[Foundation-l] Re: Membership fees proposal

Sat Jul 31 00:18:03 UTC 2004

Daniel Mayer wrote:
> --- Andrew Lih <andrew.lih at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>It seems that the price should be set near the price of a decent
>>magazine subscription, which in the US would be around USD $30 a year.
>>That's how many public broadcasters in the US rationalize their
>>membership drives.
> 
> 
> We should have several different membership levels starting at $30 a year. 
> 
> One possible structure:
> 
> $30 a year ($2.5/month): Standard
> $60 a year ($5/month): Silver
> $120 a year ($10/month): Gold
> $240 a year ($20/month): Platinum
> #240+ a year: Sustaining (yep, goes up a category)

Why not yes.

> And of course anybody who is active on any Wikimedia project could be a
> volunteer-level member by just signing-up (and maybe paying a nominal fee). A
> parallel discount fee structure should also exist (set it at 20% of the regular
> fee structure and reserve it for special cases - such as for nations where the
> cost of living is really low). 

I hate to say this Mav, but I started the discussion about fees ONE 
month ago on meta, asking for ideas and feedback. I made my proposal 
based on what people offered me then, on meta, by mail, on irc.

I indicated I would draw a final proposal based on all that. I had no 
feedback whatsoever at that point.

I then drafted that proposal and asked feedback again. There was very 
little. About 10 people overall. No opposition. Essentially, comments on 
the amount of fees, for which I guess discussion is totally possible.

I consequently closed the proposal.

I started doing the membership application form according to that proposal.

So...I see no problem with discussing the prices, but I definitly see a 
problem in *entirely* rediscussing the entire organisation of a fee 
structure already decided.

Couple of points :
* the volunteer member will NOT NOT NOT pay anything. This is not 
negociable.
* there will not be country discount because this is too complicated
* there is already a discount fee system. With the discounted amount, no 
side benefits such as mugs are planned.

> Going up each level should also mean the person gets more wampum (shirts, mugs,
> etc). We could reach out to various businesses to ask for wampum donations
> (discount cards, free gifts, etc). This may complicate the discount fee
> structure though. Either way getting the gifts may require a separate payment
> for shipping. It will also be some time before we could set up such a system. 
> 
> Just some ideas to chew on.  
> 
> -- Daniel Mayer

All discussions on side benefits are welcome and great.
And yes, they do not impair setting the structure as is.

ant