Just a Few Days Left

Fund drive ends on Friday

As of this writing, about three dozen of you have chipped in to help cover SharperIron’s server and bandwidth costs for 2009 (more info here). A few contributed especially large gifts. You know who you are (though, in some cases, I’m not sure I know who you are). Whether your donation was large or small, I—and all who benefit from SI—thank you for your help!

As it stands right now, we’re at over 80% of the goal (if your browser shows otherwise, hit refresh a couple of times or go into your settings and empty your cache). What that means is that we’ll be able to pay off the borrowed server fees accumulated in the first three quarters or so of the year. It also means that the outlook is good generally for the rest of this year and a while beyond. Ad revenue should take care of other bills we’ve got lying around and allow us to begin 2010 on strong footing.

If you haven’t yet pitched in and can spare five bucks, consider tossing it in before the ChipIn drive ends some time this Friday, September 4. If only thirty-two people throw in five bucks (or sixteen people contribute ten), we’ll hit the 100% mark.

Other ways you can help

Even if you can’t give, there are ways you can help SI live long and prosper.

• Use Amazon and CBD links. You may have noticed that there are a couple of search boxes for Amazon and CBD in the sidebars. If you need to purchase items from Amazon or CBD, consider looking them up using one of the search boxes. Your purchase price will remain the same, but a portion of your payment will go back to SI. The links in our book reviews also work this way. Last month we brought in just over $5 this way—not much, but it’s a beginning.
• Visit Our advertisers. If you visit our advertisers’ sites by clicking their ads, you’ll find that what’s going on at these places is interesting. And you may also find something you need.
• Encourage our volunteers. Part of what makes SI work is a growing number of folks who lend a hand without asking for a red cent. Since time is money, they’re all financing the enterprise as well. Let them know you appreciate what they do. You’ll find a (probably incomplete) list of folks helping out in our About pages.

Related News

While we’ve been working at raising revenue, we’ve also been working at cutting costs, mainly by moving the copy-editing work to volunteers. That effort will allow us to re-allocate funds to other needs. One result is that it’s beginning to look like compensating our article-writers on a regular basis will be possible some time in 2010. Getting paid for web publishing is almost unheard of, but it’ll be one more way SI is unique. Whether paying authors works out or not, we’ll at least offer another writing contest (or two).

In addition to these changes, new lower-cost options for advertising will soon be available. These will probably take the form of smaller ads (or text-only ads) at reduced rates. Some other ideas are on the table as well, including Google Adsense.

Thanks again for taking an interest in SharperIron, and special thanks to those who are contributing their time, talents and funds to move it forward.

Editor’s note: At the close of the campaign, SI had received $890 of the $925 goal for the year’s server expenses. About 96%.