Baywind Farm Annual Fund Drive

[WashingtonBay]

Hello everyone! Our first annual Annual Fundraiser is beginning!

As discussed here (http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11354) we have decided to have a little fundraiser to help pay for forum operations and an upgrade in service for the year to come!

What we're planning is a move to an upgraded service at a new host that specializes in hosting vBulletin forums. As discussed in the prior thread linked above, the total cost for a year contract with them is $950. This year's license for the software will be $40. We estimate advertising revenue, t-shirt sales and our own contribution to the cost will cover about $400 of that, and we are asking the forum to cover the remaining $600. Our little test poll in the last thread told us this is feasible! Let's see!

Hubby has installed a little paypal donation module thingy that you'll be seeing come up in few minutes on the homepage, that should make donating via paypal really easy*.

*Note though, you should ideally make the donation through logging in to your paypal account when it prompts you, and paying with the funds in your account, instead of using a credit card, as there is a transaction fee for using a credit card that will cut into the amount we actually get. (Correct us on that if we're wrong.)

If you would like to donate, but can't use paypal, then PM one of us, we'll work something else out!

And remember, donations are completely voluntary, optional, and the amount is confidential. We understand not everyone can or even wants to donate, money's tight and there's a lot of demands for it. We don't expect donations, we just appreciate those who can offer them!

Those who do donate will get a little gold star for the year, just to show our appreciation for your investment in our little forum. Thank you all for making this a great place to be. :cheers:

[WashingtonBoy]

By the way, if you need to wait for a payday before donating, that is fine. We have a week or two before we need to move on to the next step.

[Jump The Moon]

Thank you to everyone donating and helping out with this!
WB's, again, I am so sorry I can't :( I wish I could, I feel so guilty when other's are emptying their pockets :(

[WashingtonBay]

Oh dear I hope no one really empties their pockets... there's horses to feed!


JTM - please don't feel bad! Really... It's OK! Let others cover this one, and maybe some other time you'll be the one that can help with something when they can't. :)

[vicklynn]

If whom ever donates gets a gold star, wont that show they paid something.
Might make someone who didnt donate feel less. I dont know, just a thought.

[WashingtonBay]

The intent is not to make those who don't donate feel bad. The intent is to recognize those who do :)

They don't get anything but our thanks and a star to show for it. Everyone is just as much a member.

I don't even think hubby and I get them... unless he puts some money in the paypal. ;)

[WashingtonBoy]

Once we get moved, there some add-ons that I've been holding off on installing due to the server issues. And hopefully the moods add-on will work better on the new server, so we can bring that back.

[PoniesRock101]

As JTM said, I wish I could help too. At the moment I'm broke though :(

[WashingtonBay]

No problem at all, PR... OK? :)

[allie0]

I'm gonna ask my dad :D It mightnt be much, but it'd help :D

[vicklynn]

Im slow. Heck, I didnt even know the other thread existed until you posted this thread.
My question is, and as I said Im slow, where is the pay pal link?

[Toodlestoo]

Count me in. I think it's a great idea. I have learned so much here and made so many friends--it's certainly worth a few dollars to keep it going.

[WashingtonBay]

Thanks.... Everyone! :) Vicklynn - out on the main forum page, where the progress bar is, there's a link that says Donate :)

[vicklynn]

TY WB.

[TheBadLands]

I can paypal on Thurs.... dumb ebay rules. They have my funds on paypal on hold until the reciever gets the item. It used to be until you produced a track #.... I dont even have negative feedback /rant

But yes...when paypal gets their bloody paws off my funds I'll donate :p

[vicklynn]

Wohoo, over 50% of the way.....go go go

[WashingtonBay]

Yeah - halfway already - we were thinkin' it might take a week or two :)

Thanks everyone!

Thanks Badlands... we'll be here when you can do it. :)

[valleyrider]

I do not have paypal:( and would like to donate. I just started a part time job 4 weeks ago, so I don't have a lot of $$$ but would like to help.

[WashingtonBay]

VR - If you'd like we can PM you our address if you'd like to mail a check. :)

[offgridgirl]

hey....where's the Can $ button??? LOL
Hubby has the paypal account on his puter...He will sign in and donate......
cuz I said so:huh:!!!;)

[WashingtonBay]

Oh - there's a "Donate Now" link on the forum main page, next to the progress bar. :)

[WashingtonBoy]

hey....where's the Can $ button??? LOL
Hubby has the paypal account on his puter...He will sign in and donate......
cuz I said so:huh:!!!;)

Oh - there's a "Donate Now" link on the forum main page, next to the progress bar. :)

My wife didn't understand what you meant by Can $. ;)

Our Paypal module only allows us to select one currency, sorry. :) I think there's a way to do a conversion within Paypal somehow.

