Thursday, January 01, 2015

Another New Year Resolution

A sort of golden age is coming to an end at the Center for a Stateless Society.

In the "old days," those of us who work with C4SS were paid according to a fee schedule that was pro-rated to match revenues. For example, if the work someone did was, per the fee schedule, worth $100, but the Center only took in 60% of the amount necessary to pay everyone, the $100 writer received $60. Nothing wrong with that: We all knew up front that that was how things worked.

Then came a substantial Bitcoin donation that changed everything (you can read about it on this blog and elsewhere; by way of minimal description, a gentleman who had treated us wrongly -- with threatened litigation and that sort of thing -- had a sudden change of heart and decided to support us in a big way instead). For quite some time now, everyone working at C4SS has received his or her pay "in full." Nothing wrong with that, either.

But that substantial and much-appreciated donation has, over time, been drawn down because subsequent revenues have not kept up with expenses. And for the third time, nothing wrong with that per se ... but naturally we'd rather not go back to the lower pay.

So, here's the thing. If you're a regular reader here at KN@PPSTER, you've noticed the Patreon button in the sidebar and perhaps read some notes I've made on it in blog posts. One of my goals with Patreon is to let supporters, um, SUPPORT my work. Another is to give supporters who support both the Center and myself maximize the effect of their contributions. It works like this:

Every time I hit a $100 per month mark on Patreon, I'll cut my own pay somewhere else (starting with the Center) by $50*. So a $100 Patreon donation to me is really a $150 donation -- $100 to me, $50 to the Center.

I'd like to hit that first $100 per month mark in January. Right now I'm at $7 per month. So there's quite a bit of distance to cover.

As a side note, at the $50 per month mark, I will randomly select a Patreon supporter to receive a print copy of KN@PPSTER's Big Freakin' Book of Stuff.

On your marks, get set, go support me at Patreon!

-----
* I've already cut my own pay at the Center over time by, if my math is right, about 22%. I try not to be too greedy. But I'd like to cut it even more so that we can pay more people -- op-ed writers, interns, etc. -- to do more stuff.

No comments: