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View Full Version : Contributing to Debt Free Fanatics



EvilGreebo
09-23-2015, 12:07 PM
If you would like to contribute to the operation of Debt Free Fanatics, new options are now available for you to do so.

You can choose between one time or monthly donations, in amounts of $5, $10, or $20.

I love giving you money! How do I do it??
Easy!


On the forum home page is a big gold Contribute button in the top right. Click it!
Decide how much, and whether you want your contribution to be visible.
Follow the directions from there on out!


Can I donate anonymously?
Yep, nobody need ever know!

What if I want to brag?
Contributors will be able to choose to be identified as a contributor on the Permission Groups (http://www.debtfreefanatics.com/profile.php?do=editusergroups) screen in their settings. You will have the option to be identified as your usual title (based on post count) or as a Contributor. (Sorry, at this time you can't show both.)

What if I have questions?
Please, reply to this thread and ask them!

I love pie!
So do we, faithful user. So do we.

How much does this site cost to run?
On average, about $50/month. Many of our expenses are annual, not monthly. Our annual expense list includes hosting costs (the cost of the site actually existing), SSL certification (for security), and registration on Google Play and the Apple Store to publish our mobile apps.

We also occasionally experience one time costs for enhancements to the system, such as buying the donation system itself. Wherever possible, I try to buy lifetime support options, because long term those are the most cost effective.

CousinItt
09-24-2015, 08:04 AM
I am probably going to do this.

What are the plans for excess money above what is needed for the actual site fees? Will it be used for future upgrades, or something else?

EvilGreebo
09-24-2015, 08:54 AM
Have you forgotten the picture of the car I posted? ;)

But seriously - the money will be kept in reserve. It will be used to pay the recurring expenses that come from having this web site.

We are paid up on hosting for 1 year. Renewal of all our features next year will cost $460.

Publishing the Android app cost $25 and I think that's annual, and publishing the Apple ap (in progress) costs $99/year. And vBulletin 5 with the mobile apps included was $399 but that's a one time cost.

If we add other functions like a chat server, or tap-a-talk access, that will increase costs again.

So right now after all the above we have a full year of hosting paid for, a year of published apps paid for, and about $600 in reserve.

Dorothy
09-24-2015, 07:05 PM
I did a small one-time contribution before we migrated here. Will you keep us informed as we approach the end of the year and renewal time is coming up? If there is a need for money, I want to help again. However, while I like having an emergency fund for this site, I don't want it to get large enough to buy you a car :)

EvilGreebo
09-24-2015, 08:45 PM
But it'd be a NICE car...

Yes, I intend, once we move to vB5, to add a mod that has a contribution bar to keep people informed of where we stand.

EvilGreebo
10-01-2015, 11:10 AM
Some of you have already noticed that contributions to this site have been made somewhat easier to get to. We currently must average $50/month to cover expenses, so to that end we've got a contribution bar with our monthly goal now visible on the main forum home page.

Using this contribution method gives you the same opportunity to change your title to "Contributor", as explained in the OP.

Jazz_Luvr
10-01-2015, 06:53 PM
Some of you have already noticed that contributions to this site have been made somewhat easier to get to. We currently must average $50/month to cover expenses, so to that end we've got a contribution bar with our monthly goal now visible on the main forum home page.

Using this contribution method gives you the same opportunity to change your title to "Contributor", as explained in the OP.

What if you contributed prior to the migration to vB4? Is this now the official "Finances to Keep DFF Up and Running FOR-EV-AH!" link?

EvilGreebo
10-01-2015, 08:36 PM
What if you contributed prior to the migration to vB4? Is this now the official "Finances to Keep DFF Up and Running FOR-EV-AH!" link?

The new software didn't import the old contributor list but I do have it here at home and will be going through giving credit where credit is due.

EvilGreebo
10-01-2015, 08:47 PM
In all seriousness, I really don't know how to express my appreciation for all the support! The donations have been amazing!

Jazz_Luvr
10-01-2015, 08:58 PM
In all seriousness, I really don't know how to express my appreciation for all the support! The donations have been amazing!

How are your pie-making skills?

pknord
10-01-2015, 11:25 PM
Well, it looks like we're okay for a month or two. :D

EvilGreebo
10-13-2015, 08:33 AM
Everyone who donated using the old software, I just finished manually keying in your donations. You should all have access to display your Contributor tag now.

Also the one user who set up a one time paid subscription, I logged your donation as well, and I've disabled the paid subscription engine because we really don't need two different ways to donate...

