This website contains no traditional advertising. Ever wondered who funded it? Well a few members have stumped up for the costs so far. Recently some of us decided that we'd accept advertising for a trial period from "local" businesses.
I think accepting money from advertisers is a mistake. I would prefer that the funding continues to come from philanthropic site members. I think advertising on here should take the form of blog and forum posts as it does at the moment and that we accept no money for this.
I think there are massive differences, huge and comparisons are very difficult.
Small adverts from local selected traders to show support in the local community is soooo different to the monstrous adverts on lampposts advertising large corporations.
We already have local ads on here via blogs and posts free of charge.
Liz has hit it on the head, sustainability. Erratic contributions are unknown and difficult to predict. To have control on how HOL can be run with possibly additional benefit to the community if surplus funds were left.
We have a small pool of potential advertisers with interests in local issues willing to support HOL.
That is exactly what I worry about. It is better for us to be poor than to give someone else control. No matter what you say about still having control it will be an illusion. True control will lie with the person paying the bills and that is why it should be US.
....or to send a telegram or pigeon. This is the 21st Century : )
Permalink Reply by Liz on September 8, 2008 at 10:11
That's an idea Steve, we could put this item about individual contribution on the next Nav's meeting agenda. People have contributed cash (the salisbury whipround), that was pretty much how it happened when we 'fund raised' earlier in the year but I would argue that that places a burden upon Hugh who having raised the baby is now perhaps hoping to give it a little independence. Also, some are not happy about giving a sum of money to someone without a clear idea of where the money is going (although I suppose one could argue they can see the evidence when they log on!). Ads remove that awkwardness. We are talking local business here, by the way, which as Birdy says already gets a boost through posts (Baldwin's sausages anyone), links in groups/events (Big G Bookshop) and even whole groups being formed in their support (Salisbury Hotel, for example). It is unlikely that we will consider an ad from Tesco or Costa (although if they offered us a couple of thousand which would ensure sustainablilty for a few years, should we turn such an opportunity down, it would be money in the bank?) given their profile and the fact that their money doesn't benefit local business people, but then again the Salisbury is owned by a big company, all the money that is contributed by locals in there doesn't stay in the community. If we were to turn down the ad option as a community we need a viable alternative and to see the colour of the money. We cannot plan or innovate without knowing what we have to spend. Any one know a local philanthropist who will gift us a few grand? Then this discussion would end right there and then...
I like the idea of local businesses being able to support the site - the Salisbury isn't owned by one of the really big breweries though - I thought that it was owned by a north London guy who owns a few pubs in Crouch End and Finchley etc- but it's not exactly Weatherspoons.
I'm sure that the Ladder / Baldwins / Yasser / Lemon would all be up for this. The issue of taking larger sums of money from the really big chains (Sainsburys / Costa/ McD's etc) is a really fraught one - also what about the smaller places - like Zams?
We seem to have an implicit moral hierarchy going on here... If the money required is only 120 quid - then maybe this isn't as dire a situation as well that. In terms of long term sustainability - we should think about what actually needs to happen for the site to be maintained. Presumably the 120 is only for the hosting - and not for maintenance / upgrading etc?
Annie and I were talking about funding options this evening and here are our thoughts - I'm not sure whether they've been covered in previous funding discussions.
1/ Apply for a lottery grant. I think the site qualifies for some of the key criteria, for example it's free for anyone in the community to use etc.
2/ Charge entry fees for some HoL events. the Summer Fete for example to cover costs and any profits could be put towards the running of the site.
3/ Apply for charity status (I have no idea what hurdles have to be crossed to qualify)
4/ Sell HoL bonds, effectively shares in the site. People pay a sum of money for a bond, say £10, that they can sell at any time and get the captial back. The HoL Navs invest this money in a high interest account and fund the site off of the interest. My guess would be that we would have to sell ~ 1000 bonds at £10 each to give a good yearly return.
Permalink Reply by Hugh on September 8, 2008 at 23:49
The bond idea's interesting guys. Mmmm.....worth thinking about.
I tried to find a way to make something like this work for the schools but you would need an underwriter prepared to buy back all the bonds OR you buy a bond for your house/flat and can never sell it. I've always thought that it was a shame that the schools here never benefitted from the rise in real estate prices in the last 12 years.
Permalink Reply by Hugh on September 9, 2008 at 0:02
I guess they'd sell back to the site John. I think the proposal is to fund off the interest. But if we're chasing £500 a year, we need something like £10k wouldn't we?
Permalink Reply by matt on September 9, 2008 at 7:38
The guy who owns the Arena Estate. I forget his name. He gave Falkland Rd a £1000 for our street party a few years back. He'd probably be interested.