Brief feedback :) Pledgebank is good for publicity and a sense of action but it can be tricky to then move the people across to paypal / BACS. Or at least that's been tricky with ORG, so maybe worth some thought to getting people signed up to a payment mechanism at the same time.
Also, £5 per month is modest and some will be willing to give more. Indeed the aim of 100 supporters seems modest too. On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Rufus Pollock <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear All, > > We've been planning a "supporters drive" to raise funds for a while > and now with our fifth anniversary at the end of this month it's time > to launch! > > I've prepared a draft text for an email (below) and it would be great > to get some feedback before it goes out officially next week so please > let me know what you think. > > Regards, > > Rufus > > PS: people are more than welcome to sign up to the pledge in advance! > > > ## Supporters Email > > Subject: Please consider supporting the Open Knowledge Foundation > > This month the Open Knowledge Foundation is five years old. Over those > last five years we've done much to promote open access to information > -- from sonnets to stats, genes to geodata -- not only in the form of > specific projects like Open Shakespeare and Public Domain Works but > also in the creation of tools such as KnowledgeForge and Comprehensive > Knowledge Archive Network, standards such as the Open Knowledge > Definition, and events such as OKCon, designed to benefit the wider > open knowledge community. > > While we have achieved a lot, we believe we can do much, much more. We > are therefore reaching out to our community and asking you to help us > take our vision further. > > Our aim: to have at least a 100 supporters committed to making > regular, ongoing donations of £5 (EUR 6, $7.50) or more a month. > > These funds will be essential in expanding and sustaining our work by > allowing us to invest in infrastructure and employ modest central > support. To pledge yourself as one of those supporters all you need to > do is take 30 seconds to sign up to our "100 supporters" pledge at: > > <http://www.pledgebank.org/support-okfn/> > > We will always be a not-for-profit organisation, built on the work of > passionate volunteers. But with these additional funds, we believe we > can make our efforts go much, much further. Please consider becoming a > supporter and sign up to our pledge. > > Regards, > > Rufus Pollock > Board Member, Open Knowledge Foundation > > > > ### What will the money be used for? > > These funds will be essential in expanding and sustaining our work by: > > 1. Allowing us to employ modest central support to: > * Co-ordinate voluntary work > * Apply for substantial grant funding for specific projects > * Put on special events > 2. Allowing us to upgrade and maintain our technical infrastructure > (servers etc) > > > ### What have you achieved over the last 5 years? > > Among other things: we've started projects that have allowed > Shakespeare and Milton to enjoy a rebirth in the digital public > domain, begun the huge task of cataloging public domain sound > recordings, and opened a raft of economic and historical material. > > We've also developed tools, standards and events which have benefited > the wider open knowledge community: Knowledgeforge stores the > parliamentary data for theyworkforyou and publicwhip, the Open > Knowledge Definition provides a standard for what "openness" is, Open > Data Commons is developing the data license to be used by Open Street > Map, and our workshops and annual Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon) > bring together individuals and organizations from across the open > knowledge spectrum. > > More information can be found in: > > * <http://www.okfn.org/projects/> > * <http://www.okfn.org/events/> > > And in our annual reports available from: <http://www.okfn.org/board/> > > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > -- Michael Holloway Operations Manager, Open Rights Group Phone: +44 (0) 20 7096 1079 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/openrightsgroup Web: http://www.openrightsgroup.org Fax: +44 (0) 20 7070 7011 Office: 7th floor, 100 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8AL, UK _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
