5 replies to this topic

[Helene]

We share a server and email with Ballet Talk for Dancers, and each year we have a fundraising campaign to raise the money to pay for our server, software modules, email, and the ballettalk.com domain.  We are hoping that you'll show your support for the sites by donating for the upcoming year's expenses that aren't covered by the amazon.com commissions from your purchases through the sites.  All funds go towards the maintenance of the site; the only operations expenses are the PayPal service fees.

Our suggested contribution is $15, but any amount is appreciated.  (We really mean that.)  

There are a couple of ways to donate:

1.  Suggested contribution or any amount, from our "Support Us" page:

http://www.ballettal...m/supportus.htm

There are instructions on the page, and a PayPal "payments" button.

Because we don't have a business license, we can't deposit checks made out to "Ballet Talk" and "Ballet Talk for Dancers into personal accounts.  If you want to pay by check instead of PayPal, the check must be made payable to me (Helene Kaplan) or Victoria Leigh; Ballet Talk or Ballet Talk for Dancers may be added to the "Memo" field.  The address to which to send checks is on the "Support Us" page.


2.  Suggested contribution by PayPal only:

We are running an experiment on Ballet Talk.  If you click the "My Controls" link, the first link under "Options" is "Donate to Ballet Talk."  The pages are straightforward, but just as a heads up to our non-US Dollars customers:  I haven't been able to figure out how to disable the other currency options, but the site will  convert to US Dollars before you are navigated to PayPal, using a fixed, out-dated conversion rate.

If you use this option, your Login Name is automatically logged, and you can reference it any time in "My Controls."


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This year, we ask that you write your BT or BT4D Login Name on your check or enter it in the designated input box on the PayPal Confirm Page (second of two).  This is one time you can't be anonymous   

As in the past, we'll close the fundraiser as soon as we can cover the next year's expenses.

Thank you!

[Alexandra]

Please heed this plea   I can testify from personal experience that, although this site is free to you, it is not free to the person who has to pay the bills, and the costs of running this board has far exceeded the ability of any one person to bear.  We are on a dedicated server now, because of the high traffic and bandwidth, and that costs Big Bucks!

I can also say from personal experience that participation by members of this forum in last year's fundraiser was very disappointing.  We had several people who made very generous contributions, and then silence from the others.  On our sister board, there's a broad range of contributions.  We'd rather see 20 people give $5 than one person give $100.  (At least, I would. I shouldn't be speaking for others, and I don't mean to imply that I am not blitheringly grateful to our $100 contributors!)

GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE

NOW

please and thank you

[dcportrait]

Is the suggested contribution $ 15 for EACH site, or for the both?
           dcportrait

[Alexandra]

I'd suggest making a donation to both sites if you use both sites.  If you use both and $15 times two is a stretch, then give $7.50 to each

[Helene]

We've reached the halfway point of our 2006 Fundraiser.  Our costs have doubled since last year, so we need to raise twice as much to keep the boards running.  We aim to raise exact costs.  We were lucky that last year there were a large number of checks that came in after we closed the Fundraiser and that our amazon commissions exceeded our estimates, which is what subsidized the additional costs from March to September.  

This does not mean you if:

a.  You've already contributed

b.  You've bought your DVD's (CD's, books) from our amazon.com link and support us that way.  

amazon.com gives us a list of what is purchased but not by whom, so we can't thank you personally, but we do appreciate your ongoing support for the site.

c.  You gave us invaluable tech assistance for the site (tylerls )

[Helene]

I want to thank everyone who donated to our annual fundraising campaign.  Between the two boards, we've raised enough to cover our costs to the summer, and the amazon.com commissions should cover the rest until next fall.

There's just one piece of housekeeping:  before I deposited the checks, I wrote each donor's board name on the envelope.   Or so I thought.  I missed one .  If there's someone who donated by check and did not receive an email or PM to thank you, and your location is west of the Rockies, I'd appreciate it if you'd PM me or email us through the "Contact Us" link above.

And thank you, too, to everyone who purchases through this site's amazon.com links -- the BT Amazon Mini-Store and the search box next to the BT logo.  There were enough purchases from July through September to bump our percentage up a notch, which helped a lot.