[okfn-discuss] Supporters Drive Email

[Michael Holloway]

Brief feedback :)

Pledgebank is good for publicity and a sense of action but it can be
tricky to then move the people across to paypal / BACS. Or at least
that's been tricky with ORG, so maybe worth some thought to getting
people signed up to a payment mechanism at the same time.

Also, £5 per month is modest and some will be willing to give more.
Indeed the aim of 100 supporters seems modest too.

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> We've been planning a "supporters drive" to raise funds for a while
> and now with our fifth anniversary at the end of this month it's time
> to launch!
>
> I've prepared a draft text for an email (below) and it would be great
> to get some feedback before it goes out officially next week so please
> let me know what you think.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rufus
>
> PS: people are more than welcome to sign up to the pledge in advance!
>
>
> ## Supporters Email
>
> Subject: Please consider supporting the Open Knowledge Foundation
>
> This month the Open Knowledge Foundation is five years old. Over those
> last five years we've done much to promote open access to information
> -- from sonnets to stats, genes to geodata -- not only in the form of
> specific projects like Open Shakespeare and Public Domain Works but
> also in the creation of tools such as KnowledgeForge and Comprehensive
> Knowledge Archive Network, standards such as the Open Knowledge
> Definition, and events such as OKCon, designed to benefit the wider
> open knowledge community.
>
> While we have achieved a lot, we believe we can do much, much more. We
> are therefore reaching out to our community and asking you to help us
> take our vision further.
>
> Our aim: to have at least a 100 supporters committed to making
> regular, ongoing donations of £5 (EUR 6, $7.50) or more a month.
>
> These funds will be essential in expanding and sustaining our work by
> allowing us to invest in infrastructure and employ modest central
> support. To pledge yourself as one of those supporters all you need to
> do is take 30 seconds to sign up to our "100 supporters" pledge at:
>
> <http://www.pledgebank.org/support-okfn/>
>
> We will always be a not-for-profit organisation, built on the work of
> passionate volunteers. But with these additional funds, we believe we
> can make our efforts go much, much further. Please consider becoming a
> supporter and sign up to our pledge.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rufus Pollock
> Board Member, Open Knowledge Foundation
>
>
>
> ### What will the money be used for?
>
> These funds will be essential in expanding and sustaining our work by:
>
>  1. Allowing us to employ modest central support to:
>    * Co-ordinate voluntary work
>    * Apply for substantial grant funding for specific projects
>    * Put on special events
>  2. Allowing us to upgrade and maintain our technical infrastructure
> (servers etc)
>
>
> ### What have you achieved over the last 5 years?
>
> Among other things: we've started projects that have allowed
> Shakespeare and Milton to enjoy a rebirth in the digital public
> domain, begun the huge task of cataloging public domain sound
> recordings, and opened a raft of economic and historical material.
>
> We've also developed tools, standards and events which have benefited
> the wider open knowledge community: Knowledgeforge stores the
> parliamentary data for theyworkforyou and publicwhip, the Open
> Knowledge Definition provides a standard for what "openness" is, Open
> Data Commons is developing the data license to be used by Open Street
> Map, and our workshops and annual Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon)
> bring together individuals and organizations from across the open
> knowledge spectrum.
>
> More information can be found in:
>
>  * <http://www.okfn.org/projects/>
>  * <http://www.okfn.org/events/>
>
> And in our annual reports available from: <http://www.okfn.org/board/>
>
> _______________________________________________
> okfn-discuss mailing list
> okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
>



-- 
Michael Holloway

Operations Manager, Open Rights Group
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7096 1079
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/openrightsgroup
Web: http://www.openrightsgroup.org
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