MFG 5.1 Anime & Manga Forums - View Single Post - |Discuss| Fund raising ideas?

**Ace** · 09-13-2007

As you may know from several other topics on this subject, unfortunately the MFG forums are a long way from being financially self-sufficient. The founders have been covering the costs of their own pockets for a long time, and it's getting to the point where we're not sure we should continue. There have been a few members who have made contributions -- which have been very helpful -- but unfortunately they aren't enough for the long-term. We went through a similar process in the MFG 3.0 days, but never managed to come up with a system that interested more than a few people.

In this thread, I'd like to ask for some help in brainstorming some ideas of ways to raise money to help keep the forum alive for the long term. What are some things that you would be willing to pay for? Both one-time payments and regular subscriptions would be useful. The dollar amounts don't have to be large -- if there was something that lots of people would be willing to each pay a small amount for, that would be great too.

Here are some ideas to get things going:

Gold membership, on a subscription basis -- what benefits should it have to be useful (things like no advertising)?
One-time contributions specifically aimed at supporting a move from CS back to Invision
Pay-for-service items -- like paying a fee to have a custom rank or adding a graphic under your avatar
Feature development -- contribute to a pool that would fund the development of new features
Auctions -- contribute one or more interesting items to the forum, where they would be auctioned-off (I would be happy to get the process going by contributing some cool stuff). We would need both contributors and bidders to make this work.
Contests -- after a minimum number of contestants make a committment to join, an entrance fee would be paid. Judging of some kind would then be done of the items entered, and the results would be published, titles awarded, etc. The prize for the winner might also include an item contributed by a member (again, I would be happy to contribute something cool to get this going).
RPG stuff -- pay for certain items that can be used in the RPG section
Forum Amazon store -- buy items from Amazon after clicking on a link on the forum. It doesn't cost you any more, and the forum earns a few percent on your purchases.

I would appreciate hearing your comments on those ideas, as well as any other ideas you might have. How much would you be willing to pay, or would you be willing to contribute items for auctions or contests? Do you think other people would also be interested?

09-13-2007	#1 (permalink)
Ace Administrator Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Kami's Lookout Posts: 1,423 Rep Power: 200	Fund raising ideas? As you may know from several other topics on this subject, unfortunately the MFG forums are a long way from being financially self-sufficient. The founders have been covering the costs of their own pockets for a long time, and it's getting to the point where we're not sure we should continue. There have been a few members who have made contributions -- which have been very helpful -- but unfortunately they aren't enough for the long-term. We went through a similar process in the MFG 3.0 days, but never managed to come up with a system that interested more than a few people. In this thread, I'd like to ask for some help in brainstorming some ideas of ways to raise money to help keep the forum alive for the long term. What are some things that you would be willing to pay for? Both one-time payments and regular subscriptions would be useful. The dollar amounts don't have to be large -- if there was something that lots of people would be willing to each pay a small amount for, that would be great too. Here are some ideas to get things going: Gold membership, on a subscription basis -- what benefits should it have to be useful (things like no advertising)? One-time contributions specifically aimed at supporting a move from CS back to Invision Pay-for-service items -- like paying a fee to have a custom rank or adding a graphic under your avatar Feature development -- contribute to a pool that would fund the development of new features Auctions -- contribute one or more interesting items to the forum, where they would be auctioned-off (I would be happy to get the process going by contributing some cool stuff). We would need both contributors and bidders to make this work. Contests -- after a minimum number of contestants make a committment to join, an entrance fee would be paid. Judging of some kind would then be done of the items entered, and the results would be published, titles awarded, etc. The prize for the winner might also include an item contributed by a member (again, I would be happy to contribute something cool to get this going). RPG stuff -- pay for certain items that can be used in the RPG section Forum Amazon store -- buy items from Amazon after clicking on a link on the forum. It doesn't cost you any more, and the forum earns a few percent on your purchases. I would appreciate hearing your comments on those ideas, as well as any other ideas you might have. How much would you be willing to pay, or would you be willing to contribute items for auctions or contests? Do you think other people would also be interested? Last edited by Punxx; 06-15-2008 at 06:16 AM.