Subject:
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Re: New newsgroup lugnet.admin.finance
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.admin.finance
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Date:
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Wed, 3 Apr 2002 18:19:35 GMT
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Viewed:
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1389 times
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In lugnet.announce, Todd Lehman & Suzanne Rich writes:
> We would hereby like to open up the floor for discussions and ideas -- an
> online brainstorming session, if you will -- about how we can take LUGNET
> to the next level -- from a part-time hobby site into a serious full-time
> adventure. Running a site as popular as this is truly a full-time job, and
> then some.
> ...
> Where we need to go from here is to solidify the financial foundations of the
> site and find a way to create a full-time employment position for Suzanne as
> general administrator, so that things can move forward in a serious way.
> Additionally, it would be very attractive if we could find some way to
> financially compensate the community's hard-working volunteers.
I'm curious as to actual goals. Clearly the target covers basic Lugnet costs
such as ISP billing. How much beyond that does it need to go before it's
deemable as a worthwhile "full time" job? How many jobs does it need to
create, and how many "part time" jobs does it need to create, if any?
Also for consideration is taxes. If LUGNET is considered a business entity,
I assume it will owe taxes in its profits, as well as anyone paid *by* such
an entity as an administrator? How much does that raise the bar?
> LUGNET's Membership system has worked well -- and continues to work well --
> in keeping LUGNET alive at a basic subsistence level; getting the ISP bills
> paid is no problem. But the Membership system isn't a model that supports
> a full-time administrative position -- not without there being significantly
> larger numbers of adult fans out there.
Doing a quick check on monthly membership it looks like for the past year or
so, there have been a more-or-less steady stream of about 45 members per
month, so about $450 monthly, or about $5400 annually. That's peanuts
considering the expected costs (though about enough to cover ISP bills I
would assume)
> So we need to get creative.
>
> And we invite you to offer your thoughts.
So. A couple options. The money can come from the community, and it can also
come from 'major' sponsors.
===Money from the community===
1) Increase membership rates - This isn't helping much. I'm assuming we're
looking for ballpark $30K-$60K minimum annually, which (at current
membership rate) would require a $55-$110 membership fee. But that would
severely decrease the number of people signing up I'd bet.
2) Make membership a yearly thing, IE $x per year buys you membership for
that year. Of course assuming everyone would stay a member (doubt it),
that'd still require a $20-$40 yearly membership fee (and assuming no other
income sources). Realistically I'd estimate about $10K from this with a $10
annual fee.
3) Additional pay-services for members - I'd be tempted to divy out the
membership abilities into "silver","gold","platinum",etc memberships. And of
course each stage of membership costs more. Something along the lines of:
- Silver: can rate posts, rate sets, have their member information displayed
- Gold: can maintain set lists, comment on sets (plus silver abilities)
- Platinum: can maintain FTX pages, maybe have a Lugnet email address, or
whatever (plus gold abiliites).
This would entail some code changes, of course.
4) General pay-services (IE you don't have to be a member):
- current sale prices for sets on various websites (Lego, TRU, Amazon, etc)
- actual web-hosting for Lego-related pages
- Lugnet paraphanelia (stickers, cards, shirts, bags, Lego-bins, etc)
===Money from Sponsors===
1) Ad banners. Ick. Hack. Cough. Maybe only in market groups or something.
Hack. Gag.
2) Back to the http://guide.lugnet.com/shop/idea-- have vendors maintain
their own lists and ads for a fee. Which also invites Lugnet members to add
their bricklink shops to the list if they so feel like it. This would
definitely require some new coding.
3) Get Lego to donate :) [Lego: "Ick. Hack. Cough."]
Anyway, ideas.
DaveE
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: New newsgroup lugnet.admin.finance
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| You offered some really great constructive points Dave! All have merit but some seem more advantageous than others. (...) Not so “ickey” if an individual branch or sector were to take special interest! Donations needn’t necessarily have to be (...) (23 years ago, 4-Apr-02, to lugnet.admin.finance)
| | | Re: New newsgroup lugnet.admin.finance
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| (...) If I understand things correctly, LUGNET can be a small C corporation and all business expenses come out of all income and the difference only is taxed. If a cost to the business is paying for the vehicles and computers of the CEO and (...) (23 years ago, 9-Apr-02, to lugnet.admin.finance)
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