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vortmax posted:Serious question because I don't know how it works: Patreon charges a large platform fee on top of the normal payment processor fees. In addition the time and effort we'd have to put in of just managing a Patreon is something. Unless we hear from a significant number of people that they absolutely would not donate unless it's on Patreon I don't think we're going to do this, but as of today no one is really saying that and it's very unlikely we'll do it.
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Jun 13, 2023 06:39
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vortmax posted:Serious question because I don't know how it works: bc its a 30% cut and they cut taxes out of like its income
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Jun 13, 2023 06:40
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speng31b posted:Patreon charges a large platform fee on top of the normal payment processor fees. In addition the time and effort we'd have to put in of just managing a Patreon is something. Unless we hear from a significant number of people that they absolutely would not donate unless it's on Patreon I don't think we're going to do this, but as of today no one is really saying that and it's very unlikely we'll do it. Thanks, that explains a lot. I didn't think about the time to manage it. I guess if it was that easy you would have already done it. vortmax has issued a correction as of 06:54 on Jun 13, 2023 |
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Jun 13, 2023 06:51
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Hello! I am a new subscriber! Thank you for the heightened transparency and honest approach to this goonfund. While Plinkey's fund did directly support a dear friend of mine who was in a bind, and while I did sub to that Patreon for many months, I feel much better about donating to something where I can at least see how much money is acquired and how much is distributed. Thank you to Plinkey for the good things you did do. Thank you US Goon Fund Management Squad for your hard work.
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Jun 13, 2023 13:44
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i donate monthly i will not if you do a patreon. it's a ripoff so don't
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Jun 14, 2023 00:53
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JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:i donate monthly yeah, I personally have no desire to set up a Patreon, circumstances would have to change really significantly to change my opinion on that.
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Jun 14, 2023 07:00
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Just put in a relatively small request; just wanted to reiterate to whomever gets the data from the Google form that I intend to pay the amount back into the fund next week when I get paid. Thanks!
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Jun 17, 2023 02:38
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Late June Financials Update:    So I wanted to drop a quick update before the end of the month for a couple reasons. First off, June has been much kinder to us in terms of donations, and we've increased our monthly recurring intake by about 30% over May - which is a big help! Secondly, while all the above looks great... we do have a pretty big problem. We currently have $3500 in unfulfilled requests. To be clear, all but one of these have received some kind of aid - about $125 to $400 depending on the age of the request. But some of these requests range from a couple hundred dollars to even $2k ... and we just do not have the funds to fully fulfill all of these. The committee itself is pretty split on how to approach this because, as you can see, we do have the funds to disperse out to some of these requests... but it leaves us completely dry to help the daily small requests. And all but two of these requests is due by the end of the week (one was due a couple days ago, another later in July) So because of that, we want to come to the general membership of the fund (according to our constitution it's essentially anyone that posts ITT in good faith) to get your input on how to proceed with this. We aren't really coming to ask for funds to fulfill all of this... because these super large requests are pretty out of the scope of the fund, short of every registered goon on this site kicking in $5 a month. So I'd like to open this to discussion of how people think we should proceed, but also so that the committee has a real objective in mind for future situations like this.
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Jun 25, 2023 19:31
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My personal opinion is that $2,000 type requests should probably be put on the backburner until the goonfund has a stable stream of donations that could support that. As for currently accepted requests, I feel like that kind of depends on what they've been told ("We will get you the money" vs. "We'll see what we can do, here's $500) as well as their severity. I know means testing/discriminating w/ donations isn't an appreciated idea, but at the same time I believe at least one member of the board needs some of the money they've personally put in back soon (unless that's been resolved.) Maybe, if they're willing, get in touch with any local nonprofits, see if any local goons could assist them, help them along as much as possible within what's possible.
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Jun 25, 2023 20:13
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if you’re referring to me, yeah, I’m moving in a few weeks so I’ll be trying to find time to withdraw from the bank account the $500+ I’ve fronted people. gotta pay that first deposit and prorated rent and new furniture and blah blah blah
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Jun 25, 2023 20:45
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If it reaches a truly high level ( past whatevers reasonable ) then just ask em write a paragraph that gets posted itt and GBS so people can PM RQC with the quote of that post, get a username or venmo or whatever, send the gift, then turn around send proof back to RQC imo
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Jun 25, 2023 20:45
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I don't think this kind of format is set up to handle individual large requests of that magnitude, and doing it at the expense of many smaller requests feels like it goes against the purpose of this fund. Something like a gofundme is much more appropriate for that imo.
