's why you make a budget. You forecast your expenses into the
future, then figure out how much to bring in on a monthly basis not
to get int the red on any single month :)

> A budget is something you have
> to 
> organise, to take into account structural needs, contingencies, and
> see 
> how to best use the remaining.

Absolutely. It's called a reserve (for emergency) and for known
future capital expenses you plan accordingly (need to spend $10K in 5
months? collect $2K/month for 5 months)

> This month, we will spent about 12000 dollars in hardware. I think
> the 
> best way is to have this money available in advance, and plan
> spending 
> it on time. Not to call for donations during two weeks, then wait 2
> 
> weekds for shipping.

Absolutely.

> I also am not very motivated by the idea of asking money all the
> time. 
> That is just showing we do not manage well our funds.

If it's budgeted, then it won't look that way. You're right, if it's
always an emergency, then it looks bad.

> I think it much more positive that we make a call for donation just
> a 
> couple of time a year, that donations are set in such a way that
> they 
> can be monthly donation, and that the call for donation is made in 
> parallele to a nice press release.

We are not national public radio. 
I think that people are less likely to respond when you say: We need
a million dollars this week! instead of "this month, 5 thousands. and
next month, 5 thousands.  It seems much more manageable, plus you
feel your $50 is more appreciated.

> 
> 
> > I think we can raise more money that way than through grants

Ok, you may be right. But if there's more burden because of it, then
I don't know if it's that good.

> > Furtehrmore, once grant moeny starts rolling in, users will be
> able
> > to say: they're funded by grant money, so I'll not contribute.
> 
> But asking money all the time will make them think we are heavy,
> and do 
> not know how to manage money.

Well, asking for money after we get the grant, people will ask: What
the hell happened to the grant money?

> 
> ------
> 
> Okay, donations is one way to raise money, and we should use it.
> It is best that donations calls are made during a special event,
> when we 
> can see we are just great.
> 
> In about 2 to 3 months, Wikipedia will be 1 000 000 articles.
> This is a very serious milestone.
> We should at this occasion make a third global press release (this
> is a 
> global milestone).

I wish we would stop making a big deal out of milestones. People
don't care that google indexed 5 billion pages. All they care about
is that they find what they need in the top 10.
Likewise, we should emphasize quality and completeness rather than
quantity, with user-friendlyness thrown in. Ever tried doing a
keyword search in a paper encyclopedia?

By the way, what are you still doing up? heh :)

=====
Chris Mahan
818.943.1850 cell
chris_mahan at yahoo.com
chris.mahan at gmail.com
http://www.christophermahan.com/

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