Wikipedia-Like Donation Drives

[Shawn Gossman]

Wikipedia has been ad-free for a long time.

They do that by doing donation drives. They'll usually do multiple ones each year.

If enough contributors and users donate to them, there is no reason to ever host an ad of any kind. People who are loyal to that platform will typically donate again and again.

I feel like the same thing could be true for a forum.

If you focus on developing an actual community of loyal people on your forum, you could ask for donations to keep you afloat.

How do you all feel about this concept for a forum?

 

[Fergal]

I donate $2 every month to Wikipedia and have done so for years. It's not much and I feel I get value from the site. However, I do use Wikipedia less, now that I use Chat GPT to get answers to questions.

I think this is a great idea for forums, I don't ask for donations on ForumCoin, but maybe it is something we could do in the future.

 

[Katrina]

Wikipedia has been ad-free for a long time.

They do that by doing donation drives. They'll usually do multiple ones each year.

If enough contributors and users donate to them, there is no reason to ever host an ad of any kind. People who are loyal to that platform will typically donate again and again.

I feel like the same thing could be true for a forum.

If you focus on developing an actual community of loyal people on your forum, you could ask for donations to keep you afloat.

How do you all feel about this concept for a forum?

There are some forums that constantly beg for donations and it gets annoying. That's why on Christianity Haven we chose to just have a donation button and not make a big deal out of it. People don't want to feel guilted into supporting something, but if there is an opportunity, they can do so freely.

 

[fdk1971]

I get really annoyed by any website that constantly "pushes" the request for donations. Sure, ask once, but don't then repeatedly ask me everytime I visit your site in the future.

I've made donations to a few websites in the past, and one thing that has always put me off is the amount of email received after a donation essentially begging for another. Most of these will have an unsubscribe feature or something, but I just feel like if I was good enough to donate to your website in the first place, please don't incessantly contact me requesting more. 😛

 

[Fergal]

That's why on Christianity Haven we chose to just have a donation button and not make a big deal out of it.

Sounds good Katrina, how is that working out? Are members donating much?

 

[Katrina]

Sounds good Katrina, how is that working out? Are members donating much?

We got some donations at first and people actually asked us if they could donate. Times are harder because of the former President and his administration, so there isn't as much money for people to spend on things. We have a lot of older people on the site and when prices go up, their social security is limited.

 

[Matthew]

I’m not a big donator. Wikipedia would have more sympathy with the level of use I get out of them. However, I can’t foresee donating to a forum unless a service is being provided I use frequently and feel like I would rather just have the service be paid at that point.

 

[zappaDPJ]

Like @Fergal I also donate to Wikipedia because I use it almost everyday.

I have asked for forum donations in the past and I've been blown away by the generosity of some of the members. On more than one occasion I've had donations large enough to cover all the forum costs for well over a year.

 

[Felly]

I think the big issue I have with Wikipedia is I feel like they try to shove it down my throat when they ask. Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of donations, but I don't want to feel... pushed? Begged? for a donation either. I feel like when Wikipedia asks, it's just constant any time I click on anything, and it's annoying. I generally don't donate to online sites or communities in general (I think I have maybe once or twice in the many years I've been online), but if it's being almost forced onto me, I'm less likely to consider doing so.

We do donation drives at my work, and we all have to ask our customers every time if they want to donate. If I get told no, I leave it at that, even if they come back through the line. I wouldn't want to be asked multiple times if I want to donate once I've already declined, so I wouldn't do it to someone else. (I guess, in my case, that's a little counterproductive because we also have pin pad donations that automatically pop up for all credit/debit transactions, but I usually tell people they can decline that if they want to and I have no control on it popping up when we do donation drives.)

All of that said, I don't mind if forums do it as long as they're not overbearing about it since I understand the costs of running a forum can be high. I've been on many sites where they have a button for it or it'll be mentioned here and there in announcements, and that's fine with me because I can choose to ignore it or decline. If you're going to be pushy about it, then it just turns me off from wanting to be generous.

 

[Nomad]

When I launched my first blog, I added a donation link and promoted my blog among friends and family. I received enough money to run my blog for a few years. I don't do it these days

 

[Ravenfreak]

As much as I enjoy using Wikipedia, it gets annoying when they ask for donations. You have to scroll past them begging for money. So I personally wouldn't be happy if this happened when I was browsing a forum. It's great people donate to sites like Wikipedia and even forums, but when it's right in my face it's annoying.

 

[Cam]

I've ran forums where we've sold premium subscriptions and different types of paid sponsorships, but I don't believe we've ever just asked for donations straight up. That's something you may find success doing when you've created a project from the ground up, but it isn't totally logical to come in asking for donations when you purchased the project yourself.

 

[CodyCool]

Yes they do and it is so annoying!

 

[DaniWeb]

I've run donation drives via our monthly newsletter years ago to luke warm success. Likely because I was asking for money via email when DaniWeb was not actively providing a tangible benefit to the user at the time. We have more success when "upselling" members when the post e.g. https://www.daniweb.com/community/contribute (look at the last step)

 

[Page]

I never donated to them, I mean, I see it more often than before nowadays.