Trees and Things Fundraising Drive
Board of Directors.
Posted to Business on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 04:53:49 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Ready for a Jerry Lewis and Anne of Green Gables Marathon? If not, please donate a little bit of love to the cause. Last time we did this we raised over $1000 in two weeks - this time we'd like to exceed that and more. Keep your eye on the thread for regular updates about our progress, and details about how you can get a free iPod!
$0.00 »»»»» $100 »»»»» $200 »»»»» $300 »»»»» $400 »»»»» $500 »»»»» $600 »»»»» $700 »»»»» $800 »»»»» $900 »»»»» $1000 »»»»» $1100 »»»»» $1200 »»»»» $1300 »»»»» $1400 »»»»» $1500 »»»»» $1600 »»»»» $1700 »»»»» $1800 »»»»» $1900 »»»»» $2000 »»»»»
When Shane first established Trees and Things as our new home, we had a clunky little website (remember that shovel?) that lacked many of the features we had become accustomed to. We didn't know if what we'd created would last very long or if we had any chance of establishing a viable user community. We've come a long way since then. We've survived to the ripe old age of one and a half, which is at least 50 in Internet years.
During this time we've taken your input and implemented a major site redesign, created many cool new features, and recreated some old features that were sorely missed. We've also seen substantial increases in user activity, and a very welcome boost in new account creation. The submission queue is overflowing with quality submissions, and we regularly see stories with 50 or more comments. We've cultivated a vibrant, active and intelligent user community. Trees and Things is doing very well indeed. The Board of Directors cannot thank you, the users of TnT, enough for your part in creating this success. Your donations have kept the lights on, and your participation has raised the bar for intelligent discourse on the Internet.
But there's more to be done. All of us would like to see TnT grow further. We need more users, and we always seem to have more new features to implement than we have time and resources to implement them. We've also reached the point where we need to finally incorporate, establishing Trees and Things, Inc. as a California non-profit corporation. Incorporation will allow us to take tax deductible donations, provide important legal protections for the Board of Directors, and create a stable legal foundation on which to base future growth.
Thus far we've done almost everything with volunteer power, but to grow further we need more than just volunteers. Incorporation requires the involvement of legal professionals who tend not to work for free. We've experimented with advertising to attract new users with some limited success, but we've been constrained by lack of funds. We'd love to have a graphic designer redo our stock photo section icons, but again, professional graphic designers cost money. If we could afford to hire programmers to work on our site's code, we could implement new features faster and be more responsive to your input. Profwhat has done an amazing job whipping our site's code into shape, but he's only one man, and eventually he will need a break (or a paycheck).
To accomplish all that we have planned, we need your monetary support. So, today we ask you to donate generously to allow us to continue to grow and improve Trees and Things. You can donate by clicking here: Donate to support Trees and Things .
We will be creating a new "Contributors" page to honor those who contribute to TnT's continued success, either as volunteers or with their monetary support. If you want your TnT user name to be included on this page, please mention your user name in your paypal payment comments, otherwise your donation will be accepted anonymously.
If you'd like to check up on the current state of our finances, click here for our current financial statement.
Shane also has a special promotional deal through webqualityhost.net, the company that provides webhosting services for Trees and Things. Shane will donate one free month of treesandthings.com webhosting AND give away an iPod shuffle (while supplies last) to anyone who signs up for a webhosting account at webqualityhost.net and pays one year in advance. To claim your ipod email shane@webqualityhost.net and include your domain name and the address you used to sign up with. There will be 20 iPod shuffles available for this offer. This offer expires 2 weeks from the date the story is posted. Limit one per customer.
< Presidential Candidates Get On The Train To Meet Virginia
Soon to be heard at the EU Border: But.... but... but I'm an American! >
