S.T. Patrick Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 I would note that if someone is paying an annual fee, then administrators would need a process for which you could kick them out. It couldn't just be one person deciding the member is "too much," or even multiple complaints. If so, they would need a prorated refund for the time in the year that they don't get, etc. If someone also left the forum voluntarily, there may need to be prorated refunds. There is a lot to subscriptions that maybe we haven't thought about yet. Just trying to think ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Hilliard Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 Can members just simply make an annual donation [say $100] and send it in via PayPal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Davidson Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 3 hours ago, James R Gordon said: Regarding 2022 I believe the toal sum was under $1000. I understand your criticism and maybe we need to tighten up what happens to the money donated. James, It is not meant as criticism as we know you financed the forum for a long time. Relating to our last fundraiser, if you go back and look at that thread, you listed 10 contributors, 4 others afterward who chimed in and contributed, which equaled a total of approx $1200, close enough to $1000 if that is what you meant. So 14 contributors last round unless there were others un-named. Everyone should keep this in mind when projecting future revenue based on X number of participants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 Karl, We need to sort out the direction and cost of membership. Without prejudicing the final decision we cannot answer your question until we know what the final sum is to be divided. I have yet to hear back from Invision about whether the plans are of use to us and what they would cost us.I pointed out to Invision we had been with them for years and maybe that should be considered in pricing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ty Carpenter Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, James R Gordon said: Mark Knight emailed me the following. I felt it is worth sharing: OK, so if we round that to 140...then if each paid $15 a year [some will opt to pay more, of course], the financial future of the Education Forum would be secured. I would suggest that the Ed Forum be set up as a non-profit entity, and there be a separate bank account by the custodian of the funds to collect and disburse them as needed. In fact, perhaps James could simply set up a separate account at his banking institution for the EF and collect the funds and disburse them exclusive to and from this account. It is only a suggestion, but it would a) simplify the bookkeeping, b) keep the accounting of Forum funds straight, c) if contributions could be directly deposited to the account by EF members and then disbursed as automatic withdrawals, the EF could then operate nearly in perpetuity. Mark I can see the benefit to Mark's idea, but creating any official entity comes with costs and extra responsibilities. I have looked into this for other things, and have always come to the decision that I can achieve the goal in a simpler way. I am sure any of our lawyer friends can chime in on this. As far as accounting goes, we would just setup a PayPal account that is only for forum business. You count what goes in and what comes out, that is it. For soliciting funds, I prefer a voluntary donation method and am sure we could cover our yearly cost in a matter of hours. S.T. made mention of the subscription method and he couldn't be more correct. Additionally, forcing members to pay to play is not preferred. There are members who contribute valuable content here but may not be able or willing to pony up the funds for a membership. I am fine with that and will donate more than my necessary portion to keep things going. In future years, someone needs to track time and make July or August our pledge drive month. A proactive method, if you will. Once established, we should be able to proceed as we are with minimal issues. Edited August 2, 2022 by Ty Carpenter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 Invision has gor back yo me. If your community does not need any custom applications/plugins, Custom SSO. API Access or full access to Page Builder (databases), then I'd say go for the Creator plan.Unfortunately we don't have any discounts available. Let me know what you think. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. On its own it would cost £1068. With VAT which I am sure will be applied I believe that will cost £1282. I do not know how many active members we have, but if we have 50 members each member would contribute £26.00. Per year. If members are interested I can check there are no hidden costts and that having Creator plan is not in addition to our present subsciption. james. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 2 hours ago, James R Gordon said: Invision has gor back yo me. If your community does not need any custom applications/plugins, Custom SSO. API Access or full access to Page Builder (databases), then I'd say go for the Creator plan.Unfortunately we don't have any discounts available. Let me know what you think. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. On its own it would cost £1068. With VAT which I am sure will be applied I believe that will cost £1282. I do not know how many active members we have, but if we have 50 members each member would contribute £26.00. Per year. If members are interested I can check there are no hidden costts and that having Creator plan is not in addition to our present subsciption. james. James, Could you ask if the owner of the site (bill payer) is based in a VAT free zone, will the VAT be removed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted August 3, 2022 Author Share Posted August 3, 2022 Chris, There is no VAT applied. However since the Invoice is in $ there is a currency charge. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 I do not know whether this news would affect our forum's future or not. Maybe locking in a year's payment now to the Invision Community would prove wise. UK inflation will soar to ‘astronomical’ levels over next year, thinktank warns | Inflation | The Guardian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 Even though I have a Pay Pal account I never use it. I hate the delay time. I am just an old fashioned check writer and sender. A canceled check is my acceptable record of payment and payment received. Not being a lawyer, I am not sure but perhaps a contributor should have to sign ( electronically ) or a form sent to them, a release and understanding that their donation is non-refundable as well as non pro-rated negotiable if they violate the ethics rules of the forum to a degree of removal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Coleman Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 Time for a JFK assassination forum pledge drive!! look forward to one of you good guys taking the reins when all is sorted I’m good for $100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Cummings Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 20 minutes ago, Sean Coleman said: Time for a JFK assassination forum pledge drive!! look forward to one of you good guys taking the reins when all is sorted I’m good for $100 And for those who contribute $100 or more the JFK Forum will include the commentatorative t-shirt "I'm Just A Patsy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 36 minutes ago, Paul Cummings said: And for those who contribute $100 or more the JFK Forum will include the commentatorative t-shirt "I'm Just A Patsy" HA! Or how about ... "THIS CASE IS CINCHED!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted August 3, 2022 Author Share Posted August 3, 2022 I would suggest that time is running out. I have made my last payment to Invision. Their next payment is due on September 4th. During that time you need a leader that is acceptable to the membership and remaining admin members. That person must have the agreement of Invision and able to demonstrate to Invision they can fund the EF. Invision will need the person’s bank details so that Invision can take their monthly subscription from that person's bank account. So there is a lot to get through and not a lot of time to complete it. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Santos Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 (edited) it looks like invision is in Virginia. In reading all above posts, without giving legal advice, there are multiple issues. The fastest fix probably for September is to contact invision in writing and advise there is a problem with funds and members need to pay the $70 for September. Then a 501C needs to be created in America or invision needs to allow a pay portal where members can access the account and make their payment directly to invision. Lastly, I always recommend speaking with a lawyer here to advise how to proceed as my information cannot be construed as legal advice nor as creating a lawyer client relationship. Edited August 3, 2022 by Cory Santos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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