[WashingtonBay]

D'oh - that one went right over my head :)

Good thing hubby's taller :D

[star197]

WB - so if it was taken out of my Paypal balance, or directly from my checking account, then there is no additional fee taken off?

[Dakota Sunrise]

I'll be cashing my paycheck Monday so I'll be sending a little money you guys' way soon.:) I actually get to pocket some of it this time!:clap: That is very exciting news for me considering my last two paychecks were spent before I even received them, and I never even actually laid eyes on them:rolleyes: (I work for my mom at her store, so when I'm in debt she just doesn't give me my check because there's no point). But with this week's paycheck I can pay off the last of my debts, and actually have a tiny bit left over for me, and you guys.;) So yay!:D :p

[WashingtonBay]

Well, we're learning as we go how the paypal thing works, I guess there is a little transaction fee taken out for all of them, but we think it's less if it's through paypal account and not a credit card. Are there folks that do a LOT of paypal business who can elaborate?

[WashingtonBay]

Good deal Dakota. - thanks! :)

[PoniesRock101]

No problem at all, PR... OK? :)

OK! :)

[JackieB]

I made a contribution. I owe some more to get to the $20 I promised. I have to add some money to my PayPal account and then make another one.

[Petra]

As far as I know Pay pal has a charge of 2.9% + $0.30 USD for every transaction.

[vicklynn]

I have no clue how mine works. My paypal pays out of my checking account. But if I recieve a payment, they take away, but I have no clue where that money is coming from initially.

[WashingtonBay]

As far as I know Pay pal has a charge of 2.9% + $0.30 USD for every transaction.

Thanks... That appears to be so... I've paid money through it before, but only very rarely received through it!


Thanks everyone for the donations that came in overnight, we just confirmed them :)

[oursarge]

I think no matter how it comes out they take a fee but I'm not sure. They changed things so much. I used to sell on e-bay and I'd ask people to pay with either their PayPal Balance or Checking Acount [I paid you from checking] because that used to be free. Next thing I knew the listings were pulled and when I asked I was told I could not ask people to take from their accounts to save me the fees that if I wanted to sell I had to have a business account and that wasn't going to happen since I would only sell about once a year. I have heard from other people that they take fees from everything now but I'm not sure if tha's right since I haven't used them to get money just send money. I am waiting for them to start charging the buyers a fee for the ease of paying with PayPal!!!!!

Hope you make your goal, I haven't checked to see how far you've gotten.

[peace_baby]

I donated! :clap:

[Equine_Woman]

Sent some your way!!!!! Glad to be able to donate!!! You guys do a great job here!

[WashingtonBay]

Thank you very much! We're getting close now, and the weekend's not even up yet.

We sure appreciate all the support. :)

[cheval]

Cool!!!

I get paid on the 25th so I will add my contribution.

[OffGridGuy]

Can I ask which hosting services you have explored ?

When you say upgraded service, what are they offering ?
Dedicated Server ? Dedicated VM ?

(I'll go click the donate button)

[WashingtonBoy]

Can I ask which hosting services you have explored ?

When you say upgraded service, what are they offering ?
Dedicated Server ? Dedicated VM ?

(I'll go click the donate button)

We are currently hosted on a VPS with root access, but with shared hosting-like resources. Our server load is at a minimum of 5-7 and is frequently in the 10-25+ range, when it should generally stay in the 0.xx range. I've tried to get some help from the support staff, but they haven't been able to say much more than "You need to decrease your CPU usage."

Our host does not offer much in the way of further upgrade except for jumping to fully dedicated hosting for about $175/month. We shouldn't need a dedicated server until we are regularly getting many hundreds of users at a time.

For our current visitor load of up to 50 users at a time, the recommended amount of RAM is 512MB, so I used that as a basis for price comparing various VPS services. Disk space and bandwidth are not really an issue at this time, we currently use about 3 GB space and 35 GB bandwidth. But it's the RAM and CPU usage that are causing problems with our current hosting, and that is what I wanted to make sure got upgraded.

URLJet, GlobalGold, InMotion, and HostGator are the main ones I checked out due to their positive reviews from other vBulletin forum admins. I settled on URLJet due to their feature set, future upgrade path, 24/7 support, and the fact that they specialize in hosting and supporting vBulletin forums. I looked at quite a few forums that are hosted by them, and all were blazing fast.

[lovesfortune]

will hopefully be able to donate later this week! awesome job at showing support guys! can't believe that much has been raised already!!!

