[Harp-L] Harp-L Fundrasier

[Slim Heilpern <slim@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Subject: Harp-L Fundraiser

IMPORTANT: This post, while definitely meta discussion, is approved by the list owner. Whatever you do, please do not respond to this post on harp-l. Instead, you may respond directly to myself (slim@xxxxxxxxxx) or directly to the list owner (harp-l-owner@xxxxxxxxxx).

As you may or may not know, harp-l has been privately funded for many years now. Beginning last year, for the 2013 budget, we tried something new in the form of a fundraiser to offset the basic costs of keeping the list up and running. Please note that the real work, provided entirely by the list owner, has and continues to be done on a volunteer basis. Last year's fundraiser was a success and now it's time for a repeat performance with regard to the 2014 budget. 

That's right, it’s now time for folks like me (and hopefully you) to step up and contribute to the basic cost of keeping the list alive. We are asking that those who can afford it and would like to help out donate $5 or $10 (max) for the upcoming year’s expenses. 

Actually, calling this simply a “list” does not do it justice. Harp-l represents a community of harmonica players. If the list were to disappear tomorrow, that community would be splintered. While there are many harmonica forums, I think most of us would agree that harp-l is not only unique, but damn near essential. So please take a moment to help out if you can.

To be absolutely clear, donations are voluntary and will not affect your status as a list member whether you contribute or not in any given year. It’s perfectly OK to not make a donation.

How to contribute:

I have volunteered to be the middleman for donations. The preferred way to donate is via my paypal account (all major credit cards accepted):

To contribute $5 via paypal, click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/95dfp7b

To contribute $10 via paypal, click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/9oo2ss2

If you prefer to contribute by personal check, please contact me off list and I will send you the details of how to do that: slim@xxxxxxxxxx

More details:

Our goal for January 1, 2014 is $360 (up $10 from last year), all of which will go to cover operating expenses for 2014. I will send another notification once we have reached our goal. Contributions received in excess of the goal will be applied to 2015.

$10 is the maximum individual contribution. Payments greater than that will be refunded in full (or in the case of a personal check, it will not be cashed).

As far as I know, your contribution is not tax-deductible, although I’m not an expert on the subject.

At the request of the list owner, your donation details (such as your name, email address, how much you donated) will not be made public, not even to the list owner. However, I will post a list of the amounts received (with dates only) on a monthly basis to the list. In the interest of keeping this as simple and cost-effective as possible, we’re not setting up any kind of business account for the contributions and folks will just have to trust that I have no intention or reason to do anything with the money other than forward the funds to the list owner, who pays the bills. My role in this is strictly as a volunteer.

One final detail: Last year there was some on-list discussion (and confusion) with respect to transaction fees when paying via credit card and the PayPal options to work around this. (Transaction fees are taken off the top of your contribution by PayPal). Please don't worry about the transaction fees as we're trying to keep this simple and I don't want to ask anyone to lie to PayPal as to the nature of their transaction. Rest assured, the transaction fee _will_ be covered by a matching donation, so your full contribution will be applied to the harp-l budget.

If you have any questions, please contact me off list: slim@xxxxxxxxxx

Thank you in advance for your support!

- Slim