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Jun 25, 2023 20:47
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I think it's reasonable for the fund to say "there are limits to our ability to accommodate large requests" (especially since it's true, and likely always will be, just because of the nature of what people need). Speaking as someone who's in a relatively comfortable financial situation at the moment but for whom that absolutely has not always been the case, even a tiny amount of relief can be a lifesaver, even if it isn't absolutely everything you need at the moment. I think the current practice of helping out every request with something while making sure the fund remains viable for the stuff that comes in tomorrow or next week or next month is a good one.
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Jun 25, 2023 20:47
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Yeah, I second fully draining the fund with big ticket requests before we have a steady enough income projection is a bad idea. It's also important we keep promises and don't rugpull someone who reached out with needs and thought they were met. Not to mention we don't want to get into a 'rainy day' mindset, where we don't fulfill actual requests because we need cash on hand for potential ones. It might help to have a question on the form about partial fulfillment. I noticed we have disclaimers about larger requests, but nothing explicitly asking if partial fulfillment and what threshold could be useful. Perhaps including as part of this disclaimer an explicit question like "If your request is over <threshold> is there an amount below your requested amount that would still be helpful? Answering this does not mean you will get less than you requested, but will help disburse funds." Since there are times where half a bill buys some breathing room, and others where it won't.  The more stuff like that we ask up front the more we can avoid situations where someone has to explicitly tell us what's going on or feels pressured to grovel and put on a show when our goal is "solidarity fund with no (non logistics) questions asked" Coolness Averted has issued a correction as of 21:03 on Jun 25, 2023 |
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Jun 25, 2023 20:47
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Fajita Queen posted:I don't think this kind of format is set up to handle individual large requests of that magnitude, and doing it at the expense of many smaller requests feels like it goes against the purpose of this fund. Something like a gofundme is much more appropriate for that imo. right, i think people will be willing to help out, and god knows goon computer touchers mf's have too much money but anonymizing isn't the way to go. gotta spin at least a little bit of a story for a whole 2k lol
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Jun 25, 2023 20:48
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Def feels like they'd have better luck with something like a gofundme for a big request like that. It'd be another story if you guys had more money than you knew what to do with, but since it's tight I think erring on the side of helping a greater number of people with smaller requests is probably the way to go.
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Jun 25, 2023 20:54
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Imo the fund should be more for helping more goons with small amounts than massive requests. 2000 dollar requests are a huge ask, and is way outside of what the fund can and should be supporting.
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Jun 25, 2023 21:06
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I dont want people to really focus on the 2k request, as we have had (and have currently) 1k requests which are much more within our realm of reaching if we have funds, but are people ok with us going for these if funds are there but may put us in a bind for daily requests?
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Jun 25, 2023 21:33
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Fair, but I thought the whole point of this fund was to give a little to a lot, not a lot to a little. Imo if you request over 100, your first 100 should be prioritized, and any remaining should be lower priority. Maybe there should be a few breakpoints like that, ex: 1-100, 101-250, 251-500. Also I don't think the fund should be filling amounts over 500 unless there is a very very good reason, as that will just drain the fund instantly.
