|
|
| Author |
Message |
janc
|
|
Fundraising Idea
| 
Oct 13 17:08 UTC 1996 |
Here's a notion that was being talked about on TCFN, that I thought might be
a deal that it would be possible to make with some local ISP:
Strawman Plan:
When a person purchases a Grex membership, we give them a coupon
redeamable for a month's free usage of some ISP.
Grex Gains:
A "membership perk" that doesn't require us to limit non-members. That
is, instead of getting more members by giving less to non-members, we
give more to members. Administratively this is very simple.
ISP Gains:
The ISP donates the coupons. In the narrow sense, this gets them
some advertizing, and there is a fair chance that after the free month
some of the people will become paying users of the ISP. Likely they
can write the coupons off on their taxes.
More broadly, the ISP benefits by supporting Grex because Grex is an
important destination on the internet for local users. Thus, the better
Grex does, the more people around Ann Arbor will be wanting to use ISPs,
so this helps grow the market.
I haven't tried talking about this to any ISPs, but I think that this sort
of plan might be a good pattern for directions to look in fundraising for
Grex.
|
| 16 responses total. |
robh
|
|
response 1 of 16:
|
Oct 13 17:21 UTC 1996 |
Sounds very good! But what's a TCFN?
|
ajax
|
|
response 2 of 16:
|
Oct 13 20:32 UTC 1996 |
Sounds like a great idea to me! It hinges on getting an ISP to
offer the coupons, but some ISP might go for it (I'd give IC-Net
first crack at it, given our longstanding relationship).
I don't know if they can write it off on their taxes; that would
be easier donating to a 501(c)3 corporation. But the idea might
stand on its own as an advertising gimmick. If the coupons are only
given to annual Grex members, that qualifies the users as people
with some expendable income and a long-term interest in computers.
One reason an ISP might not like this deal is that it can be a
hassle getting users set up on an ISP. Many charge an initial setup
fee because of that. A customer's first month, while getting things
configured, usually accounts for most of their tech support calls.
|
bjorn
|
|
response 3 of 16:
|
Oct 13 21:24 UTC 1996 |
I like it as well. And it stays cruncy in milk.
|
scg
|
|
response 4 of 16:
|
Oct 13 22:07 UTC 1996 |
It sounds like a neat idea.
The ISP probably couldn't write it off on their taxes as a chairatable
donation, but they would probably be able to write it off as an advertizing
expense.
|
dang
|
|
response 5 of 16:
|
Oct 14 01:13 UTC 1996 |
I like it too.
|
srw
|
|
response 6 of 16:
|
Oct 14 02:27 UTC 1996 |
TCFN is the Twin Cities Free-Net (Minneapolis- St. Paul,
Minnesota) http://www.freenet.msp.mn.us/
*** Beware, http://www.tcfn.org/ is the Tri-Cities free-net.
Wrong number of cities.
I like this kind of promotion, too, but it has a limitation. For
those who are from out of the coverage area of a local ISP, it is
pretty worthless. Can we offer an alternate package? I can't
think of anything, offhand. Most of our supporters are local, but
I don't want to leave a sour taste in the mouths of the distance
users who might become members.
TCFN doesn't have this problem.
|
ladyevil
|
|
response 7 of 16:
|
Oct 14 03:46 UTC 1996 |
Does it have artificial colors or flavors? How about saturated fat?
Animal by-products?
If not, then, sure..
|
rcurl
|
|
response 8 of 16:
|
Oct 14 07:46 UTC 1996 |
I see no legal problem with it. It is a specialized "rebate" on member
dues, which we hope will be supported by the donation of a service by an
ISP. It would certainly be deductible by the ISP *if* Grex were a 501(c)3
non-profit - which it isn't.
|
tsty
|
|
response 9 of 16:
|
Oct 17 13:04 UTC 1996 |
excellent idea janc ... let the ISP do its own thing withthe tax
stuff however.
and, yes, we oughtto approach ICnet on this. theyhave been an excellent
resource and we can assist in return.
|
ajax
|
|
response 10 of 16:
|
Oct 17 13:41 UTC 1996 |
It occurred to me that GNN offers a free month's service. They're the
ISP run by AOL, and use a similar introductory approach as with their AOL
service. They give out free disks with Internet access software, and when
you sign up, you give a credit card number. If you use it for a month or
less, the service is free, and if you decide to continue using the service,
they start billing the credit card. (Not as convenient as an ISP that
wouldn't require a CC#, but it makes business sense).
|
tsty
|
|
response 11 of 16:
|
Oct 18 08:31 UTC 1996 |
does it take borg action of any sort to make the approach?
|
rickyb
|
|
response 12 of 16:
|
Oct 18 16:01 UTC 1996 |
I like this idea too. but it seem to me it hinges on an ISP recognizing the
value of grex as an entity on the internet.
|
tsty
|
|
response 13 of 16:
|
Oct 18 19:43 UTC 1996 |
<<maybe, just maybe, some ISP in India might want to consider suporting
it's users who *have* to use grex by supporting grex directly on behalf
of its local users???????>>
|
z0mbie
|
|
response 14 of 16:
|
Oct 19 17:48 UTC 1996 |
That sounds like a really good idea.
Dolphin safe?
|
tsty
|
|
response 15 of 16:
|
Nov 8 09:36 UTC 1996 |
maybe the idea is percolating somewhere ...
|
nephi
|
|
response 16 of 16:
|
Nov 17 00:46 UTC 1996 |
I think that if a local BBS approached us with an idea like this
that my company would leap at the opportunity. I'd estimate that
at least 90% of customers keep their accounts for at least two
months, after going through the trouble of getting it all set up.
This is a very good deal for an ISP, and I'm close to certain
that we could easily find an ISP that would partake in such an
advertising venture.
|