[Petra]

I think no matter how it comes out they take a fee but I'm not sure. They changed things so much. I used to sell on e-bay and I'd ask people to pay with either their PayPal Balance or Checking Acount [I paid you from checking] because that used to be free. Next thing I knew the listings were pulled and when I asked I was told I could not ask people to take from their accounts to save me the fees that if I wanted to sell I had to have a business account and that wasn't going to happen since I would only sell about once a year. I have heard from other people that they take fees from everything now but I'm not sure if tha's right since I haven't used them to get money just send money. I am waiting for them to start charging the buyers a fee for the ease of paying with PayPal!!!!!

Hope you make your goal, I haven't checked to see how far you've gotten.

I went back and read up on it. You are right if it's business transaction it's never free. But it is possible to transfer money without the charge. There is no way to do it by clicking on a link from another site. It has to be done from a pay pal account. If the money is sent as personal transaction it is free.

[palomino]

All done! add a little more to the goal!!

[pandorasmom]

Sorry I've not donated or been here yet, just now getting back from out of town.

I added a bit there too, I had a few bucks in my paypal and went ahead and gave what I could that was left of it. hehe :p If I can get more in there I'll donate more.

[star197]

Well...even though the fees are being taken out it looks like the goal is going to be reached by this weekend!!!

[WashingtonBay]

I think you're right we'll reach the goal in no time... although, that is the rough estimate based on the amount selected to donate, not the actual amount that shows up in paypal after the fees. We are going to go through and adjust it now so that it is more accurate.

[Dakota Sunrise]

So if you reach your goal does the fund drive end? Because I won't be able to donate until Tuesday or so but at the rate it's going you'll have reached the goal before then!

[peace_baby]

I just got a second message that said I donated $19? :huh:

[WashingtonBoy]

I just got a second message that said I donated $19? :huh:Aw geez, I edited some of the amounts to adjust for Paypal's fees, I didn't know it would PM you again. Sorry about that.

[WashingtonBay]

Well, the goal is not a limit, really, Dakota.... I mean, the $600 goal only partly covers the total of $1000, the rest of which we hoped to be covered by the expected ad revenue to come throughout the year. In other words, if the fundraiser runs over, it will just be less out of the upfront money we have to pay now, that we might make back later.

And anything extra that we make, we're also looking at buying some additional feature modules for the forum, like better photo albums and such.

So... I'd say it's up to you.... we'll probably close the fundraiser when we reach the goal, but there may be other donations still in transit that will also be applied to the forum. :)

[WashingtonBay]

Yeah - everyone.... we just went in and fixed the amounts to reflect the fees, and we didn't realize that would trigger another PM to all of you.

Sorry about that!

[peace_baby]

Ohhh ok. :) S'all good.

[Vibe]

Man, I feel bad. I wish I could donate but I don't have a paypal account or anything like that.

[vicklynn]

Aw, well ignore my PM to you then...cause I got a 2nd PM too.

[WashingtonBay]

Don't feel bad vibe... really! :)

And gotcha Vicklynn.... sorry about the double PM :)

We'll get this stuff figured out yet! :)

[cheval]

WB - looks like you are going to hit your goal before Tuesday - can you please keep it up on the front page until I have a chance to send some money? Even if it's over, I'm sure you guys can use it for the next year or whatever.

[WashingtonBay]

We can - anything extra, we'll use to buy new forum toys... :)

We're really impressed and appreciative that everyone pitched in so FAST :)


Thanks everyone.

[cheval]

Didn't I tell you they would?!!!!

[WashingtonBay]

You did say so! :D

And really, we'll leave the donate thingy up if you want... we aren't exactly ~over~ yet, we just picked $600 as the amount we'd ask for, and we'd cover the rest from ads. I wonder if we could propose if we keep going and pay the whole thing, we could get rid of all the ads, or maybe even only display them to visitors that aren't logged in.

[cheval]

I think it wouldn't hurt. Keep it up and let people continue that haven't had the chance yet. I'm all for no ads to be honest.

[JackieB]

I would just leave it up permanently.

I just made a transfer from checking to PayPal. That takes a couple of days, and then I'll finish of the rest of my promised donation.

Thanks for providing us with such an awesome forum!

[42many]

At least leave it up a week or two to give people a chance to feel helpful :)

The ads really don't bother me, honestly - I don't even notice them! So, maybe using extra money to pump up features or just to keep from having to pay more from your own pocket?

I was so surprised to see the actual person name - it's almost like I thought your REAL name was WB!! Honest, I'm smarter than that! :)

[WashingtonBay]

LOL - Funny thing is, when we get together at forum gatherings, and people would still rather use screen names.