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Jun 25, 2023 22:03
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really queer Christmas posted:I dont want people to really focus on the 2k request, as we have had (and have currently) 1k requests which are much more within our realm of reaching if we have funds, but are people ok with us going for these if funds are there but may put us in a bind for daily requests? the monthly recurring donations are currently $2k/mo. the fund has paid out to 56 people in June, and the month isn't even over yet even with the one-time donations (which are unreliable and fluctuate wildly), it's pretty clear that the math doesn't work out for $1k disbursements right now imo, stop saying vague things like "this may put us in a bind for daily requests". say it straight-out: the fund has to turn down some requests because it can't afford to pay them all. are you going to fulfill the few big requests and turn down lots of small requests, or are you going to fulfill lots of small requests while only partially fulfilling large requests? given what the fund can currently afford, a reasonable cap on requests would probably be closer to $100 than $1000. and honestly, at the current request rates, the fund can't consistently count on bringing in enough money to pay out even $100 per person, unless you bank money during months that are particularly high in one-time donations. and that means resisting the urge to spend down a surplus as soon as you get it also, the OP openly says that the fund is meant for smaller requests and that big requests may not be fulfilled
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Jun 25, 2023 22:07
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i don't really think i have much of an opinion on it except to suggest that maybe it would be a good idea to either a) wait until the fund can support larger transactions or b) only give large contributions if it wouldn't take the fund down too far to support daily life-saving transactions i know you said you don't want to have a "rainy day" mindset at all but i think keeping an operational buffer of least $250 - $500 is probably wise
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Jun 25, 2023 22:08
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Fajita Queen posted:I don't think this kind of format is set up to handle individual large requests of that magnitude, and doing it at the expense of many smaller requests feels like it goes against the purpose of this fund. Something like a gofundme is much more appropriate for that imo.
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Jun 25, 2023 22:20
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Main Paineframe posted:the monthly recurring donations are currently $2k/mo. the fund has paid out to 56 people in June, and the month isn't even over yet The reason I say may, is because one time donations are so random. For instance, I just checked stripe and we just got an extremely large donation that will probably pay for the next week all on its own. Obviously this isn't reliable but it has let us keep going in terms of being able to handle the larger stuff.
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Jun 25, 2023 22:20
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Also, so people are aware, we've never turned down any smaller requests. Or really any request, everyone has gotten something even if it wasn't the full amount.
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Jun 25, 2023 22:25
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docbeard posted:I think it's reasonable for the fund to say "there are limits to our ability to accommodate large requests" (especially since it's true, and likely always will be, just because of the nature of what people need).
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Jun 25, 2023 22:26
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really queer Christmas posted:Also, so people are aware, we've never turned down any smaller requests. Or really any request, everyone has gotten something even if it wasn't the full amount. That makes sense and is good, but if the fund has a choice between scraping by and barely making enough and filling massive requests, and having a comfortable nest egg that can immediately fill any reasonable smaller requests, I would choose the second option. You never know when those massive donations will dry up. I say this because I really want the fund to focus on those smaller emergencies that can screw you over, like 20 years back when I was broke and a car I was lending to a friend was towed and I didn't have money for food for a week after getting the car back. poo poo happens and I would never expect anyone to cover the tow cost, but money for food would have been very nice. Imo that is the sort of emergency this fund should be focused on.
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Jun 25, 2023 22:49
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Full disclosure: I just got help (again) from Goonfund and it wasn't as much as I requested but it was still a huge help. My car is working well enough again to get me to work and around town for errands. I think it's entirely reasonable to set an upper limit on payouts. I'm pretty sure the previous fund had one. Once you've built up a reserve of hundreds or (inshallah) thousands of dollars, then reconsider the limits. I'd love to get $2000 from the fund to use with a trade-in to get another car, because this one is getting unsafe to drive, but I really think that amount is outside the scope of the fund right now. vortmax has issued a correction as of 23:06 on Jun 25, 2023 |
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Jun 25, 2023 23:02
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Peachfart posted:That makes sense and is good, but if the fund has a choice between scraping by and barely making enough and filling massive requests, and having a comfortable nest egg that can immediately fill any reasonable smaller requests, I would choose the second option. You never know when those massive donations will dry up. This does seem to be the consensus at this point. Currently, our plans are to stick with the $125 cap as a soft-hard cap (hardness depends on funds) with a max cap of $200 unless all requests are filled and there is enough in reserve to fulfill during backlog. If no one has any objections to this, we will take care of the outstanding requests accordingly and put anything above $200 as a "We'll let you know if/when we can help". I think (and committee agrees) the $100 cap is too restrictive right now when there is funds there but we will go to it if things get hairy and we aren't able to raise funds. Thank you all for the discussion, and Id also like to thank tiler for helping out with the fun the past week and upcoming week while life has been so hectic for me. Also, if anyone has any ideas for a fundraiser - I'm all ears. I had gotten a pretty good idea a couple months ago about doing a competition similar to the april fundraiser but the prize would be new stylesheets. I submitted that request to the admins but they came back with a resounding no so I'm back to square one. really queer Christmas has issued a correction as of 23:18 on Jun 25, 2023 |
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Jun 25, 2023 23:15
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Is it possible to have a standing request that is publicly viewable that someone can contribute to directly? Like say there is a 300 dollar request that can't otherwise be fulfilled by the fund. Can there be a list of such requests that someone could be like "oh I'll throw 50 bucks toward that" or something. That may be a lot of logistical work, though
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Jun 25, 2023 23:20
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a larger amount of small payouts seems more within the scope of funds right now. if the amount of dependable monthly incomes grows, the issue can be revisited. i know bills for large amounts of money are terrifying, and people rightly ask for help. but i also think that if things are dire enough that someone is asking for $30, that could be a scenario that is more... immediately problematic. i'm picturing, 'i need money for my already subsidized medicine this month,' sorta things. i dunno, crafting narratives certainly shouldn't be prescriptive, but i'm giving that example to illustrate how i'm thinking.
