Donating Squads

1

Hello Haiku friends!

Now, after the very successful Haiku Code Drive 2008, I’ve been thinking…
As you may know, it’s possible to donate a small amount $5, $10, or $20 every month (see Recurring Donations). I don’t know the specifics, but I assume it’s not widely used. PayPal-dislike aside, here’s one possible reason:

While $10 or $20 is definitely manageable for most of us (hey, how long do you have to work for $0.5 or $1 every workday?), the common reaction is “What good can my measly $10/$20 do?”. Well… not much, in fact. Unless you are just one of many. What’s needed is the knowledge that you’re not alone, that there are more people like you.

To that end, I’d like to start off “Donating Squads”. I pledge to donate $20/month if there are 4 others willing to do automatic monthly donations (no matter how much, the amount doesn’t have to be announced!) as well. Once the first 5-people-squad is fully manned, I hope there are more guys motivated to open and join the next squad.



The first Squad’s, fully manned and donating:

        1. ..............

        2. Lawrence Fitzgerald

        3. Jonas Sundström

        4. mmadia

        5. Olathe

The second Squad’s members, currently pledging to donate monthly once fully armed:

        1. ..............

        2. ..............

        3. ..............

        4. ..............

        5. ..............

Please leave a comment if you want to join. Also leave a comment when are not able to donate regularly any longer.

Regards,
Humdinger




Edited 28.July 08: Added Lawrence Fitzgerald to the Squad.
Edited 29.July 08: Added Jonas Sundström and mmadia to the Squad.
Edited 29.August 08: Added Olathe, closed the 1st Squad and initialized the next one. Added comment to notify when someone leaves a Squad.
Edited 16.September 08: Lawrence Fitzgerald had to leave the Squad.
Edited 23.December 08: Lawrence Fitzgerald has rejoined the Squad.
Edited 01.October 09: Humdinger has left the Squad.

2

Thanks for the welcome! I can’t wait to see this project expand even more! I hope everyone reading these posts will feel it in their hearts to contribute to this project. Thanks again.

3

Add me to that list. I just started a recurring donation a few days ago. I agree that more people would probably donate if they new how many others were donating as well. It might also be a good idea to have a page listing the names of the donors. This list could be updated weekly, bi-weekly or monthly(whichever would be less strenuous of the project teams).

4

Hi Lawrence! Thanks for joining up! Just three more to go… (Hopefully those aren’t contributers already, like you. :slight_smile: Don’t get me wrong, you are very welcome!)

5

I may have to clarify what I answered to Lawrence…
Of course also everyone that is already a “Recurrent Donor” is invited to join a Squad. That way, we know how strong we already are. So I should have written:

"Hopefully not all are already contributers like you."

6

I just signed up, so you can count me in!

7

Count me in.

8

Splendid, Jonas and mmadia. I added you to the first Squad. Just one more to go…

9

I started a recurring donation earlier this week, so you can add me.

10

Fantastic! Thanks for joining, Olathe!
With this the first Donating Squad is officially complete and donating.

To be honest, I have hoped that this concept would be received a bit more enthusiastically. Maybe my analysis of the psychological barrier was wrong after all…
Oh well… One squad’s better than none.
I think, I’ll ask the web team if they would promote this thread to a sticky and maybe have a link to it on the donating page. You know, in case this site/forum gets flooded with Haiku fans once the alpha release comes out. :slight_smile:

Anyway, thanks you guys.
Humdinger

–=-=–=-=–=-=–=-=–=-=–=-=–=-=–=-=–=-=–=-=–=--
Deutsche Haiku News @ http://haiku-gazette.blogspot.com

11

If you want to receive more enthusiasm about this project, maybe we should all start promoting people to download and try the vmware images. I just downloaded and ran one yesterday, and I was completely blown away by Haiku. I had never used it or seen it in action before(except on YouTube). I had tried to use QEMU a year ago and I had NO idea what I was doing. After that, I never bothered to try any other type of virtual software because I thought they would all be that complicated. I came across a post on YouTube that showed how quick and easy it is to install VMWare and run a vmware image of Haiku. I think that would DEFINITELY get more people interested in it. Just a thought…

12

I’m sad to read this, Lawrence. I hope you’ll overcome this difficult time quickly and without sustaining too many financial and personal losses. Being without work can be really stressfull.

This leaves our squad one member short. Anyone wants too fill in?

Humdinger

13

Unfortunately, I must ask that you remove my name from this list as I now find myself in a bit of a financial bind. The real estate market has been in a slump, and my company just did a massive lay-off(of which I was a part of). Keep up the good work and hopefully I can bounce back very soon. Wish me luck.

14

I just want to go on the record as saying I am now back! I have been blessed with some very good friends who helped me get back on my feet. Please add my name back to the donating squad. Thank you.

15

That’s really great Lawrence! I’m very happy you got things sorted out.
Your Squad welcomes you back! :slight_smile:

16

I’ve scaled down to $10/month. Separate squad for the mini/micro-donors?

17

Yeah, right, like we’re splitting this hugely successful squad idea…
No way, laddie, back in line! :slight_smile:

18

hehe :slight_smile:

19

Hi there!

Recently I, well not really fell on hard times, but let’s say I have to prioritize a bit…
I have to cut back on my donations and found the Haiku Support Association (HSA) to be a better fit. There a zero fees transferring the money and knowing that my donations are supporting BeGeistert and the Code Sprint is really nice.

So, anyone feeling up to filling my space?

Regards,
Humdinger