EvilGreebo
10-15-2015, 07:50 AM
Contributions are temporarily offline due to some configuration issues between paypal and our banks.

I can't accept any donations right now until this is sorted and I don't want anyone else's donations sitting in limbo until this is sorted out.

spoiled_lil_boy
10-15-2015, 09:00 AM
Gee, I hope we have enough cash reserves to see us through this. :D

EvilGreebo
10-15-2015, 09:23 AM
Well... funny story...

We decided to reorganize our bank accounts. We had been using a local bank for our real estate, but we have 2 properties where my BIL is co-owner and one that's just ours, so we decided after Mrs. Mom died that we needed to restructure. We've set up a few accounts with Ally - one for BIL+Us, one for US, and have been transitioning the finances to those accounts, including our mortgage payments for our personal house which also came from real estate and now will come from the "Just Us" account.

Unfortunately due to timing issues, I couldn't kill the auto-draft from Wells Fargo right when I was thinking about it, cause it was in transit, so while we left some funds in the old account after moving my direct deposit to the new account, the auto-draft hit the old account. Then I forgot about it for a couple weeks (stupid, I know) and it hit the old account again.

Meanwhile we'd decided to use the OLD account as the new DFF account so we linked that to paypal.

So I'd started a withdrawal from paypal to what was there to the new DFF account, right about the same time the old bank decided we'd abandoned the account. The transfer was rejected as "account closed", and so Paypal delinked the account from the bank.

So right now our paypal account is "unverified" because it's linked to Zero banks, and we're waiting on the funds that didn't transfer to reappear in paypal (deadline is Oct 20 per Paypal). So right now we have about $900 in limbo, another $85 or so available in Paypal, and a couple small donations that we cannot accept because we're unverified (which is why I shut down contributions).

Fortunately we don't have any payments pending (and won't for another 10 months) so this is mostly a nuisance. Of course, my mortgage lender wasn't happy about two failed payments, and on top of everything else, I'd scheduled Ally to start sending payments to Wells Fargo but did not realize that Wells Fargo wouldn't take half payments from Ally UNLESS it was WF pulling the funds, so we were 2 weeks late on our primary mortgage this month.

So - I've got a NEW bank account being set up (Wells Fargo this time - we're done with this particular local bank) - and once that process is done we'll link it to paypal and start taking donations again, and hopefully paypal is true to their word and we'll get our $900 back by mid next week.

Whee.

spoiled_lil_boy
10-15-2015, 09:37 AM
Uh.

Ew.

Hoping everything will be fine once the dust settles.

Immerito
10-15-2015, 04:16 PM
The Evil Overlord executed many of his minions for incompetence that day.

CousinItt
10-16-2015, 07:51 PM
Wow, that sounds like a hot mess, especially about your mortgage payments being "late", but glad it's getting sorted out.

EvilGreebo
10-21-2015, 06:08 PM
Well after a few phone calls, I've pieced together the missing pieces.

Turns out our mortgage company didn't just try to draw the funds once, but over and over and over again, so they racked up some pretty hefty fees at our now ex local brick and mortar bank.

They got the paypal money, took out what they were owed (cause you know how electronic transactions justify a $30 per attempt fee...) and sent me a check for the rest, which just arrived today.

And my NEW checking account with Wells Fargo is now active and linked, so contribution are open again.

I'd love to blame a bank here, but I screwed up, and banks are gonna bank when their members screw up. Can't blame sharks for eating the swimmers. So - the lost funds from DFF will be reimbursed out of pocket, no problem there, and we're back in full operation. Now I just need to deposit the money back in.

1Maryann
11-09-2015, 07:55 AM
If we get and stay far ahead of our needs, maybe we should look into some internet advertising to drive more people to the site? Facebook ads are relatively cheap. Haven't priced Google ads lately, although they regularly hound me to purchase them for my business. I miss having a bunch of newbies around to help.

debtfreeDec11
01-01-2016, 11:19 AM
Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask a donation question... I donated in September of last year and it doesn't show up on my list of confirmed donations. Is there something I need to do to make that happen? I'm using that list as a way to track my donations to the website. I received an email saying thank you for your donation and confirmation from PayPal.

cwilli26
01-01-2016, 11:44 AM
Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask a donation question... I donated in September of last year and it doesn't show up on my list of confirmed donations. Is there something I need to do to make that happen? I'm using that list as a way to track my donations to the website. I received an email saying thank you for your donation and confirmation from PayPal.

If you click community, then contribution list, then my contributions, it lists your donations there.

EvilGreebo
01-05-2016, 11:27 AM
Closing this pending posting of updated details on contribution.