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Jun 25, 2023 23:22
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Heath posted:Is it possible to have a standing request that is publicly viewable that someone can contribute to directly? Like say there is a 300 dollar request that can't otherwise be fulfilled by the fund. Can there be a list of such requests that someone could be like "oh I'll throw 50 bucks toward that" or something. That may be a lot of logistical work, though If you want to help, just give to the fund, and trust the people in charge to give it to the people who need it. If enough of us do that the fund could fulfill $300+ requests (or even $1000+ requests inshallah) regularly.
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Jun 27, 2023 03:13
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I do give to the fund, my question was in relation to fulfilling requests that are above the scope of the fund.
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Jun 27, 2023 03:31
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vortmax posted:If you want to help, just give to the fund, and trust the people in charge to give it to the people who need it. If enough of us do that the fund could fulfill $300+ requests (or even $1000+ requests inshallah) regularly. This is kind of a weird response to people's feedback when the steering committee was soliciting feedback about what to do now, and not when it recieves enough money to regularly disperse thousands for big ticket requests without risk.
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Jun 27, 2023 03:41
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Heath posted:I do give to the fund, my question was in relation to fulfilling requests that are above the scope of the fund. Coolness Averted posted:This is kind of a weird response to people's feedback when the steering committee was soliciting feedback about what to do now, and not when it recieves enough money to regularly disperse thousands for big ticket requests without risk. My apologies, it wasn't meant to be weird. I think I misunderstood Heath's post.
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Jun 27, 2023 05:19
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vortmax posted:My apologies, it wasn't meant to be weird. I think I misunderstood Heath's post. No worries! The goal here is the charity's board are trustworthy volunteers who help administer and steer the fund towards the goals we stakeholders* agree on. It's fair to push back if you see posters advocating stuff you disagree with. We had someone floating the idea of earmarking funds for posting superstars in the gbs thread, after all. *goons who support and/or need the fund. Not just donors or folks who post too much. Coolness Averted has issued a correction as of 06:18 on Jun 27, 2023 |
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Jun 27, 2023 06:10
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e - disregard
tmfc has issued a correction as of 05:04 on Jun 28, 2023 |
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Jun 28, 2023 01:56
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I only want my money to go to curvy goonettes  (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jun 28, 2023 11:44
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My own personal view on the idea of means testing is near total opposition, at least for the goonfund itself. I would not want any risk turning someone's plight into a tribunal, or a circus. One of the points of the fund in the first place was to offer judgement free and discreet charity - an expectation from both the requesters and the donators as well.
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Jun 28, 2023 15:21
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From the UK fund perspective, we do not means test in any way. We have had large requests which would have used up nearly all the fund. I'm doing so it would have hindered our ability to help others. In those situations we have worked with the applicant to see what can be done, should this be advice that can help with their situation, what they need right that moment, does it need to be the full amount right now? Are there other ways we can help your situation that doesn't require money, etc. Can you be paid in installments? All of those have meant that we are still in a good position.
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Jun 28, 2023 19:06
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I can't thank y'all enough for the help. I'm in between work right now and the fund helped me hold on until my next start date. As soon as I'm back on my feet I'm gonna pay it forward.
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Jul 1, 2023 20:43
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